In Transit: Hillbrow Above and Below

2Summers | 28 March 2017
johannesburg hillbrow

I’m about to leave South Africa for a few weeks, which always makes me feel weird. I woke up in a strange, sad mood today, mourning everything about the state of the world. I recognize the feeling now – it’s pre-transit melancholy. (Although there really are a lot of crappy things happening in the world right now, too.)

This is going to be a momentous trip for a variety of reasons and I’ll be blogging about those reasons along the way. But before I go, I thought I’d throw out some momentous Jozi photos that I took earlier this month.

I tagged along with some friends on a tour of Hillbrow and Berea with Dlala Nje, an organization based in Ponte City. I’ve blogged about Hillbrow, Berea, and Ponte City on many occasions but these places never get old.

View of Joburg from the top of Ponte City
Dlala Nje has an apartment on the top floor of Ponte City. This is the view through the window of that apartment.
Satellite dishes in Hillbrow
Hillbrow has an incredible concentration of satellite dishes.
Ponte City core straight up
Ponte City (the tallest residential building in Africa) has a hollow core. Here’s the view from inside the core, one of the most spectacular sights in Joburg.
Ponte City core at an angle
Sorry, one more.
Fiver sketching in the Ponte City core
Fiver sketches inside the Ponte core.
Hillbrow Gumtree
Out on the streets, this is the Hillbrow version of Gumtree. People in Hillbrow and Berea use this wall to advertise apartments for rent, rooms for rent, even beds for rent. They often sit around the wall after they put up their signs, waiting for others to find their advertisements. It’s a great place to people-watch.
Kids walking home from school on Pretoria Street in Hillbrow
School’s out on Pretoria Street.

Shopping sign
Sonnyboy’s
Mini Market, the shop that sells everything from sardines to hubby bubbly.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for updates from the Western Hemisphere. And not to worry, the #Gauteng52 series will continue uninterrupted during my travels.