A Walking Tour of Johannesburg

A walking tour of Johannesburg isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The city has a bad reputation. People say it’s not safe, and locals may even warn you not to go.

When I stumbled across a photo on Instagram of a group of smiling visitors enjoying a walking tour of Johannesburg, I decided to join a similar tour when I returned to Johannesburg earlier this year for a family birthday celebration.

Finding a Walking Tour of Johannesburg

I particularly wanted to tour Maboneng. It’s a precinct I’d read about that has street art and a fun vibe. I found three possible walking tours.

One warned me off going to Maboneng, saying it had gone downhill since COVID. She lived in suburban Johannesburg and possibly hadn’t stepped foot in the inner city for a while. I crossed her off the list.  

When exchanging messages with a guide from the second tour, I received a strange message asking me to send money. His phone had been stolen, and the thief was trying to extract money from me. Welcome to South Africa!

The third tour and the one I went with is run by Curiocity Backpackers in Maboneng. I arranged a private tour for me, my 80yr old stepmother and my sister-in-law.

Warnings from friends

Friends, Jo’burg locals, advised me not to join the tour. They told me not to carry a bag, to take my watch off and keep my phone in a waist belt under my shirt.

There was a lot of discussion from family about whether the car would be safe parked in the street or if we should take an Uber. We drove, the warnings of our friends ringing in our ears. As no one had driven in the inner city for many years, we relied on the GPS, fearful that we’d take the wrong turn and end up somewhere we shouldn’t be.

Feeling anxious

I felt anxious and out of my depth, stories about violent crime swirling around in my head. Was I being foolhardy, and “stupid” as my husband had suggested? We turned the corner, and a tall, thin black man dressed in a yellow and black traditional print tunic and wide white and black printed pants waved us into a parking spot outside the entrance to Curiocity.

Meeting Ikoh, our Guide

Ikoh welcomed us and introduced himself as our guide. I told him how my friends and family had made me nervous. “You’re safe with me,” he said, introducing another guide who would follow our behind our small group.

A trained chef, Ikoh started guiding after COVID saw many restaurants go to the wall. Interestingly, he spent two years at Randwick High while his mother was studying a Master of Arts at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney.

A Bit of Background

We’re standing on the pavement outside Curiocity. The hostel is in the building where Pacific Press used to publish anti-apartheid material for the then banned ANC and the Black Sash movement. It is said to have offered refuge to Nelson Mandela and Jo Slovo when they edited publications.

Listening to a brief history of Johannesburg, the city of gold, my ears prick up when I hear that George Harrison was “an Australian who discovered gold on the Witwatersrand.” I learnt this history at school, but never knew he was Australian.

A Place of Lights

Ikoh explains that Maboneng is a Sotho word meaning “Place of Lights.” Today it is the most visited part of Johannesburg’s CBD. People come for the nightlife and with ongoing redevelopment, people are moving into the area to live.

In 2008, the area was derelict. There was a high incidence of crime. Wanting to turn the abandoned neighbourhood into a place where people could live, work and play safely, people, including well-known South African artist William Kentridge, started investing in the area.

I hear the term “hijacked buildings for the first time. These, Ikoh explains, are abandoned buildings that squatters have taken over. The buildings are derelict. Where the owners of these buildings can be found, the investors purchase them to redevelop them as apartments.

A walk through Maboneng

As we walk through Maboneng, we learn more about the street art project that Kentridge started. It provided a platform and work to unemployed artists, some of whom now have their works featured in big brand video clips and advertising.

Letters spelling out M-A-B-O-N-E-N-G are strung across reclaimed streets. At the intersection of one such street, a group of young men loiter. My guard immediately goes up. Then Ikoh explains. They are photographers, ready to photograph, for a fee, visitors under the MABONENG sign.

We pop into the Museum of African Design, a creative hub opposite the heritage listed Cosmopolitan. I wish I had more time here, but we move on.  

Drive Lines, a student residential complex, adds colour to the drab surroundings. As term hasn’t started, the building stands empty.  A confronting work of a traditionally dressed woman carrying a baby and a Kalashnikov rifle with a peace sing on the butt towers over us.

Hijacked buildings alongside redevelopments

Litter piles up on the pavements outside hijacked buildings. Tangled electric wires drape from windows to the power lines they’re illegally tapping into. The redeveloped buildings, often adjacent to a hijacked building, stand out. A security guard sits outside. The pavements are clean.

Ikoh waves and greets people as we walk. He belongs to the community. That is what keeps us, his white guests, safe. I wouldn’t come here without a local guide.   

Ellis Park, Ponte Tower and Jewel City

We’re in luck. The rooftop of Hallmark House, where prominent local DJs, artists and musicians often stay, is open. Looking out we see Ellis Park (now Emirates Airline Park), which hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final, on our right. In an historic moment, Nelson Mandela presented the trophy to the victorious Springboks. In front of us, is the infamous Ponte Tower.

The hollow interior of the circular skyscraper was used as a rubbish dump for years. Rubbish crept up to the 14^th floor. Dumped bodies, firearms and drugs were found when it was cleaned out. Today Ponte Tower is part of the city’s rejuvenation. People live there and you can join a tour to learn more about the history.  

Jewel City, so-called because it was a diamond sorting centre, is like an oasis. A place of urban renewal, the neighbourhood is a place where live and play. The infrastructure includes shops, parks and banks, healthcare, supermarkets, restaurants and schools.

Carlton Centre and Ghandi Square

My friends warned me not to visit the Carlton Centre. We don’t go in – the lift to the rooftop hasn’t worked for years – but we do walk past it and the Carlton Hotel. Protected by black palisade fencing, the concrete monolith, once frequented by movie stars, musicians and politicians, stands empty.

We pass Ghandi Square, the old financial and mining districts and the offices of Anglo American, ending our walk outside the Johannesburg Magistrates Court. There, a sculpture of Nelson Mandela sparring with Jerry Moloi, stands opposite Chancellor House where Mandela and Tambo opened their law offices in 1952.  

A Big Braai ends our walking tour of Johannesburg

Ikoh plans to end our walk at the “Big Braai (BBQ).” But first we must get there. No Uber driver wants to take us. Finally, after a long wait, Ikoh walks across a busy road, holding his hand in the air, one finger pointing to the sky (to indicate to taxi drivers that he wants a ride downtown). We climb into the clean new minibus and retrace our steps across the city.

While our order of putu pap (a thick dry porridge made from maize meal) with sausage, steak and salsa is being prepared, we visit the Kwa Mai Mai Healer’s market. The small brick stores were once horse stables. Their dark interiors are filled variously with jars of muthi (traditional medicine), wooden sticks, knobkerries and spears decorated with beadwork. A leopard skin is stretched in the sun out to dry.

When our meal is ready, we sit down at a trestle table covered with a yellow plastic cloth advertising Benny stock powder. After washing our hands in a communal bowl, we tuck into the large share plate. Taking a small handful of pap, I squeeze it into a ball in my palm, add some meat and dip it into peri peri sauce.

It’s a tasty end to our walking tour of Johannesburg.

Useful Information

• I arranged a private walking tour of Johannesburg with Curiocity. They regularly run public tours. Find out more here.
• Ikoh, also runs his own tours. You can contact him via email. See here.