Johannesburg is South Africa’s largest and most developed city. It’s also the most dangerous. The neighborhoods are very diverse – leafy residential, industrial, and the large downtown area which feels like Broadway in Los Angeles, not like Africa. When getting off the bus it’s best to ask the nearest policeman or security guard where it’s safe and where it’s not, and they will provide precise instructions. Rio felt like Switzerland in comparison.

Ok, it’s Sunday, but downtown feels a little like one week after the zombie apocalypse. Very wide streets but nearly empty. Lots of modern highrises but many are abandoned, with missing windows and boarded up lower floors. “To let” signs are everywhere. Yet everyone I saw was smiling and greeting and eager to chat – maybe because I didn’t go where the police said I shouldn’t go. Saw a proper zebra crossing.

Outside downtown all lots are walled in. Many walls have been extended to a height of 3-4 meters, most have an electric fence on top of that, often with extra barbed wire. Security cameras grow like mushrooms everywhere, even London would be so jealous. Johannesburg is not easy to explore.

Saw the Constitution Hill prison museum, where Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and many others were imprisoned. Very depressing place.