#Africa

I recently participated in a public art bus tour hosted by the City of Johannesburg, honoring the legacy of Andrew (Drew) Lindsay. Drew died of a heart attack in October 2021 while sitting in his garden outside the Spaza Art Gallery in Troyeville. He was 65. If you’d like to learn more about Drew’s life, please read this wonderful article by Joburg journalist Ufrieda Ho.

Before reading this post, read Part 1 and Part 2 of the Blogitects’ Excellent (Mis)adventures.

After our double-tire-puncture fiasco, Thorsten and I were stranded at the entrance to the Tembe Elephant Park (about an hour from our accommodation in Kosi Bay.) We had escaped death by elephant trampling but we were still in a bit of a bind.

I recently bought a copy of Hidden Johannesburg, a hardback coffee table book featuring 28 of Joburg’s most interesting (and difficult to access, in some cases) buildings and interiors.

I’m enchanted with this book; I love flipping through, gazing at the beautiful photographs, and reminiscing about my own visits to some of the places featured. I’m pleased to say I’ve been inside 15 of the 28 buildings in the book.

First, I like to do my “best of” posts in groups of five. But there are a lot more than five great shawarma restaurants in Joburg. I thought I knew more or less where to go, but once I started researching I found Joburg’s shawarma culture extends more widely than I realized.

Several months ago I spotted a post in the @WhatsOnInJoburg Instagram feed. “Africa’s tallest Shiva Shakti Statue is in Benoni”, the post read, with a photo of the biggest, boldest, most colorful Hindu deity I’ve ever seen. I made a mental note to visit the Sivan Alayam Temple, a.k.a. the Shiva Temple, as soon as possible.