Finally, I found the city! I was really beginning to think that it didn’t exist, that the skyscrapers you can see are only mirages in the endless trees and roads and walls and fences and security guards of the largest man-made forest in– wherever.

Newtown is just across the Nelson Mandela Bridge from the old town centre, which is apparently still not safe to visit after it deteriorated in the 90s. Newtown has been aggressively rejuvenated and developed however, and the result is a mixed and cultural neighbourhood. There’s the Museum Africa (a pretty random museum admittedly with a very all-over-the-place collection, a theatre, a little street market, some nice restaurants and bars. There’s also a nice area with grass, where a few people were sitting, a dance school and a photography school/gallery.

I guess in a normal city this would make it a pleasant enough neighbourhood to hang around in. Here it seems like some kind of paradise. And when the guide book tells me, “It’s becoming increasingly safe even at night,” well, that’s even better!