Spring is in the Air

It appears the warm weather is finally here to stay, and with it comes the awakening of Joburg. Though desperate for a rain storm to clear the sinus swelling allergens from the air, I can certainly appreciate how everything is blossoming into life.

My newfound bravado when walking the streets prompted me to take my camera out for a stroll—not the little incognito camera, but rather the big sniper rifle version with the zoom lens. If the street dwellers don’t like it, tough, I’ll just snap their picture and steal their souls. Run for your lives, mwah-ha-ha!

Anyway, it’s hard not to be taken aback by the lurid Technicolor landscape that has become our neighborhood. They have purple trees here. Egad, man, did you hear me, purple trees! What’s next, magenta colored tap water? Neon green dirt? Unfortunately, I waited to take pictures until after the hottest day of the year, leaving the vibrant purple blossoms looking dirty gray in the big picture above.

What makes all this biodiversity particularly impressive is that none of it is native. In fact (Everybody duck and cover, incoming factoid!), Joburg is the largest man-made forest in the world. Dutch farmers moving inland from the Cape (Voortrekers) planted the first trees on the open savannah, and later mining companies followed suit. Now you know.