Come and play. Relax your shoulders and let all your tension drain away...

You´re with Johannesburg City Parks. On this website you´ll find the virtual space to walk, to breathe, to think GREEN.

Johannesburg City Parks is the Barleygreen of Joburg life: our tree-lined streets, lush parks and plant-rich cemeteries pump out the oxygen and green blood that keeps the city alive.

So pack away city trauma and experience real life. Take a stroll through the Botanic Gardens. Sniff the rosemary. Write an Ode to a Rose. Watch a duck diving into the dam. Flex your biceps like a canoeist. Drive to Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve and make a list of all the different birds and plants you spot. Stand next to Enoch Sontonga´s grave and imagine what he must have been dreaming of when he wrote ´Nkosi Sikelel´ iAfrica´. Climb the Melville Koppies and check out the view. How might that landscape have changed since frisbeeless Stone Age youth first flipped his flint knife from the top of the ridge?

You´ll be surprised to find the city´s freshest memories are always with us. They live in our green spaces and spurt in our places of rest and recreation. Regeneration, revival, recouperation, regrowth: these recouperation themes link people and the earth. Environmental awareness generates growth. Even our cemeteries sing with the consciousness of the cycles of change. Life grows into death and feeds back into life.

We are lucky to have communities in Joburg who care as much about the environment and neighbourhood treasures as we do. Bridging the green divide between the developed and developing suburbs of Joburg is now a possibility through public-private partnerships and community-based initiatives. We no longer talk about ´challenges´ at Johannesburg City Parks. Instead, we speak of ´solutions´.

Visitors to Johannesburg City Parks are urged to take the necessary safety precautions when visiting, walking, hiking or enjoying a family outing, in parks, cemeteries, nature reserves and open spaces.


Enjoy your visit to www.jhbcityparks.com.



PS. If you have spare time (or if you´re a kid with nothing to do in your holidays) think about working as a volunteer for Johannesburg City Parks. Mail us at ooliphant@jhbcityparks.com