Johannesburg Heritage Foundation : Kensington Unearthed

Let us begin with the default assumption that I am the problem - experience suggests this is usually the safest starting point.

When I came across this walk hosted by the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation, I was immediately interested.

Not because I've suddenly become sociable. Let's not get carried away.

But I genuinely love discovering corners of South Africa that are far better than the headlines would have us believe.

I invited my hiking pal Lavender along.

She's endlessly curious, calm, and possesses the kind of inner peace that I can only assume comes naturally to people whose brains don't overthink absolutely everything, invent problems that don't exist, and then spend three hours trying to solve them.

Fortunately, some of that serenity rubs off on me when we're out adventuring together.

Why I Love Exploring South Africa

In most areas of life, I am a committed pessimist.

But when it comes to South Africa and the outdoors, something strange happens. I become fiercely protective.

My glass remains stubbornly half full while the half-empty brigade conducts regular meetings elsewhere.

I genuinely enjoy finding places that challenge the doom and gloom narrative, and I love sharing those stories.

Consider me a "one person anti bad news brigade."

The last heritage walk I attended taught me something important - if I ignore the running commentary about everything that is broken - I tend to notice everything that is working.

And there is usually far more of that than people realise.

Group Tours

Now for a confession.

I don't particularly enjoy large groups.

There's something about standing in a crowd while someone dispenses information that transports me straight back to school. Which is slightly awkward given that I voluntarily paid to attend this history lesson.

My natural instinct is to drift off into my own little world, camera in hand, photographing the quirks that make South Africa so wonderfully South African.

For example, I will notice a vibrant mural and think about creativity, symbolism and self-expression.

Someone else will look at the exact same wall, grumble about graffiti and mutter darkly about societal decline.

We are clearly not having the same experience.

Kensington Through My Lens

If I knew the routes well enough, I would happily gather a few friends and explore Kensington independently.

I would rather absorb the community, culture and character of a place than receive a running update on municipal failures. If I wanted that, I could stay at home and watch the news.

Or climb a mountain in Magaliesburg where nobody is available to provide a detailed commentary on the state of the nation.

To be fair, heritage walks often include those broader social discussions. That's part of the package. So I really have no right to complain.

And yet, somehow, here we are.

Kensington's first house

The good news is that I went, I saw and I remained firmly inside my stubborn little positivity bubble.

What to Expect on the Walk

For those who enjoy history, architecture and local stories - whether you embrace negative narratives or actively collect them - this walk is genuinely fascinating, informative and extremely well organised.

The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation hosts a variety of walks and tours covering different neighbourhoods and aspects of the city's history.

If this sounds like your sort of thing, a quick Google search will point you in the right direction.

There is bound to be something that sparks your curiosity.

The Walk

We met at the Kensington Bowling Club before setting off on a couple of hours of exploring the neighbourhood.

What did I see?

Culture.

Quirkiness.

Community.

And plenty of evidence that people are actively trying to improve and beautify the area.

That was exactly what I needed to see.

Is the Walk Difficult?

Participants were warned that the walk would be moderately strenuous, including a climb up Langerman Koppies and some uneven terrain.

The recommendations were sensible enough:

Comfortable walking shoes

A sun hat

Plenty of water

The total distance is approximately 3 km.

In reality, we were greeted by a bitterly cold Johannesburg day, making my enthusiastic over-packing of a 3 l hydration pack and my regular hiking gear look spectacularly unnecessary.

The climb up the koppie involves a gentle incline rather than anything dramatic.

The rest of the route is straightforward, walking through the streets of Kensington.

Final Thoughts

Would I recommend the Kensington Heritage Walk?

Absolutely.

Not because everything was perfect.

Not because every story was uplifting.

But because beneath all the noise, I found exactly what I had gone looking for - character, history, resilience and a community that clearly cares.

And sometimes that's enough to keep the glass half full.

And thank you, Lavender. You were the perfect companion for this adventure.

We're remarkably similar, except you're me without the overthinking, the ADHD, the OCD tendencies, and the collection of personality glitches that would probably keep a therapist employed for years.

You're essentially Version 2.0.

The bug-fix update.

If only there was a way to bottle a little bit of whatever it is you have.

Then perhaps I could keep my Zen levels fully restored during the inconvenient stretches of life when I am not wandering around nature with a camera in hand.

Until then, I'll continue restoring my sanity the old-fashioned way - wandering around South Africa with a camera, stubbornly looking for the good stuff.

Thankfully, there's still plenty of it to find.