Constitution Hill sits on a ridge between Braamfontein and Hillbrow in central Johannesburg, and few places in South Africa carry so much history in so small a space. The Old Fort here was built in the 1890s under Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic, and it soon became a notorious prison. Over the following decades the complex, including the infamous Number Four section for black men and the Women's Jail, held thousands of people, from ordinary criminals to political prisoners. Mahatma Gandhi was detained here in the early twentieth century, and Nelson Mandela was held in the Old Fort in the 1960s.
After apartheid ended, the new democracy made a powerful decision: to build the Constitutional Court, the guardian of the country's new rights-based constitution, right here on the site of the prison. The court building, opened in the 2000s, incorporates bricks from demolished cells, and its entrance doors are carved with the rights of the constitution. The museum in the old cells is powerful and unsettling, telling the stories of prisoners through their own words. Guided tours bring the place to life and are well worth it.
Riding in central Johannesburg is busy and demanding. Traffic is heavy, minibus taxis stop without warning, and traffic lights are sometimes out of action because of power cuts or theft of cables, in which case junctions work as four-way stops. Potholes can be deep, and caution is wise around intersections. The highveld around Johannesburg is high, at around seventeen hundred metres, with crisp, clear winters and summer thunderstorms that often arrive in the late afternoon with spectacular lightning and sometimes hail.
Fuel stations are everywhere, with attendants. Park in secure areas, ideally on site, and stay alert in the surrounding streets, particularly after dark. The neighbourhood of Braamfontein next door has a lively scene of cafés, galleries and student bars, and on weekends markets with food and craft stalls. Try a bunny chow, a hollowed loaf filled with curry, or boerewors from a braai, and take a moment on the hill to look out over the city's towers.