This is Pretoria Zoo – I went there the day after seeing zebra in the wild – quite a contrast. In the background is the CBD, the Central Business District that could have been the heart of Pretoria, but has become a danger zone. The whole concept of public space is different here – houses are walled and gated, and the streets are not to be walked in. City is more a network of specific destinations than a whole that hangs together and can be sampled at one’s ease.

Pretoria system of public transport was a surprise. Apparently every Pretorian learns the 200 hand signals telling the operators of the small taxivans what destination they have in mind.  They then get picked up by the van that’s going in the right direction. The public bus stops are unused, as the hand-signal-system works from every street corner. I wonder how they pay? Have not tried the taxivans myself, but once the hand signal thing was pointed out to me I started noticing it everywhere.