Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
Johannesburg, known to locals simply as Joburg, has long been dubbed Egoli, which means "the city of gold" in Zulu. The moniker comes from the gold mines that made it the wealthiest metropolis in Africa.
But in spring, in October, the avenues turn purple and the city of gold becomes the city of amethyst. You walk in a sea of violet blooms that cover the sidewalks, and the canopy of tree branches above is a purple haze.
Jacarandas, as synonymous to Joburg as cherry blossoms to Japan, are actually an import, bought to South Africa from Brazil in the 19th century. There are an estimated 50,000 jacarandas — some as old as 100 — across the city. (Joburg is often called one of the world's largest , so there are plenty of other plants — like the huge pink bougainvillea you see here across from the jacarandas).
When I moved to Joburg to work as a journalist eight years ago — having never lived in South Africa, which my parents left during apartheid — it was jacaranda season. The flowers evoked my youth in neighboring Zimbabwe, where they also grow prolifically. Since leaving Zimbabwe at age 17, I'd become something of a nomad, living in Asia, Australia and Europe, and didn't really consider myself any particular nationality.
When I arrived in democratic South Africa, among the jacaranda trees of my childhood, for the first time in a long time I felt a sense of home.
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