Emmarentia Johannesburg: Botanical Garden and Dam Recreation

Emmarentia is Johannesburg's green suburb par excellence, a residential neighbourhood in the western part of the northern suburbs whose identity is entirely defined by the Johannesburg Botanical Garden and the Emmarentia Dam — together forming a 125-hectare public park that serves as the primary outdoor recreation destination for the entire northern and western suburbs of the metropolitan area. On weekend mornings the dam's perimeter path fills with joggers, cyclists, dog walkers and families in a democratic outdoor gathering that cuts across the social divisions that otherwise characterise Johannesburg's suburban geography.

The Johannesburg Botanical Garden, established in 1964, maintains collections of over 5,000 plant species with particular strength in roses — the Shakespeare Garden of heritage rose varieties and the formal rose garden with its 600 named cultivars are the finest public rose collections in South Africa and among the best in the southern hemisphere. The herb garden, the indigenous South African plant collection and the succulent garden provide additional specialist interest for horticulturally engaged visitors, and the garden's events programme of plant shows, outdoor concerts and family activities makes it a year-round community institution rather than merely a static collection.

The Emmarentia Dam itself — a small recreational reservoir on the Braamfontein Spruit — provides windsurfing, kayaking and sailing for the northern suburbs' watersports enthusiasts, and the parklands along its shores serve as the setting for the Parkrun Saturday morning 5km runs that have become a social institution across Johannesburg's outdoorsy population. The surrounding suburb of Emmarentia is characterised by mid-20th century homes in mature gardens that sustain one of Johannesburg's finest private garden landscapes, and the neighbourhood's proximity to the Greenside restaurant strip makes it the natural endpoint for a morning's outdoor activity followed by a leisurely lunch.