Signs and Maps from South Africa

I have a bit of a compulsive obsession, during travel, of taking photos of signs, maps, street art and graffiti that catch my eye. Here are some of the more interesting signs I saw in South Africa:

Graffiti was frequent, but more so in Johannesburg, where I mostly saw it out of a taxi window, and only managed to get two average examples.

The road signs in South Africa were phenomenally thorough (and perhaps new, due to the World Cup preparation) and I would have had a tough time getting lost if I had to drive there myself. Unfortunately not a lot were "decorated" with graffiti or sticker (again perhaps due to the preparations). My favorite was a set of stickers appended to STOP signs to make slogans such as "stop worrying," "stop & dream," or a less zen "stop wetland development."

I did manage to find a well-stickered sign in Melville, Johannesburg, and even a clever sticker on the back of a map sign out on Cape Point.

The most helpful maps were those around the stadiums, since there was often chaos in terms of fencing a crowd control and a quick glance at the map could help you avoid getting stuck at bottlenecks.

The rest of the finds were mostly ads. However there is one photo I really like - a news stand on the day of South Africa's first Cup game. The anticipation in the city was palpable, and it was great to see such blanket optimism from every local, and every local newspaper.

You can check out the whole set, with descriptions on Flickr.