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Ooh, the whole of New York and London must be shooketh right now.

Why is that so? It is because Meghan Markle is rocking a British accent now?

Nah, fam, it’s because they’ve both been beaten out by two South African neighbourhoods in Forbes’ list of the “coolest neighbourhoods in the world”.

As Business Insider SA has reported, Cape Town’s Kalk Bay and Johannesburg’s Maboneng suburb cracked the top 12.

To emphasise how great this is, take a gander at the other names that they beat out:

The neighbourhoods beat Manhattan in New York, and London’s fashionable Soho district to be included on the list of just 12 neighbourhoods.

The list also includes Amsterdam Noord in Amsterdam, Keramikos in Athens, and Seongsu-dong in Seoul …

Other entries on the Forbes list include Saints in Barcelona, Navy Yard in Washington DC, Getsemani in Cartagena, Plekhanov in Tbilisi, Casco Viejo in Panama City, District 5 in Saigon, and Pilsen in Chicago.

Here are the deets of the SA’s top-ranking neighbourhoods, starting with Maboneng:

Maboneng has transformed from a no-go zone at the end of Apartheid to a “lively urban area with blossoming art and culinary scenes”, Melissa Biggs Bradley, founder of luxury travel agency Indagare, told Forbes.

Maboneng, a Sotho word meaning “place of light”, is known for the Museum of African Design in Arts on Main, a complex of restored factories and buildings which now house several galleries, restaurants and boutiques

Kalk Bay is also killing it:

Tom Marchant, the founder of travel specialists Black Tomato, called Kalk Bay a “vibrant harbour neighbourhood” with several picturesque cafes which are the talk of Cape Town.

“A seaside haven slightly removed from the bustle of Cape Town, the former fishing village Kalk Bay is attracting more than just the local surfer community,” Merchant told Forbes.

“Locals have always known that Kalk Bay is a cool place, but its inclusion in the Forbes list means that many of our international visitors may now put it on their itineraries,” says Western Cape Economic Opportunities MEC Alan Winde.

Bravo to Jozi and the Mother City for setting the bar so high!

[source:businessinsider]