Why did the chicken cross the road?
That's what a lot of motorists are asking as they watch a little black hen scratch and cluck on the edge of one of Joburg's busiest intersections.
Motorists driving along Beyers Naudé Drive and Judith Road near Melville Koppies have noticed the wily black bird on the busy roadside.
Many have tried to catch her, certain that she will meet an unfortunate death under the wheels of a car, but the chicken outruns both her potential captors and the vehicles.
Residents have nicknamed the bird "The-one-who-got-away", said Wendy Carstens, chairwoman of the Melville Koppies Nature Reserve.
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Carstens said sangomas on the koppies often killed chickens as part of their rituals, and it's believed that this one escaped slaughter.
The chicken happily scurries between the west and east koppies and the nearby botanical gardens.
The newspaper sellers at the robot feed her bread crumbs every day.
"She's very streetwise," said Carstens. "People have tried to throw stones at her to kill her and eat her, but she ducks away. She often crosses Beyers Naude and she manages to swerve round all the cars. She is very fast."
Carstens said the chicken had been at the roadside for six months and was causing quite a stir among Joburgers who phone Carstens daily about the hen's precarious existence.
Few have been able to get a photo of her. As soon as anybody comes too close, she nips through a fence and disappears. But this streetwise chicken isn't the only fowl that lives on the koppies.
Two other birds are permanent residents on the west slopes of the reserve. A big black bird lives with a smaller dappled brown blind hen.
"They are very sweet," said Carstens. "The black chicken looks after the blind one… He almost has his wing around her, keeping her warm."
Carstens added that many animals made the koppies their home. A family of about 85 guinea fowl is a regular feature and two rabbits have made the guard house a warren.
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