Around 20,000 performers, divided into dozens of troupes, marched through the centre of Cape Town, dressed in colourful outfits, playing music and dancing at the annual Cape Town Minstrel Carnival.
"There was something missing," says the city's deputy mayor, Eddie Andrews, of the popular event, which is once again brightening the streets of South Africa's legislative capital after a two-year break due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Tens of thousands of people flocked to see the march on Monday. The carnival has its roots in colonial times, when slaves - some of whom were forcibly brought to Africa's southern tip from Southeast Asia - were allowed to relax on the day after New Year's Day.
It's now seen as a celebration of Cape Town's diverse culture.
