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Johannesburg
The bustling city of Johannesburg, which is situated in the Gauteng Province, is the major international gateway into South Africa. It is a vibrant and dynamic place with a throbbing pulse and an awesome sense of rhythm are evident.
Johannesburg is the de facto capital of Africa - in the centre of Johannesburg, you will find people from all over the continent, and in some pretty unusual and out-of-the way venues, one can sample their cuisine and jive to their music.
Also in the city centre is the Civic Theatre, and the Newtown Cultural Project, with Museum Africa. But the head offices of major corporations, and the majority of businesses, have moved out to the northern suburbs and to Midrand which is the burgeoning industrial, commercial, semi-agricultural and residential area halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria.
The northern suburbs radiate a sense of opulence and prosperity. The many shopping malls carry a vast range of high quality consumer goods, including many luxuries, and the hundreds of restaurants and coffee shops offer a wide range of fashionable cuisines.
Many sightseeing places await the visitor in Johannesburg. You could go on an escorted tour of Soweto. A visit to Gold Reef City is a fun day out with amusement rides and a reconstructed mining village, but it is a lot more authentic than most theme parks. The trip down a gold mine is a unique experience, but that's nothing compared to the paradigm shift many people may experience in visiting the Apartheid Museum, also at Gold Reef City.
And for the golf enthusiast, Johannesburg is a wonderful destination. The city boasts an ideal climate for spending time out on the fairways under the bright African sun, and golfers here are blessed for choice, there are golf courses aplenty in the city and more widely in its province, Gauteng.
For travellers wanting to watch something unbelievably beautiful, one should watch a performance by the Lippizaner horses on a Sunday morning, at their premises in Kyalami. You could do a walking tour to look at some lovely old buildings, or just park off at a coffee shop in a mall and watch the world and its wallet walk past.
Soweto
Infused with the history of the struggle against apartheid and abuzz with the energy of the city of gold, Soweto is a must-see for tourists who are looking for more than sun, sea and the big five.
With heritage sites, restaurants, shebeens and budget accommodation options aplenty, Soweto is well worth visiting, whether on a day tour or for a longer period to experience the real Soweto, a place of friendship, vibrancy and contrasts.
Soweto is the most populous black urban residential area in the country, with Census 2001 putting its population at close to a million. Thanks to its proximity to Johannesburg, the economic hub of the country, it is also the most metropolitan township in the country - setting trends in politics, fashion, music, dance and language.
Pretoria, the city of jacarandas
Known as the city of the beautiful jacaranda trees, with its purple blossom-bedecked trees which line its thoroughfares, Pretoria is a lovely, quiet city. It has a long, involved and fascinating history.
It is here where the traveller will find many significant old buildings and some fascinating museums. The Transvaal Museum has wonderful natural history displays and is the home of Mrs Ples, the australopithecine fossil found at Sterkfontein in the Cradle of Humankind. Also worth visiting are the Cultural History Museum and the Smuts Museum, just outside town.
The Union Buildings changed overnight from a symbol of white, neo-colonial unity to one of true unity, and the iconic Voortrekker Monument still stands.
Pretoria is a unique city with quite a few open spaces where you can walk or mountain bike. Nearby is the Premier Game Reserve, next door to the Cullinan Diamond Mine, where the largest diamond in the world was found.
You could do a short horse trail at the Voortrekker Monument or through the Premier Reserve, taking a careful look at some white rhino and a number of eland - which are pretty much the size of a big horse. You could do a tandem skydive or a first jump at the Pretoria Skydiving Club, which is the largest in the country.
Sightseeing places and attractions in and around Johannesburg:
Golf Reef City Theme Park and Casino
Emperors Palace and Casino
Johannesburg Zoo
Military History Musem
Constitution Hill, Braamfontein and the Nelson Mandela Bridge
Newtown district
Apartheid Museum
Lion Park
Soweto
Lesedi Cultural Village in the Magaliesberg
The Cradle of Humankind, Magaliesberg
Lion and Rhino Nature Reserve in Krugersdorp
Lifestyle Garden Centre
South African Lipizzaners in Kyalami
Krugersdorp Game Reserve
Sandton
One of the main attractions in Sandton is Sandton City itself, which ranks among the largest shopping centres in Africa. Together with the famous Nelson Mandela Square where one can find the Michelangelo Hotel, the Michelangelo Towers Hotel, the Raphael Penthouse Suites as well as the Sandton Sun Hotel and the Intercontinental Sandton Towers, the centre, with some 144,000 m2 of shopping space, is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Much of Johannesburg's business tourism is centred in Sandton.
The Nelson Mandela Square which was formerly known as Sandton Square, was renamed in March 2004, after the unveiling of a 6-metre bronze statue of the former president, one of South Africa's greatest statesmen. Perhaps ironically, Liliesleaf Farm, where Nelson Mandela lived in the early 1960s and where many leading political activists were arrested in 1963 and tried as part of the now infamous Rivonia Trial, is north of Nelson Mandela Square, close to the N3 Highway, off Rivonia Road.
The Gautrain is an 80-kilometre high speed train system which is under construction in the Gautenge Province of South Africa. Once built and operationa, the Gautrain will link Johannesburg, Pretoria and the OR Tambo International Airport / Johannesburg International Airport. It is hoped that this railway will relieve the traffic congestion in the Johannesburg - Pretoria regions by offereing commuters a viable alternative to the road transport, as Johannesburg has a limited public transport infrastructure.
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For more Johannesburg Accommodation options, please go to South African Hotels.
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