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Gauteng, South Africa’s economic heart is a bustling place and boasts a pleasant climate.
They came from far and wide to strike it rich in Johannesburg when gold was discovered in 1886, and the City of Gold, Egoli still pulsates with entrepreneurial energy. Gold Reef City provides a sense of what the city was like after prospectors poured into the area in the late 19th Century. This huge historical theme park, just outside the city, was built on the site of the Crown Mines, which was the world’s richest gold mine until it closed in 1975. Daily displays of gumboot dancing, which migrant mineworkers developed in their cramped hostels as a form of rec-reation are a big crowd-pleaser.
South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg remains its financial and commercial heart, housing its Stock Exchange, which towers symbolically over the city’s financial district. It’s in this fast-paced city that the country’s radical political and social transformation is most evident: this is the ‘Rainbow Nation’ at work, at play ... and out shopping. The vast, opulent shopping centres - Sandton, Hyde Park, Rosebank, Melrose Arch and Fourways - with their exclusive boutiques, eateries and entertainment complexes, reflect the immense spending power of Johannesburg’s people.
In the middle of shopper’s paradise is the Sandton Convention Centre, one of South Africa’s largest and most prestigious exhibition and convention centres.
LESEDI CULTURAL VILLAGE
A pleasant 40-minute drive from Sandton and Pretoria,brings you a fusion of charming and earthy African cultures. Lesedi is a Sotho word meaning ‘light’. A traditional welcome starts the program. The multi-media presentation (in 5 international languages) in the Ndebele theatre sets the scene for a 45-minute tour of the authentic Zulu, Sotho, Xhosa and Pedi villages. Visitors experience and learn about some of the cultural traditions and myths of each. In the dance boma, visitors are then treated to a song and dance performance (30-minutes) moving to the heartbeat of Africa. An African feast in Nyama Choma follows. Programmes run twice daily: 11h30 & 16h30.
The misery of the migrant labour system resulted in millions of torn-apart black families is and grittily portrayed, along with the many other social injustices of that shameful era of our history, in the newly opened Apartheid Museum, a must-see for locals and visitors alike.
Museum visitors are issued with passes according to their racial classification, and are made to enter the museum either through the whites or ‘non-whites’ door.
And so begins an extraordinary journey of sight and sound, through dispossession of this land’s first inhabitants, the beginnings of white supremacy and the rise of Nationalism in the late ‘40s through to the Rivonia Trial, forced removals, Soweto uprising, Nelson Mandela’s release from prison and the first democratic election in 1994.
A natural next stop is the ‘other’ Johannesburg, the South Western Township, better known as Soweto, which has been synonymous with the Black Struggle against oppression since the riots of 1976. By far the most intriguing way to visit this smoky, sprawling township - a unique jumble of shacks, regulation two-room houses, mansions and roadside stalls - is to go on a supervised shebeen crawl. The relaxed drinking dens are colourful meeting spots with loud music, friendly people and basic fare. The complexities of South African life, past and present, are showcased in the city’s artistic heart: the vibrant Market Theatre Complex in the city centre. It houses art galleries, restaurants, a shopping arcade and an offbeat flea market every Saturday. And then there are the other suburbs surrounding Jo’burg - some 20 of them, each with their own business centres and unique features, such as the renowned Johannesburg Zoo in Parkview.
The Magaliesberg area, just an hour’s drive away from Johannesburg, is a magnet for people who live in the urban jungle, offering tranquil hills and valleys, lovely scenic drives and gentle walks, inviting country hide-aways, and a wonderful arts and crafts route.
And thanks to a discovery at Krugersdorp, Johannesburg has earned a new boast. The Sterkfontein Caves, where some of the earliest known hominoids were recently unearthed, have been proclaimed a World Heritage Site. A visit to the site is a pilgrimage to the dawn of humanity. In this sense, the city has undoubtedly struck gold again.
It’s a tribute to South Africa’s political maturity that its administrative capital, Pretoria, still teems with statues and monuments commemorating a time when the country’s indigenous people were brutally oppressed. The city’s central feature, Church Square, remains dominated by a huge bronze statue of ‘Oom Paul’ Kruger, generally regarded as the father of Afrikanerdom, and high on a hill south of the city centre lies the massive Voortrekker Monument, which is regarded as a shrine to the Afrikaner community.
The hamlet of Hatfield near the famous Loftus Rugby Stadium, is a particularly ‘happening’ part of the city; with its many restaurants and nightclubs. And half way between Pretoria and Midrand is the suburb of Centurion, which boomed in the early eighties when the man-made Centurion Lake and shopping centre were developed along the Hennops River.
From booms to blooms ... each spring the entire city turns a glorious shade of lilac. The first Jacaranda tree was imported to Pretoria from Brazil in 1888 and today some 70 000 of the feathered, lilac-foliaged trees grace parks, gardens and streets, providing a visual feast.
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