Johannesburg

ABOUT

About Johannesburg

Johannesburg, South Africa's biggest city and capital of Gauteng province, began as a 19th-century gold-mining settlement. Its sprawling Soweto township was once home to Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Mandela’s former residence is now the Mandela House museum. Other Soweto museums that recount the struggle to end segregation include the somber Apartheid Museum and Constitution Hill, a former prison complex. To the northeast, Herman Eckstein Park encompasses a boating lake and Johannesburg Zoo. The Gold Reef City theme park combines thrill rides with mining history and an underground tour. The Johannesburg Art Gallery features contemporary local work and 17th-century Dutch paintings. Arts on Main is a trendy studio development in a converted industrial precinct, part of the up-and-coming Maboneng district. Upmarket stores cluster at the Sandton City Mall and Sunday’s Rosebank Rooftop Market showcases African crafts, food, and entertainment.

TOP SIGHTS

Gold Reef City

Gold Reef City is an amusement park located in an old gold mine that closed in 1971 in Johannesburg. The park is themed around the gold rush that started in 1886 on the Witwatersrand, the buildings on the park are designed to mimic the same period. It has a museum dedicated to gold mining on the grounds where it is possible to see a gold-containing ore vein and see how gold is poured into barrels. There are many attractions at Gold Reef City, including water rides, roller coasters, and the famous Gold Reef City Casino.

Apartheid Museum

Apartheid Museum is a museum in Johannesburg, South Africa illustrating apartheid and the 20th-century history of South Africa. The museum is part of the Gold Reef City complex. At least five times a year events are held at the museum to celebrate the end of apartheid and the start of a beautiful democracy for the people of South Africa.

Cradle of Humankind

The paleoanthropological site self-proclaimed as the Cradle of Humankind is located about 50 km northwest of Johannesburg in the Gauteng province. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and currently occupies 47,000 hectares and contains a complex of limestone caves. It features hominin fossils some dating back as far as 3.5 million years ago.

Montecasino

Montecasino is a leisure and casino complex in Fourways, Sandton. It is themed after Monte Cassino and has been designed to replicate an ancient Tuscan village. The main casino building has a fake sky, painted on the ceiling, inside going from light on one side to dark on the other.

Carlton Centre

Carlton Centre is a 50 story skyscraper and shopping center located in downtown Johannesburg. At 223 meters, it is the second tallest building in Africa after The Leonardo and the tallest office building. The building houses both offices and shops and has over 46% of the floor area below ground level. The Carlton Centre is linked to the Carlton Hotel by a below-ground shopping center with over 180 shops.

Nelson Mandela National Museum

Nelson Mandela National Museum commonly referred to as the Mandela House is a house on Vilakazi Street where Nelson Mandela lived from 1946 to 1962. The house is a single-story red-brick matchbox built-in 1945. It has bullet holes in the walls and the facade has scorch marks from attacks with Molotov cocktails. The inside hosts some original furnishings and memorabilia including photographs, citations were given to Nelson Mandela, and the world championship belt given to Mandela by Sugar Ray. Leonard.

Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve

Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve is a nature reserve of 640 hectares consisting of veld and koppies run by the Johannesburg City Parks and is located 11 kilometers south of Johannesburg. It is home to many species of flora and bird life, and also home to large and small mammals such as blesbok, zebra, wildebeest, and duiker. The reserve has a number of hikes and trails, archaeological sites with the Bloubos spruit flowing through the area.

Hector Pieterson Museum

Hector Pieterson Museum is a large museum located in Orlando West two blocks away from where Hector Pieterson was shot and killed on 16th June 1976. The museum is named in his honor and covers the events of the anti-Apartheid Soweto Uprising, where more than 170 protesting school children were killed. The museum features films, newspapers, personal accounts, and photographs, the most famous being the iconic photo by Sam Nzima.

Johannesburg Zoo

Johannesburg Zoo is a 55-hectare zoo dedicated to the accommodation, enrichment, husbandry, and medical care of wild animals, and houses about 2000 individuals of 320 species. Tours and excursions around the zoo are offered under the auspices of the zoo's education department and other activities offered include night tours and overnight sleepovers.

Wits Art Museum

Wits Art Museum is also known as WAM that showcases thousands of pieces of African artwork ranging from historic to contemporary. The museum boasts a vast collection of classical African items from Southern, West, and Central Africa and a small collection from East Africa. Enjoy browsing through displays of wooden sculptures, wirework, beadwork, textiles, drums, ceremonial and fighting sticks, basketry and masks.