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We provide day tours to tourist
attractions in and around the Johannesburg area:
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Apartheid
Museum
The Apartheid Museum, the first of its kind,
illustrates the rise and fall of apartheid: The racially
prejudiced system that blighted much of its progress
and the triumph of reason which crowned half a century
of struggle. Make sure you allocate sufficient time
to spend wandering through this disquieting, enlightening
and informative record of the bleak days of segregation
in South Africa. The creators have used many ingenious
ways to make the past come to life. |
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The Lion
Park
The Lion Park, situated near
Lanseria Airport north of Johannesburg, serves as
a gateway and introduction to the splendors of Africa’s
Wildlife. It is home to more than 70 lions including
white lions, cheetahs, wild dogs, brown and spotted
hyenas, black leopards and many more. Apart from the
larger carnivores a variety of plains game species
roam freely in the Lion Park's antelope area. The
208 hectare Lion Park was first established in November
1966 by the world-famous Chipper Fields Circus and
has been operating ever since. The Lion Park is open
every day of the year. |
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Sun City
South Africa's glitzy answer
to Las Vegas. Sun City is situated in the sun-drenched
bushveld and is surrounded by the mega-entertainment
area of the Lost City. Sun City offers more than one
arm bandits and roulette tables. If you need a break
from the casino relax outdoors and enjoy a day at
the 'beach' at the Valley of the Waves, a man-made
wave pool surrounded by a sandy beach. Many water
activities such as going down spiralling rides in
large rubber rings and body surfing. Children can
enjoy the Game Zone while parents try their luck in
the casino. |
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Gold Reef
City
Built around the No.14 shaft
of Crown Mines, Gold Reef City was created around
an authentic 19th century gold mine, one can view
fully furnished miner's houses with the original furniture
and fittings. The museum exhibits include antique
clothing and children's toys, which will take the
visitor back 100 years to the city that was. A train
encircles the park and there are many interesting
curios shops.You can also visit the original gold
mine in a lift that goes down to 220 meters below
the surface. Even more reasons to visit Gold Reef
City Theme Park. Besides being a non-stop fun and
adrenalin pumping action venue, the Theme Park also
offers an enlightening and educational experience.
See coins minted, gold poured, visit the Farmyard
or get on one of the many thrilling rides. Experience
the descent into the deepest mineshaft and then enjoy
live entertainment on the city streets! There is also
a casino onsite which is open 24 hours daily. Gold
Reef City is open every day except Christmas Day and
Mondays (unless the Monday is a Gauteng school holiday
or public holiday) |
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Joburg
City Tour
Visit the the historical buildings
of downtown Joburg passing the much talked about area
- Hillbrow. Visit the largest cable-stayed bridge
in Southern Africa - the Nelson Mandela Bridge. If
trendy and arty is a theme you enjoy, then you will
delight in what the suburb of Melville has to offer.
Take a tour through the affluent Wescliff and Houghton
suburbs, see the Brixton Tower, Emmarentia Gardens
and enjoy Zoo Lake on a hot summers day. |
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Soweto Tours
You will get the complete
historic background of how Soweto came into life.
You visit different squatter camps like the Nelson
Mandela Camp and Kliptown Camp next to Freedom Square.
You will visit a shelter for streetkids, a family,
a shebeen and Regina Mundi Catholic church in Rockville
where people meet to remember the victims of the
uprising on June, 16th 1975. On this day four school
kids got shot by the police. It happend after a
demonstration of school kids that were against the
official school language Afrikaans. The peaceful
demonstration turned into an uprising and became
headline in the news all over the world. You
can enjoy the traditional pap & stew lunch either
at a shebeen or in a buffet restaurant. You will
see the original house in which Winnie and Nelson
Mandela lived before Nelson got put into jail at
Robben Island near Cape Town. This house is now
a museum not too far away from Bishop Desmond Tutu's
residence and the clinic where the victims of the
uprising was officially declared dead. There is
a monument for Hector Pieterson, one of the school
kids that got shot and the Hector Pieterson museum
was reopened on June 16, 2001. You will not only
be shown the squatter camps but also the other parts
of Soweto: Villas with neatly cut lawn and a Mercedes
parked in the driveway.
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Lesedi
Cultural Village
Lesedi is a multi-cultural
village set amongst the pristine bushveld and rocky
hills less than an hour’s drive north of Joburg.
Lesedi Cultural Village offers two unique day experiences
where guests can share the excitement and warmth of
true rural African culture.
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Pilanesberg
Don your khakis, slather
on the sun block and get out into this 55000 hectare
malaria-free national park. Game viewing has never
been so easy. You can float over the veld looking
for elusive spotted cats. We promise you won't be
disappointed.
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MuseuMAfricA
MuseuMAfricA has some excellect
exhibits on the history of the area, notable a reconstruction
of Sophiatown, the Harlem of Johannesburg, where many
artists like Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masakela first
performed in the 1950s before going into exile. There
is also an exhibit on the history of gold going back
a thousand years as well as some pre-historic exhibits.
There is also a great reconstruction (with original
fittings) of a typical Johannesburg gold rush bar
from the 1880s. Make a trip to the museum, definately
a worthwhile experience. (Photo: City
of Johannesburg) |
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Mai Mai
Market
A must for every tourist and
visitor to Joburg. The Mai Mai is the oldest market
in Joburg - dedicated to traditional healing boasting
a rich concentration of traditional herbs and healers.
For a truly African experience, visitors buy traditional
artefacts, including Zulu attire, clothes made from
animal skins and feathers, walking sticks, knobkerries,
shields, sandals, beaded items. (Photo: City
of Johannesburg)
Where:
Cnr Anderson & Berea Streets, Joburg
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Constitution
Hill
Constitution Hill is the site
of Johannesburg’s notorious Old Fort Prison
Complex, commonly known as Number Four, where thousands
of ordinary people were brutally punished before the
dawn of democracy in 1994. Many of South Africa’s
leading political activists, including Mahatma Gandhi
and Nelson Mandela, were detained here.With the move
of the Constitutional Court to the prison site, what
was once a place of injustice and brutality has become
a place of solidarity and democracy for South Africa.
Situated on a hill overlooking the bustling Johannesburg
inner city to the south and the forested suburbs to
the north, the site provides a unique perspective
on the City of Gold and its dramatic history.There
are a variety of exhibitions and features to visit
at Constitution Hill.
(Photo: City
of Johannesburg) |
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The Old
Fort
The ramparts of the Old Fort
were built by Paul Kruger, from 1896 to 1899, to protect
the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek (ZAR) from the threat
of British invasion, and to keep watch over the miners
flocking to find gold in the village below. Today
you can visit the Mandela Cell exhibition that documents
Mandela’s time at the Old Fort and, with the
help of guided tours, you can unearth the stories
behind the musty cells and peeling courtyards of Johannesburg’s
most intriguing building.(Photo:
City
of Johannesburg)
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Women’s
Jail
Built in 1910, the grace of
this Victorian brick building obscures the pain and
humiliation suffered by the many women detained within
it. The jail held black and white women in separate
sections. The infamous murderess Daisy De Melker was
held here, as were prominent activists Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
and Albertina Sisulu. But the vast majority of inmates
were neither murderers nor activists. (Photo:
City
of Johannesburg) |
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The Constitutional
Court
The Constitutional Court is
the home of the Constitution, the highest law of the
land. Like the Constitution itself, the new Court
is designed to be open, accessible and transparent.
The Court is built around the remaining stairwells
of the old Awaiting Trail Block.
(Photo: www.constitutionalcourt.org.za) |
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Great African
Steps
The Great African Steps were
built with the bricks of the demolished Awaiting Trial
Block, where black male prisoners were kept awaiting
trial. The steps will take you up the hill, between
the solid-stone wall of the notorious Number Four
prison to the right and the open glass and light of
the Constitutional Court to the left.
(Photo: www.constitutionalcourt.org.za) |
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Number
Four
Number Four is the place where
thousands of black men were imprisoned and brutalised,
but it is also the place where many learned to survive
and defy their jailors. Many of the prisoners were
guilty of non-political crimes. But many fell foul
of race laws or were guilty of resisting these laws,
such as Mahatma Gandhi and Robert Sobukwe. A visit
to the Number Four exhibition raises the question
of who is a criminal and evokes the experience of
what it was like to be imprisoned in this place of
darkness. |
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Santarama
Joburg in Miniature. If you
haven't yet visited Santarama Miniland, let the kids
take a magical trip aboard the Cadbury's Chocolate
Eclairs Mini-Train to embark on a fascinating journey
through South African history and development. Over
100 scale models of prominent landmarks are displayed
in the eight acres of beautiful gardens on the banks
of the Wemmer Pan. Step aboard the Sunrise Toffee
Ferry for a tranquil boat ride on the Wemmer Pan and
sail alongside Van Riebeeck's galleon as you return
to shore. This full sized model of the Dromedaris
is on permanent exhibition at Santarama and remains
a popular function venue for any occasion. See South
Africa in a day and enjoy so much more. |
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Elephant
Sanctuary
Experience South Africa’s
elephants first-hand at The Elephant Sanctuary. Nestled
in the Magaliesberg Mountains only one hour from Johannesburg
and Pretoria, the Elephant Sanctuary lies in a malaria-free
area. It is surrounded by natural indigenous bush
and is home to impala, klipspringer, baboons, porcupine,
caracal, leopard, a host of other small mammals, 350
bird species and of course six magnificent African
Elephants.The Sanctuary plays host to five domesticated
African elephants, which you get to meet first-hand
when they accompany you on an unforgettable walk through
the indigenous African bush. Booking is essential
for all the programs. (www.elephantsanctuary.co.za) |
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Sterkfontein
Caves
Sterkfontein is one of the
world's most productive and important palaeoanthropological
sites. It is the place where the very fist adult ape-man
was found by Dr Robert Broom in 1936. This ancient
cave system has over the years revealed a sequence
of deposits with fossils dating from about 3.5 to
1.5 million years ago. In addition to almost 500 skull,
jaw, teeth and skeletal fossils of these early hominids.
(www.sterkfontein-caves.co.za) |
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Rhino &
Lion Nature Reserve
The Rhino & Lion Nature
Reserve home to some of Southern Africa’s most
endangered species boasting with rhino, lion (brown
& white), cheetah, wild dog, tiger and 20 other
species. Only 30 minutes drive from Joburg it is situated
in the heart of the “Cradle of Humankind”
– a World Heritage Site famous for its paleo-anthropological
and archaeological discoveries. Picnic / braai facilities
with Kiosk, Curio shop and Croc pub, Raptor displays,
4 x 4 trails, an upmarket tented camp, self catering
chalets, day & night drives and horse trails are
just some of the activities offered. |
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Wonder
Cave
In the Kromdraai Valley, near
Sterkfontein, you can take a surreal trip down the
Wondercave into the magical world of stalagmites and
stalactites. The enormous Wonder Cave is believed
to be 2,2-million-years-old. It contains drip stone
formations and is home to a bat colony. Well-lit pathways
have been constructed to allow the public access to
the site. Situated about 10km north of Krugersdorp. |
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The Cradle
of Humankind
Just over 30 minutes drive
from Joburg lies The Cradle of Humankind. A unique
natural, cultural and historical tourism experience.
Take an exciting 4-billion-year journey on an underground
lake, through the elemental forces – water,
air, fire and earth – dipping through waterfalls
and real icebergs, into the eye of an storm, past
erupting volcanoes and through the depths of the earth
and emerging at the beginning of the world. From here,
the journey continues through an experience highlighting
the history of our world and humankind as a species,
brought to life via audiovisual techniques, evocative
sounds effects, theme-park technology and theatrical
displays. There are also real fossils on display. |
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Petra
Guest House
website by www.graphicpen.co.za
Recommended
by: Hospitality Site |
