South Africa Johannesburg - 10-million Inhabitants Live Fast And Have A Restless Spirit. By Gerald Crawford Stellenbosch At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

The capital of South Africa’s smallest province, Gauteng, Johannesburg is the economic powerhouse of Africa with its ever-growing suburban sprawl creeping outwards from the central city skyscrapers and ring-road motorways.

The more than 10-million inhabitants live fast and have a restless spirit, which they have imparted into the fabric of the city, also known by its African name as Egoli, ‘the place of gold’. The development of the city, which is just over a century old, has followed the fortunes of the Witwatersrand (White Water Reef), the rich gold-bearing rock reef that stretches across this area of central South Africa. The initial gold rush started in the 1880s, and barely ten years later Johannesburg had become South Africa’s largest town and the site of frenzied development that has been ongoing ever since.

Johannesburg today is a city of contrasts, with glass-paned modern luxury high-rise buildings towering beside a few remaining dilapidated Victorian buildings, and affluent northern suburbs filled with stunning private homes giving way to the squalid streets and tiny shoebox houses of the massive Soweto township in the south. The chasm between rich and poor in the city has given rise to a high crime rate, evidenced by the fortress-like security that pervades the wealthier suburbs.

Most visitors to South Africa, particularly those intent on exploring the game reserves of Mpumalanga, arrive at Johannesburg’s busy International Airport, which is the main point of entry for the country. There is little in Johannesburg itself to grab the attention of tourists, but a few days can be filled taking in some entertaining man-made attractions before heading off to the game parks of the northeast or the coastal regions. The most interesting diversion in Johannesburg is undoubtedly a ‘Heritage Route’ or ‘Shebeen Crawl’ tour of Soweto, but take care only to venture into the maze of the township with an organised tour or professional guide.

Johannesburg Attractions:

Gold Reef City
This entertainment complex is essentially a theme park full of thrill rides but was designed to be a re-creation of Victorian Johannesburg during the gold-rush era The park four miles km south of the city centre via the M motorway was built around the No Crown mineshaft that began operations ...

Newtown Cultural Precinct
This complex of buildings in the city centre has been upgraded and restored as part of the city fathers urban renewal policy and provides several attractions The Market Theatre and Museum Africa for instance are housed in a Victorian building in Bree Street that was originally Johannesburg s fresh produce ...

Johannesburg Zoo
The Johannesburg Zoo is a favourite place for locals to take a stroll among the numerous enclosures that house more than species of animal including polar bears that can be viewed underwater in their pool Of course the Big Five are all in residence too A tractor-tram does circuits of ...

Come for a visit.

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