South Africa Travel Guide
The Cities
South Africa has some great cities. They are mainly modern, vibrant places; each one is a product of its own unique location, history and ethnic mix. They can also be very dodgy places to visit and the visitor should keep their wits about them at all times.
Durban
This is the third largest city in South Africa, it's the largest city in Kwa Zulu Natal and has a reputation for its broadly liberal outlook. It is also one of the worlds great beach holiday destinations.
The city was named for D'Urban, a Cape Colony governor, in 1835 and it enjoyed mixed fortunes over the years until the British annexed it from the Boers in the early 1840's. At this point, its development as a trading port began.
The weather is glorious year round although it can become uncomfortably sticky during high summer.
The beaches - of which there are more than 10- are patrolled and protected by Shark nets. The surfing matches anywhere in the world.
There are a number of galleries and museums and an excellent Seaworld. As befits any South African city, sporting facilities abound and include all manner of adventure pursuits as well as world class golf courses to the south of the city.
Durban is home to a large number of people from the Indian sub continent, mostly these people descended from indentured Indian labour that was brought into the country to work the extensive cane fields in the 1860's. A form of slave labour by any other name.
Durban has the countries largest mosque and a huge Hare Krishna temple. It is a fast growing place and Africa's biggest port. All of which combine to make Durban a city with a very positive, energetic atmosphere.
Johannesburg & Soweto
A city of cultural diversity and contrast. Yawn! How much of a cliché is that. Trouble is its true.
Johannesburg and its precocious offspring represent the good things and the bad things that made South Africa in the past and continue to shape the future.
Jo'Burg is there because of the gold and the rampant greed and avarice that drove the economy in the past. Soweto was begun as a township, a ghetto into which blacks were herded. Far enough away from the white populace not to be an irritant but close enough to provide dirt-cheap labour. Both cities have areas of conspicuous wealth alongside those of grinding poverty.
Johannesburg was founded shortly after the discovery of gold in 1886; by 1889 it was the largest city in Africa. The city is on track to regain this title; it is currently the third largest but is growing fast. It is still the powerhouse of the economy and is easily the richest city on the continent.
Soweto came about in the late 1940's when the many blacks living in camps all around Jo'Burg were moved. The name is derived from South-Western Townships.
Due to the problems attendant with the poor conditions in Soweto they became a hotbed for the struggle against apartheid and the area has witnessed scenes of terrible violence over the years. Even now one of the distinguishing features of this vast conurbation is its high level of violent crime. Despite this things are beginning to improve albeit slowly. The atmosphere surrounding Soweto is one of an uneasy optimism.
For the visitor there is much to recommend Jo'Burg it's central role in the history of South Africa is only part of the story. This is further explained in the Museum Africa a must see attraction.
There are other museums and galleries including the Bernard Price Museum of Palaentology. A fascinating place for those keen on tracing our ancestry back to Lucy. The Jo'Burg Art Gallery is also worth a look.
Pretoria
Geographically not far from Johannesburg and Soweto but a trillion light years away culturally is Pretoria. This administrative capital of the country, viewed by some as too boring and by others as too Boer-ing, is a comparatively sleepy and refined place.
This is where the foreign embassies are based and civil servants of all types abound.
In the past Pretoria was steadfastly a Boer city and resolutely in favour of apartheid; a visit to the nearby Voortrekker monument may help explain the rationale (however loopy it may seem) that lay behind apartheid.
A visit here should also include the Union Buildings where Mandela was sworn in as President and the cities green spaces are worth a leisurely stroll. Paul Krugers modest house, a monument to this most unique of men, is also worth a look.
Africa's best zoo is situated at the National Zoological Gardens and there are several fine museums including the national Cultural History Museum and the Transvaal Museum of natural History.
Other Cities
Pietermaritzberg is capital of Kwa Zulu Natal and maintains a genteel British-Colonial feel.
Port Elizabeth is a major centre for watersports and is a genuinely welcoming place to visit.
The place where wealth first came to South Africa was in the diamond fields of Kimberley. Found somewhat out on its own to the west of the country it is worth visiting to have a look at the Big Hole. This is, unsurprisingly, a 'big hole', the largest dug by man and testimony to the wealth torn from the ground here. Bloemfontein, capital of the Free State is the countries judicial capital and a pleasant place to visit. It is beginning to shrug off its conservative past and becoming more lively.
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