Johannesburg, South Africa

Transport & Travel Published on May 16, 2010 By RMvalues - 1 Comment

Name: Johannesburg, also referred to as Jozi, Joburg or Egoli (place of Gold)
Province: Gauteng Province
Map: Google Map
Population: 3,2 million
Altitude: 1753m
Geography: Located on the eastern high-lying plateau in South Africa referred to as the Highveld.
Climate: Dry with winter temperatures ranging from 24°-16°C. Summer is temperate with temperatures exceeding 30°C and afternoon thundershowers.
Key Economic Sectors: Retail, Finance
Professional Football Clubs: Bidvest Wits, Kaizer Chiefs, Moroka Swallows Orlando Pirates (Premier) FC AK, Jomo Cosmos (1st Division)
Stadium: Ellis Park Stadium & Soccer City Stadium

Place to See

Constitution Hill – Inspiring, impressive Constitution Hill is slowly becoming one of the city’s – if not the country’s – chief tourist attractions. Built within the ramparts of the Old Fort, which dates from 1892 and was once a notorious prison, the development focuses on South Africa’s new Constitutional Court. Ruling on constitutional and human-rights matters, the court itself is a very real symbol of the changing South Africa.

Johannesburg Art Gallery – On the Noord St side of Joubert Park (itself a no-go area) is the Johannesburg Art Gallery . This place has a reputable collection of European and South African landscape and figurative paintings, as well as a significant contemporary South African collection with more adventurous work such as multimedia installations. It also hosts large-scale, dynamic exhibitions and retrospectives of black artists.

Mandela Museum – The first stop on most tours is the Mandela Museum, just off Vilakazi St. Nelson Mandela shared this tiny home with his first wife, Evelyn, and it is filled with fascinating photographs and clutter. Among the exhibits is a letter from the State of Michigan asking George Bush Senior to apologise for the role the CIA played in Mandela’s 1962 arrest. Needless to say, it never did.

Nelson Mandela Bridge – Looming over Newtown is the Nelson Mandela Bridge. Officially opened by Nelson Mandela on 20 July 2003 (two days after his 85th birthday), the 295m, cable-stayed bridge is the longest of its kind in Southern Africa. It isn’t the most impressive structure in Jo’burg, but it is an enduring symbol of efforts to resurrect long-forgotten sections of the city and an ongoing source of pride.

Oppenheimer Tower – It was erected in gratitude to the Chairman of the Anglo-American Corporation, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, who in 1956 organised a loan from the Chamber of Mines to build 14,000 homes, improving living standards for thousands of Sowetans.

SAB Centenary Centre – It delves into that other great South African pursuit: beer drinking. It unlocks the secrets of the country’s brewing industries and there is a re-creation of a 1965 Soweto shebeen (unlicensed bar), which is all heavenly for appreciators of liquid amber.

Sci-Bono Discovery Centre – It includes a science museum and is a hands-on, interactive learning experience.

Telkom Joburg Tower – Crowned by the looming, 269m Telkom Tower, Hillbrow was once among the liveliest and most interesting suburbs in the city. It bore witness to the cracks opening in the shell of apartheid when it was designated the nation’s first ‘Grey Area’ – a zone where blacks and whites could live side by side. These days, however, it also has a reputation for very real lawlessness and a trip into its guts, without an extremely savvy guide, is not recommended.

Top of Africa – To view Jo’burg from on high, take the lift to the Top of Africa . The entrance is via a special lift one floor below street level.

Turbine Hall – Much of the area around Mary Fitzgerald Sq was once taken up by a giant power station. The huge Turbine Hall , next to SAB World of Beer, is one of the city’s more impressive buildings. The north boiler house was imploded in 2005 and now houses the impressive new headquarters of AngloGold Ashanti, beautifully developed to blend in with existing architecture. The south boiler house remains empty but is used for some wonderfully creative events. These developments were unveiled in 2008 and the area is now known as Turbine Sq.

Durban, South Africa

Transport & Travel Published on May 15, 2010 By RMvalues - 2 Comments

Name: Durban
Province: KwaZulu-Natal
Map: Google Map
Population: 3064624
Altitude: 0m
Geography: The city is located on a huge natural lagoon that forms its harbour with a range of hills inland that are the remains of fossilized sand-dunes.
Climate: Sub-tropical, mild and sunny winters, hot and humid summers. Average temperatures are around 16 to 25° C year round.
Key Economic Sectors: Tourism, transport, agriculture, manufacturing
Football Clubs: Amazulu, Golden Arrows, Thanda Royal Zulu, Maritzburg United (Premier) Durban Stars, Nathi Lions (1^st Division)
Stadium: Durban Stadium

Place to See

BAT Centre – A colourful bohemian arts centre started in 1995 as a job-creation and training project. It houses upmarket art and craft shops, artists’ studios (explore a bit to find them), occasional live music, and a bar-restaurant (Trans-African Express), all cut through with a lively trans-Africa theme. Free activities, such as regular drum circles, are on offer.

Botanic Gardens – A 20-hectare garden with one of the rarest cycads, Encephalartos woodii, as well as many species of bromeliad and is a pleasant place to wander. On weekends local bridal parties galore pose with their petals for the photographers. The gardens play host to an annual concert series featuring the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra and other concerts.

Dick King Statue – Near Gardiner St, commemorates the historic ride of this teenager in 1842 to fetch a British frigate, after the Boers took control of Durban.

Harbour – Busiest in Southern Africa (and the ninth busiest in the world). A pleasant place to view the activity is from Wilson’s Wharf or the balcony at the BAT Centre.

Mini Town – A typically tacky model city with replicas of Durban’s best-known buildings of the 1970s – best for the mini adults.

Promenade – The Promenade is the pedestrianised tourist superhighway running up the beach from Smith St north of uShaka. On the other side of the road, particularly along Marine Pde, you will find the canyon of high-rise hotels, bars, restaurants and nightclubs typical of seaside cities from Florida to Queensland.

Sun Coast Beach – The casino’s Sun Coast Beach is a safe and pleasant spot to lie and bake. It has lawn, deck chairs and brollies.

Umgeni River Bird Park – Umgeni River Bird Park on the Umgeni River makes for a relaxing escape from the throng. You can see many African bird species in lush vegetation and aviaries. Look out for the chicks in the ‘baby room’.

uShaka Marine World – Divided into several areas (Sea World, Wet’n'Wild World and uShaka Beach), uShaka Marine World boasts one of the world’s largest aquariums, the biggest collection of sharks in the southern hemisphere, a seal stadium, a dolphinarium, marine animals and exhibits, a mock-up 1940s steamer wreck featuring two classy restaurants, a shopping centre, enough freshwater rides to make you seasick, and a beach featuring activities from surfing lessons to kayaking.

Vasco da Gama Clock – A florid Victorian monument on the Victoria Embankment just east of Stanger St, was presented by the Portuguese government in 1897, the 400th anniversary of Vasco da Gama’s sighting of Natal.

Cape Town, South Africa

Transport & Travel Published on May 14, 2010 By RMvalues - 1 Comment

Name: Cape Town The city’s name is derived from its association with the Cape of Good Hope.
Province: Western Cape
Map: Google Map
Population: 1,3 million
Altitude: 0m
Geography: The city is located on either side of a mountain ridge on the Cape Peninsula and low-lying flat areas at sea level.
Climate: Mediterranean climate with winter rainfall and temperatures around 18°C. Summer time is generally warm with temperatures in the range of 25-27°C.
Key Economic Sectors: Tourism, Agriculture, Manufacturing
Professional Football Clubs: Ajax Cape Town, Santos (Premier) Hanover Park, Ikapa Sporting, FC Cape Town (1^st Division)
Stadium: Green Point Stadium

Place to See

District Six Museum – Your one essential museum visit in Cape Town should be here. As much for the people of the now vanished District Six as it is about them, this is a hugely moving and informative exhibition which repays repeat visits.

Heart of Cape Town Museum – Capetonians are very proud that their city was the first place in the world where a successful heart transplant operation was carried out (never mind that the recipient died a few days later). This museum allows you to see the very theatre in Groote Schuur Hospital where history was made in 1967.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens – Covering over 500 hectares of Table Mountain, this is one of the most beautiful gardens in the world. The landscaped section merges almost imperceptibly with the fynbos (fine bush) vegetation cloaking the mountain and overlooking False Bay and the Cape Flats. Apart from the almond hedge, some magnificent oaks, and the Moreton Bay fig and camphor trees planted by Cecil Rhodes, the gardens are devoted almost exclusively to indigenous plants.

Robben Island – Proclaimed a UN World Heritage Site in 1999, Robben Island is unmissable. Used as a prison from the early days of the VOC right up until the first years of majority rule, Robben Island’s most famous involuntary resident was Nelson Mandela. For this reason alone, it is one of Cape Town’s most popular pilgrimage spots.

Rondevlei Nature Reserve – Hippos hadn’t lived in the marshes here for 300 years until they were re-introduced in 1981 to this small, picturesque nature reserve west of Muizenberg. There are now eight hippos, but they’re shy creatures and it’s unlikely that you’ll spot them unless you stay overnight – which can be arranged.

South African Museum – South Africa’s is the oldest museum. Although not a must-see, it does contain a wide and often intriguing series of exhibitions, many on the country’s natural history. The best galleries are the newest, showcasing the art and culture of the area’s first peoples, the Khoekhoen and San, and including the famous Linton Panel, an amazing example of San rock art.

Two Oceans Aquarium – This excellent aquarium features denizens of the deep from both the cold and the warm oceans that border the Cape, including great white sharks, penguins, stingrays and turtles, along with an astounding kelp forest and pools in which kids can touch sea creatures. Qualified divers can swim with the sharks!

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