GAUTENG PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA - TRAVEL & ACCOMMODATION GUIDE

Gauteng Province, South Africa:

If money makes the world go round, Gauteng is one of its major axes. Meaning 'the place where the gold is' Gauteng is the economic powerhouse of Africa. It is South Africa's smallest, wealthiest and most frenetic province. Everything moves fast - cars zoom down the highways, people walk fast through the malls and offices, and new buildings spring up on the drab brown Highveld like so many glass and chrome mushrooms. 

The whole place buzzes with the energy of making money and spending money. Johannesburg and Gauteng are virtually synonymous but there's more to this province than the hectic Jozi. Pretoria is a laid back city with some lovely old buildings and a wealth of cultural attractions. 

The restored mining village of Cullinan is worth a visit for its lovely old buildings as well a mine tour and the opportunity to buy diamonds on site.

There are a number of small nature reserves where you could go for walk, or even a horse ride, and see some game. You could go hot air ballooning, paragliding or skydiving. Or take a flip in a vintage plane. A tour of the Cradle of Humankind, which is a world heritage site, offers a new way of looking at human history and prehistory.

Being such a small province, Gauteng is virtually a hub, with easy access to attractions in neighbouring provinces, most notably the Free State and North West Province.

Johannesburg Travel Information: 

Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, and the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

The city is one of the 40 largest metropolitan areas in the world, and Africa's only officially designated global city (classified as a gamma world city). 

While often assumed to be South Africa's capital, Johannesburg does not form one of South Africa's three capital cities. Johannesburg does, however, house the South African Constitutional Court - South Africa's highest court.

Johannesburg is the source of a large-scale gold and diamond trade, due to its location on the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills.

Johannesburg is also served by O.R. Tambo International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in Africa and a gateway for international air travel to and from the rest of southern Africa. The city enjoys a dry, sunny climate, with the exception of occasional late afternoon downpours in the summer months of October to April. Temperatures in Johannesburg are usually fairly mild thanks to the city's high altitude, with the average maximum daytime temperature in January of 26ºC, dropping to an average maximum of around 16°C in June.

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Sandton Travel Guide:

It has become the new financial centre of South Africa and Johannesburg's premier business centre. Much of the financial focus of Johannesburg has shifted from the Central Business District to Sandton, especially in the last 15 years. However, three of South Africa's four largest banks have kept their head offices in downtown Johannesburg, along with Transnet, the transport parastatal. The other bank, Nedbank, has its headquarters in Sandton.

But much of the "new money" has moved north to Sandton, including investment banks, financial consultants and the like. A considerable amount of the city's A-grade office space is to be found in Sandton. The JSE Securities Exchange, Johannesburg's stock exchange, relocated its offices to Sandton from the Central Business District in the late 1990s. Sandton's gain was the central business district's loss: it resulted from urban blight of the downtown Johannesburg area.

Sandton is home to the Sandton Convention Centre, one of the largest convention centres on the continent and primary site of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (also known as "Rio + 10"), which Johannesburg hosted. The convention centre also hosted the African National Congress' victory celebrations after the party won the 2004 elections.

Tourism and retail hub

One of the main attractions in Sandton is Sandton City, which ranks among the largest shopping centres in Africa. Together with Nelson Mandela Square, the centre, with some 144,000m² of shopping space, is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, larger than Sydney's Westfield Parramatta or Melbourne's Southland Shopping Centres. Much of Johannesburg's business tourism is centred on Sandton, which has a string of 5-star hotels.

It was recently announced by Liberty Properties that Sandton City will receive a R1,77-billion upgrade. Liberty Properties chief executive Samuel Ogbu has envisaged the complex as South Africa's very own Wall Street "Africa is not for sissies, but we have a bold vision, which is to see the Sandton City precinct as our own Wall Street." The redevelopment will include the construction of an 80-storey office tower, a new hotel, new retail and office space and residential apartments. The 80-storey office tower will be the tallest building in Africa, replacing the Carlton Centre in Johannesburg CBD. The extension will stretch to 30 000m² and the total complex will have a gross lettable area of 158 000m² . London-based RTKL Associates have been chosen to design the complex.

Nelson Mandela Square, formerly known as Sandton Square, was renamed in March 2004, after the unveiling of a 6-metre bronze statue of the former president, one of South Africa's greatest statesmen. Perhaps ironically, Liliesleaf Farm, where Mandela and other political activists were arrested in the 1960s and tried as part of the now infamous Rivonia Trial, is north of Nelson Mandela Square, close to the M1 Highway, off Grayston Drive. The area is now home to massive office parks and other developments, and little remains of the farm.