Johannesburg City Half Day Tour
ABOUT JOHANNESBURG
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Joburg, or Egoli (meaning the City of Gold) is the provinical capital of Gauteng and is the economic and commercial hub of South Africa. It is also South Africa’s largest city with the greater metropolitan area of Johannesburg having a population of over 12 million. It is a very sprawling city with many different nodes and neighbourhoods.
Johannesburg City Half Day Tour Details
DURATION: 3-4 hours
AVAILABILITY: Daily – except on New Year’s Day, Good Friday & Christmas Day (some attractions may be closed on other public holidays)
PICK-UP TIME: 9:00 or 13:00
MEALS: Not included
ENTRANCE FEES: Included for Constitution Hill.
(PLEASE NOTE – not all attractions on this tour are open every day)
COST: R 990.00 per person (2 people minimum)
Newtown regeneration : The old abandoned Turbine Hall recently adapted for business premises
Constitution Hill – from Fort to Court, a fascinating site
TOUR DESCRIPTION:
- We drive from your collection point through the northern suburbs (past Mandela’s house in Houghton) to Munro Drive offering an excellent view of the suburbs which give Johannesburg its reputation as the largest man-made urban forest.
- From here we pass through Hillbrow home to African immigrants from all over the continent.
- Nearby Constitution Hill is a site rich with historic layering. Originally the site of a fort in the late 19th Century Boer Republic, it later became a notorious prison where but 2 of its most famous inmates were Gandhi (in colonial times) and Mandela (under apartheid rule). It is now home to the Constitutional Court of South Africa. We join a tour of the prison and the Court.
- Driving over Mandela Bridge we reach Newtown, Jozi’s so-called cultural precinct and home to the famous Market Theatre.
- At the edge of Newtown there are some architecturally interesting buildings: the Johannesburg branch of the Reserve Bank; Helmut Jahn’s diamond building; Anglogold Ashanti’s adaptive re-use of the Turbine Hall.
- If you want a more extended tour we can visit Chancellor House opposite the Magistrate’s Court where Mandela and Tambo ran their law practice.
- In nearby Diagonal Street there are local trading stores and a traditional medicine shop (not for the faint-hearted).
- Moving to Main Street we see the headquarters of the mining giants and a walk down Main Street will take us past an old mining head gear as well as a large scale replica of the golden Mapungubwe rhino. There are pavement cafes along the way if you want a coffee break.
- Gandhi Square (a major bus terminal) takes its name from the fact that Gandhi’s law practice was located in a building facing the square.
- A trip to the top floor of the Carlton Centre gives an excellent bird’s eye perspective of Johannesburg central downtown area with the gold reef to the south and west and the wealthy suburbs to the north.
