• Standard Bank Ferreira Mine Stope - In the 1980s, while Standard Bank was laying the foundations for its new headquarters in Johannesburg’s city center, builders discovered the entrance to a long-forgotten mine stope from the city’s earliest gold-mining days.

The mine stope was preserved during the building’s completion and is now open daily to visitors.

The stope is named after Ignatius Phillip Ferreira, a farmer, soldier, and prospector who left Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape to join the Gauteng gold rush in 1886. He established one of the area’s first mining camps in July 1886 and struck gold just three months later.

• Constitution Hill Human Rights Precinct - Constitution Hill symbolizes South Africa’s dark past and its bright post-apartheid future. Johannesburg’s most infamous historic prisons (now museums) are located alongside the Constitutional Court, a symbol of South Africa’s successful democracy. The site is situated on the ridge between Hillbrow and Braamfontein, overlooking central Johannesburg.

Historical background

Before opening as a museum in 2004, the precinct housed notorious prisons, including the Old Fort, a high-security prison built in the 1890s for prisoners of war during the Anglo-Boer Wars (1899-1902), the Number Four prison block, a so-called “Native Prison,” and the Women’s Gaol.

During apartheid, the prison complex became a detention center for political dissidents, striking mineworkers, those deemed “anti-establishment,” and those who violated the oppressive pass laws of the time.

Many ordinary and famous individuals were incarcerated here, including former president Nelson Mandela and passive resistance leader Mahatma Gandhi, both imprisoned for their pro-democracy activism.

• Maboneng Precinct - Entrepreneur Jonathan Liebmann purchased numerous rundown industrial warehouses and factories on the eastern edge of the inner city and began transforming them. He was inspired by his travels to other cities where he experienced the vibrancy of 24/7 urban life.
  The name Maboneng is a Sotho word meaning “place of light,” and the growing precinct aims to transform an area once plagued by urban decay and crime into a safe, lively, and inspiring place to live, work, and play.

Often compared to trendy, rejuvenated neighborhoods like London’s Shoreditch or New York’s Brooklyn, this pioneering precinct attracts the inner-city public, as well as the chic, outgoing, and party-loving crowds from the city’s northern suburbs.
Best Place to be…(Sunday)

• Newtown - Today, Newtown remains proudly color-blind, with artists of all races gathering here.
  Strategic regeneration projects in downtown Johannesburg have facilitated Newtown’s development as a tourist attraction, residential zone, and cultural area. The bridge, which spans the railway tracks separating Newtown and Braamfontein in Johannesburg’s city center, took 18 months to build and was completed in 2003. It is the largest cable-stayed bridge in southern Africa.
  Designed by the leading architectural firm Dissing and Weitling, the bridge was specially designed to be lightweight. The bridge’s construction was part of a larger city project to rejuvenate and modernize the inner city, inspiring both local and foreign visitors while providing an easy, convenient, and safe way for residents to travel between the two districts on foot or by car. Some of Johannesburg’s trendiest places to visit can be found in Newtown and Braamfontein.
• Apartheid Museum - The Apartheid Museum, the first of its kind, illustrates the rise and fall of apartheid.
• Johannesburg - A stamp battery, or stamp mill, was a piece of equipment used to crush gold-bearing rock brought from underground.
• Diepkloof Park - Diepkloof Extension Upper Class
  Diepkloof is also characterized by hostels, which were built to house large numbers of single male migrant workers.
• Baragwanath Medical Centre - The largest hospital in Africa and the third-largest hospital in the world.
• Orlando Towers - Cooling towers offer one of the world’s most epic bungee jumps.
• Vilakazi Street - Vilakazi Street may be the only street in the world that can claim to have had two Nobel Laureates as residents - the late Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. The true vibrancy of this street comes from those who now call it home, each with their own beautiful stories.
• Mandela House - 8115 Vilakazi Street, Soweto, is a small, face-brick house where the Mandela family lived from 1946 to the 1990s. Today, the house is a museum celebrating his life through artwork.
• Hector Pieterson Memorial - Commemorates 12-year-old Hector’s ultimate sacrifice on June 16, the first child to die by a police bullet. He is buried in Avalon Cemetery, where many of apartheid’s victims are buried.
• Mzimhlophe - Pass demonstrations at Mzimhlophe station, Soweto. During the Treason Trial era, there were many protests to highlight the injustices of the South African Government.
  Home to unique Elephant Houses.
• Noordgesig - A colored township. It is colloquially called “Bulte” (meaning Hills) by its residents and neighbors, as depicted by the mine dumps surrounding the township. The name “Bulte” was coined as a form of endearment by the residents.

• In-vehicle air conditioning
• Bottled water

• Lunch
• Alcoholic beverages
• All Fees and Taxes

Johannesburg (often referred to as the New York of Africa) is South Africa’s second-largest city. In 2016, the City of Johannesburg was home to 4.94 million residents. Known as Joburg or Jozi, the city offers visitors a unique and diverse experience. Whether you’re here for business, seeking cultural experiences, looking for an adrenaline rush, or simply wanting to relax, Johannesburg has it all and more!

History: Johannesburg’s settlement began in 1886 following the discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand by an Australian prospector named George Harrison. This discovery triggered a massive gold rush, attracting fortune seekers from around the globe.

Establishment of Soweto and the history of forced removal

Soweto uprising 1976

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