For many, Johannesburg, with its heady blend of first and third worlds, is the most exhilarating city in Africa. Sprawling outward from the center of Gauteng, South Africa's smallest and most densely populated province, it makes an ideal base from which to explore the animal-rich nature reserves that lie beyond its business-driven borders. And while its reputation as a crime hub is justified, there's no denying that the city itself is a drawing card: A nexus of social change, Jo'burg is the economic heart of Africa, where the continent's major financial deals are struck; a throbbing urban metropolis that is home to a socially vibrant, steadily growing, sassy African elite, and -- with up to 1,000 people moving to the city every day -- to millions more hoping to find their own elusive fortune.
Traditionally a migrant city, Gauteng was literally built on gold -- its name, translated from Sotho, means "place of gold" -- and it remains a heavily industrialized region, producing almost 40% of the country's GDP. Today you can still descend a working mine shaft to tour the richest bowels of the earth. Or step back thousands of years by visiting the Cradle of Humankind, a World Heritage Site where paleoanthropologists are unearthing clues to humankind's origins, followed by a visit the Origins Centre, a new museum where you can track your ancestors with DNA testing. Visitors interested in more recent history should include a visit to the striking Apartheid Museum -- which provides poignant insight into what it was like to live under one of the world's most iniquitous systems of discrimination -- and take a tour of Soweto, South Africa's largest "township," a city within a city, inhabited by as many as five million people, almost all of whom are black -- an enduring legacy of the country's separatist history.
Still, most leisure travelers simply use Johannesburg as a gateway to the attractions in neighboring provinces and countries. Of these, Kruger National Park and its surrounding reserves are the best known, so much so that this region enjoys its own separate chapter. Fewer visitors are aware of the Big 5 game reserves closer to Johannesburg, like Madikwe and the Waterberg Mountain region -- within easy driving distance, both provide a real sense of being on safari and enjoy the additional benefit of being malaria-free. Madikwe, in particular, has a wonderfully varied terrain that supports what has been dubbed the "Magnificent Seven": In addition to sightings of the Big 5, you stand an excellent chance of seeing cheetahs and wild dogs, Africa's most endangered predator. Even closer to the city is Pilanesberg National Park -- whose nearby neighbor Sun City and the opulent Palace of the Lost City comprise one of the world's glitziest, most over-the-top theme parks.
But if you have a real penchant for solitude, consider venturing even farther northwest, into the vast expanses of Tswalu Private Game Reserve and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, where the red dunes of the Kalahari Desert support a surprisingly varied -- and highly visible -- game population.
