Statue of Nelson Mandela and the Union Buildings, Pretoria © South African Tourism
The Location - South Africa and Pretoria
South Africa is a country on the southernmost tip of the African continent. The country is marked by several distinct ecosystems, national parks and breathtaking landscapes.
Gauteng Province is one of South Africa’s major provinces and contains the country’s largest city, Johannesburg. The province is highly urbanised and is the most densely inhabited province in South Africa. Gauteng is the only landlocked province in the country without a foreign border. It lies on the great interior plateau of Southern Africa (the Highveld) and stretches northward from the Vaal River.
Freedom Park, Pretoria © South African Tourism
Major attractions in Gauteng Province include:
The Freedom Park is situated on Salvokop in Pretoria. It includes a memorial with a list of the names of those killed in the South African Wars, World War I, World War II as well as during the apartheid era.
Gold Reef City is an amusement park located to the south of the central business district of Johannesburg. It has many attractions including water rides, roller coasters and the famous Gold Reef City Casino.
The Apartheid Museum allows visitors to experience the racial segregation that occurred during apartheid by separating them by racial appearance classified by the width of the nose, the kinks in hair, skin pigmentation, and size of lips as well as the language they spoke an most ultimately their race.
The Voortrekker Monument is situated in the Pretoria (Tshwane) region in a nature reserve. It is a unique Monument which commemorates the Pioneer history of Southern Africa and the history of the Afrikaner.
Pretoria Skyline © Vanessa Bentley | Dreamstime.com
About Pretoria
Pretoria is the administrative capital of South Africa, straddling the Apies River it spreads eastwards into the foothills of the Magaliesberg mountains. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the administrative branch of government and of foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria has a reputation for being an academic city with three universities, the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), University of Pretoria (UP), and the University of South Africa (UNISA), also home to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and the Human Sciences Research Council. The city hosts the National Research Foundation and the South African Bureau of Standards making the city a hub for national and global research.
