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Soweto & Johannesburg

Largest of all the cities in South Africa, Johannesburg is famus for the gold mines and vast greenery present in the city. Soweto is an area of Johannesburg and is situated around 15 km from the center of city. The term Soweto was used to describe the group of townships that were established in the early nineteenth century. Soweto, stretching for over around 63 sq. km of area, is the home to majority of the black population of Johannesburg. Soweto & Johannesburg are among the top tourist destinations of South Africa.

Soweto and Johannesburg are connected with different cities of South Africa and other countries by air, road and railway. There is Metro Rail that operates between the city and the suburbs. Number of national highways criss cross Soweto and Johannesburg, thus enabling the tourists to reach the city by car or bus.

To get around the city, the best way is to hire cars or bikes. Limited bus services are available within Soweto & Johannesburg. It takes around two to three days to have a complete sightseeing of different places in and around Soweto & Johannesburg.

You can start the day by making a visit to the Apartheid museum which tells the tourists about the history of South Africa. From there, you can walk to the Constituional Hill where the New Constitutional court is present now. In Constituional Hill, there is the site of the notorious Old Fort Prison Complex, commonly called Number four. Here, number of political activists like Nelson Mandela used to be detaind and brutally tortured before the establishment of democracy in 1994.

Soweto is fast becoming a popular tourist spot, but it is better to visit Soweto as a part of the guided tour for it will help you to explore the area easily. At Soweto, one has to walk around the well known Baragwanath area where there is the huge Baragwanath taxi rank opposite famous Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.

The tourists can have a glimpse of the flavor and color of local lifestyle as they can see the markets, open air butcher shops, barbers etc at Soweto. To taste the local cuisinr, you can have "Smili" breakfast consisting of cow or sheep meat or enjoy the traditional beer, Omqombothi at Sheeben. Sheebeen is the name of local drinking place. In and around Soweto, the important places to visit are Kliptown Museum, Mandela Family Museum and Reginal Mundi Church.

Trip to Soweto & Johannesburg remains incomplete without a trip to a gold mine. So head for Gold Reef City Ferreira's Mine where you can learn about mining and enter a gold mine.

Number of museums and art galleries are present at Johannesburg like Johannesburg Art Gallery Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, South African National Museum of Military History and many others. To see the local Zulu, Sotho, Pedi dances, trip to Lesedi Cultural Village is a must. If you want to touch lion cubs, then visit to Lion Park where visitors are given the chance to come in close proximity with Lion cubs. There are other tourist attractions like Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens, Montecasino Bird Gardens etc.