Johannesburg has no river, no harbour and no natural reason to exist except the gold reef discovered in 1886. Within a decade it was the largest city in southern Africa. Today the metropolitan area holds around six million people and generates a substantial share of the national economy. It is not a beautiful city and it is the most historically important one in the country.
The Apartheid Museum
Opened in 2001, this is the essential visit. Entry tickets are randomly assigned as white or non-white and you enter through the corresponding door — a device that could be glib and is not. The permanent exhibition traces segregation from the mining compounds through the 1948 election, forced removals, the armed struggle, states of emergency and the negotiated transition. Allow three hours minimum.
Constitution Hill
The Constitutional Court was deliberately built on the site of the Old Fort prison, where Gandhi and Mandela were both held at different times. Bricks from the demolished awaiting-trial block were reused in the courtroom. Tours cover the women jail and Number Four, the section for black male prisoners, and the court itself is open to the public when sitting.
Soweto
The South Western Townships housed a million people under apartheid and remain home to around 1.3 million. Vilakazi Street is the only street in the world to have housed two Nobel laureates, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu; Mandela house is now a museum. The Hector Pieterson Memorial commemorates the 1976 student uprising against Afrikaans-medium instruction, which began a few streets away. Go with a local guide — the context is the point, and the tours are run by residents.
The inner city
Maboneng and Braamfontein have been redeveloped with galleries, markets and rooftop bars. The Wits Art Museum and the Museum of African Design are worth time. Central Johannesburg outside these precincts should be explored with a guide rather than alone.
Pretoria
Fifty kilometres north, the administrative capital is calmer and greener, and in October its 70,000 jacaranda trees turn the streets purple. The Union Buildings, designed by Herbert Baker in 1913, look over terraced gardens with a nine-metre statue of Mandela. The Voortrekker Monument, a granite block commemorating the Afrikaner Great Trek, is worth visiting precisely because it explains the mythology that underpinned apartheid.
The Cradle of Humankind
An hour north-west, a cluster of dolomite caves has produced around 40 percent of the world hominin fossils. Sterkfontein yielded Mrs Ples in 1947 and the near-complete Little Foot skeleton, and the nearby Rising Star system produced Homo naledi in 2013. Sterkfontein and the Maropeng visitor centre are both open for guided tours.
Practicalities
The Gautrain links OR Tambo airport with Sandton, Rosebank and Pretoria and is fast and safe. Use ride-hailing apps rather than walking between districts, do not display phones or jewellery, and keep car doors locked at intersections. These are ordinary big-city precautions applied more consistently.