"Gauteng ~ the strongest province in South Africa!" Gauteng by Jenniflower

Gauteng is the smallest of all the provinces in SA.

Having said that, it is responsible for 40% of the country’s GDP, which is pretty amazing when you think about it! It’s the business hub of the country, and is vibrant and alive, with half of South Africa’s population living here.

People give Johannesburg (the 'main' city in Gauteng) an unnecessary bad rap I feel. The people are friendly and I had an incredibly happy childhood here. Crime is NOT as bad as people make out, but does exist. It is also not a huge city centre only... there are beautiful suburbs that surround it (especially the northern suburbs, my personal preference), and rural life, botanical gardens, game parks and enjoyable drives are not far away.

(1) Shopping – South Africa has some absolutely FANTASTIC malls, and Johannesburg has many of them. Sandton being a personal favourite of mine. They are world-class, and have everything you might need.

(2) Visit Nelson Mandela’s childhood home on a Soweto tour.

(3) Visit Gold Reef City ~ a replica mine town, with plenty of fun rides to go on, plus a mine shaft to go down, with many replicas of houses as they were during the mining days.

(4) Visit Pretoria and Johannesburg zoos – I am not a huge of fan, preferring to see animals in their natural habitat myself. However, if you enjoy zoos, these are SUPERB!

(5) War museum - This is just off Jan Smuts Avenue, and has a large collection of army aircraft and tanks from all over the world.

6) Voortrekker monument - a well known monument with intricate marble wall reliefs. This is a revered monument to many South Africans, depicting the Voortrekkers trek.

(7) Montecasino - Tons of restaurants, a theatre, retail shops and shopping, shopping, shopping! In the main area there is a starlit sky (under cover) and an Italian-type landsape of building and shops. We had a caricature of ourselves done here, which was lovely :)

(8) Krugersdorp Botanical Gardens - we love this garden. Fertile and typical Gauteng vegetation. Unlike Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in vegetation but also beautiful. There is a waterfall and there were black eagles with young the last time we were there. They were being monitored.

(9) Visit the Wanderers stadium and watch a cricket match.

(10) Ellis Park – watch a rugby game. This is where South Africa won the Rugby World Cup in 1995!!!

(11) Sun City, Lost City and Pilansberg Game Reserve are a 2 hour drive away.

• Pros:Easiest place to find jobs in SA, has much beauty and history!
• Cons:Crime :(
• In a nutshell:The money of South Africa