General-Interest Tours

Springbok Atlas and Gold Reef City Tours offer two- to three-hour tours (including self-drive tours) of Johannesburg that include visits to the city center, Soweto, the Apartheid Museum, Gold Reef City, and some of the city's more interesting parks and suburbs. Other tours explore Tshwane; Cullinan, including a working mineshaft; Sun City; and Pilanesberg National Park. Tour fees start around R350 per person for half-day tours and R150 per person for five-hour game drives. Wilro Tours conducts various tours to Soweto, Johannesburg, and the Pilanesberg. The Johannesburg Tourism Company has customized tours (golf anyone?) that include visits to the Apartheid Museum, the Tswaing Meteorite Crater, and Soweto. The company also has information on the city's accommodations, sights, nightlife, and restaurants. Observer Tours and Charters will do tailor-made, chauffeur-driven tours for one or two people or small groups, costing up to R1,200 for an eight-hour tour of the city. It also has shorter tours to Soweto and Tshwane. JMT Tours and Safaris can arrange trips to Soweto, Sun City, the Lesedi Cultural Village in Magaliesberg, or Kruger National Park and other destinations. Parktown-Westcliff Heritage Trust offers tours of the area's gardens and homes (the exteriors, anyway), as well as theme tours throughout Johannesburg such as mining and the South African (Anglo-Boer) War.

The Adventure Bus is an excellent way to see Johannesburg's main sights in about three hours, with plenty of stops. Tours leave several times a day from Sandton (except Monday). Your ticket is valid for 24 hours, so you can jump on and off as many times as you like. For something completely different, try the Mystery Ghost Bus Tour (5½ hr tour R195; 2½ hr tour R80), which stops at haunted houses (and lively pubs). You can book these tours through Computicket.

Africa Explore offers full-day and half-day tours of the Cradle of Humankind area; the full package (from R780 per person sharing per day) includes the Kromdraai Gold Mine, Sterkfontein Caves, and Rhino and Lion Park. Palaeo-Tours runs full- and half-day trips to local paleontological sites.

If you choose not to drive around Pilanesberg National Park on your own, you can join a 2½-hour escorted safari with Pilanesberg Mankwe Safaris for R230. Or you can embark on an elephant safari offered by Game Trackers Outdoor Adventures, offered three times daily for R1,090. The outfit also has balloon safaris. Kids under 5 are not allowed, and the maximum number of riders is 10. A one-hour flight (R2,750 per person) includes a game drive, sparkling wine, and a full English breakfast at the Bakubung game lodge. Bookings are essential.

Mining Diamonds

Anyone can go to a jewelry store and bring home South African diamonds, but how many people can say they got their sparkler from an actual mine? At Cullinan Diamond Mine (Mine: Oak Ave., west of Olienhout Ave.; Cullinan Tours:, 95 Oak Ave., Cullinan. 012/734-0260), not only can you buy diamonds, but you can get custom-made pieces from the resident jeweler, though don't expect your piece to include the world's largest diamond—the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond unearthed here in 1905 is now in the Crown Jewels in London.

If you're interested in checking out the mine, tours are offered every day, ranging from the standard mine tour (R50, weekdays at 10 and 2:30, weekends at 10 and noon) to the four-hour underground tour (R400, daily at 8 AM); we suggest the underground tour—you get to experience what it's like being underground and see the miners' working conditions. It's essential to reserve tours in advance. No children under 10 are permitted on the standard tour and no children under 16 are permitted on the underground tour.

If looking at all those carats makes you hungry, Cullinan's delightful old Victorian mine director's house has been turned into a guesthouse and tea garden. Oak House (103 Oak Ave. 012/305-2364)) serves breakfast, lunches, and afternoon teas from 8 daily.

Tour Operators

Adventure Bus (011/975-9338). Africa Explore (011/917-1999. www.africa-explore.co.za). Game Trackers Outdoor Adventures (014/552-5020. www.gametrac.co.za). Gold Reef City Tours (011/917-1999). JMT Tours and Safaris (011/980-6038. www.jmttours.co.za). Johannesburg Tourism Company (011/214-0700. www.joburgtourism.com). Mystery Ghost Bus Tour (083/915-8000 Computicket. www.mysteryghostbus.co.za). Observer Tours and Charters (011/609-4752). Palaeo-Tours (011/726-8788. www.palaeotours.com). Parktown-Westcliff Heritage Trust (011/482-3349. www.parktownheritage.co.za). Pilanesberg Mankwe Safaris (014/555-7056. www.mankwesafaris.co.za). Springbok Atlas (011/396-1053. www.springbokatlas.com). Wilro Tours (011/789-9688. www.wilrotours.co.za).

Diamond & Gold Tours

Mynhardts Diamonds, which sells diamonds and jewelry, gives audiovisual presentations by appointment. Schwartz Jewellers conducts one-hour tours of its workshops in Sandton by appointment. You can see stone grading, diamond setting, and gold pouring, and, of course, you can buy the finished product. Tours are free and include refreshments, and you need to take your passport along for security reasons.

Tour Operators

Mynhardts Diamonds (011/484-1717. www.mynhardts.com). Schwartz Jewellers (011/783-1717. www.schwartzjewellers.com).

Township Tours

Tours of Soweto are offered by many of the above operators as well as Jimmy's Face to Face Tours. Information on Soweto tours can also be obtained from the Soweto Tourism Association and Soweto.co.za.

Tour Information

Jimmy's Face to Face Tours (011/331-6109. www.face2face.co.za). Soweto.co.za (011/326-1600. www.soweto.co.za). Soweto Tourism Association (011/938-3337).

Walking Tours

Walk Tours offers tours of the city center, Kensington, Parktown, and Melville Koppies, as well as "dinner hops," a dinner tour with stops all over town. Group tours can be arranged for eight or more, and electronic self-guiding systems are available.

Tour Operator

Walk Tours (011/444-1639. www.walktours.co.za).