Langlaagte Gold Mine
Any South African worth their jaluka needs to be able to say they've gone down a gold mine: nothing defines who we are as a nation more than gold.
Even better is having a drink down one, and the super cool can say they have done so, at no less than the deepest pub in the world. It can be found at the bottom of a clangy 226-m lift drop, on level 5 of shaft 14 of the old Langlaagte Gold Mine that is now part of Gold Reef City theme park in Johannesburg, Gauteng.
The pub used to be a donkey stable for the poor old Neds that had to haul the ore-laden cocopans. After a few drops, you can try your tongue around the mining lingua franca of Fanagalo. There are about 2000 words in this delightful pidgin of Zulu, English and Afrikaans, and 500 of them are profanities.
Visit Saxonwold
The correct name for the expansive park system that lies at the foot of Westcliff Ridge is the Hermann Eckstein Park. Originally part of the Sachsenwald plantation, where timber for the mines was grown. Rand Mines (of which Eckstein was chairman) donated the land as 'a gift for the inhabitants of Johannesburg'.
It now consists of the much-loved lake with its rowboats, ducks and fountains; Johannesburg Zoo; the South African National Museum of Military History; and the Garden of Remembrance. Once, the woods were used for walking, horse riding and even hunting. Then Percy FitzPatrick donated the wild animals that led to the development of the zoo.
The lake was dug in a marsh area to provide work during the economic depression of 1906-08, and the Coronation Fountain was added in 1937 to celebrate the crowning of England's King George VI. In 1956 Margot Fonteyn danced Swan Lake on the island, which has since seen numerous artistic performances. And the rest is now Saxonwold suburb.
The Lion Park
