Tours

General-Interest Tours

Springbok Atlas offers two- to three-hour tours (including self-drive tours) of Johannesburg to the city center, Soweto, the Apartheid Museum, Gold Reef City, and other points of interest. Other tours explore Tshwane, the diamond-mining town of Cullinan, Sun City, and Pilanesberg National Park. Tour fees start around R450 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 a large database of tour operators for customized tours (golf, anyone?). JMT Tours and Safaris can arrange tailor-made trips for small groups to a number of destinations.

A hop-on, hop-off tour (R180; valid 12 hours) with Tour Network is a good way to see Johannesburg's main sights in a day, with plenty of stops along the way. Tours leave several times a day from Montecasino, Fourways. Africa Explore offers full-day and half-day tours of the Cradle of Humankind area; the full package (from R925 per person per day on a group tour to R1,125 per person for a single-person tour) includes the Kromdraai Gold Mine, Sterkfontein Caves, and the Rhino and Lion Park. Palaeo-Tours runs full- and half-day trips to local paleontological sites.

Tour Operators

Africa Explore (011/917-1999 or 072/242-2281. www.africa-explore.co.za.)

JMT Tours and Safaris (010/233-0073 or 083/307-4390. www.jmttours.co.za.)

Johannesburg Tourism (011/214-0700. www.joburgtourism.com.)

Palaeo-Tours. 011/726-8788. www.palaeotours.com.

Springbok Atlas. 011/396-1053. www.springbokatlas.com.

Wilro Tours. 011/789-9688. www.wilrotours.co.za.

Diamond and 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, plus get tips on what to look for when buying diamonds, as well as a brief history of South Africa's diamond industry. And, of course, you can buy the finished product. Tours are free and include refreshments; you need your passport 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 operators as well as Jimmy's Face to Face Tours. Information on Soweto tours can also be obtained from the Soweto Tourism Association and www.soweto.co.za, a private initiative of tour operator KDR Travel.

Tour Information

Soweto.co.za (011/315-1534. www.soweto.co.za.)