Friday, November 12, 2010

Overview Of Flights To Johannesburg

By Graham McKenzie

The largest airport in South Africa is Johannesburg OR Tambo International, the air transport hub for the country. If you are flying to Johannesburg, then Jhb OR Tambo is the chief airport except you made flight booking to Lanseria airport.

OR Tambo, earlier known as JHB International, carries about 20 million passengers annually. It accounts for nearly half the air traffic, coming in and going out of South Africa.

The bustling Johannesburg city was once a tiny shanty town with only miners with eyes laden with dreams of diamond'its hard to imagine. Besides being the main city and a eventful monopoly of commerce and trade, Johannesburg is also a fast growing tourist destination.

Gold Reef City provides a glimpse into the past of Johannesburg. It offers a visit to a mineshaft as well as some more modern forms of entertainment. For a closer look at the heritage of the area, drop in to the Lesedi Cultural Village, a multi-ethnic group consisting of Zulu, Xhosa, Basotho and Pedi people. This can be a fulfilling and enlightening experience as you watch dances and learn about the history and culture of these people.

Most visitors head for Soweto and Nelson Mandela's former home, the Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum and the Regina Mundi Church. Don't forget to lay the dust with a quick drink at a 'shebeen'. The most famous of these is called Wandie's Place.

You may like to visit the Johannesburg Zoo, which keeps its animals without any bars. It has gone far in reproducing the natural habitats for the animals. This is a good option if you can not visit a real nature reserve. When you are in the surrounding area, you may even hire a rowboat, and spend some time on the Zoo Lake and enjoy bird watching. If you feel a little hungry by the end of the day, get into the Moyo's to enjoy the African delicacies accompanied by the some good African music, which the city has to offer.

A mere hour's drive from Johannesburg is yet another important sight to see: The Cradle of Humankind, a World Heritage site. The Sterkfontein Caves are found here - the site where Mrs. Ples, a three million year old skull was first discovered in'47.

Johannesburg is a shoppers' paradise, offering shopping experiences ranging from sophisticated malls like Hyde Park, Sandton City and Nelson Mandela Square to a whole variety of vibrant African and Oriental flea markets. Most visitors simply cannot leave without buying some samples of the beautiful arts and crafts for sale at these markets: local wire-work, traditional carvings, bead work and fertility dolls, to mention but a few.

The city specializes in food and wine. The local cuisine is highly influenced by the cultures of this place. You can get anything from Malaysian, Creole, African, Indian, French, Mexican, Italian, and Moroccan. Ensure that you have enough time at hand while visiting Johannesburg, so that you can explore all that this amazing city offers to tourists.

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