Johannesburg

As the country's financial powerhouse, Johannesburg is home to the country's fast-living upwardly mobile generation as well as much of the emerging black middle class, making it easily the nation's capital of nightlife and the arts.

While it's unlikely you'd come all the way to South Africa just to see Johannesburg, if you're passing through on the way to Cape Town or the game parks, it's definitely worth exploring beyond the airport.

One of the fastest-growing excursions in and around the city is to the sprawling township of Soweto, where Nelson Mandela once lived, and the anti-apartheid movement was born. Although still largely very poor, its locals are nevertheless friendly, and its shebeens (pubs) and nightclubs among the most gregarious you'll ever come across.

To get an insight into the mining industry on which Johannesburg was built, go down an old mine shaft at Gold Reef City, watch a gold brick being poured, and top off your experience with a ride on the Southern Hemisphere's biggest roller coaster.

Die-hard shoppers will be in seventh heaven in Johannesburg's massive malls, which include Sandton City and Eastgate, while the drinking and dining is best enjoyed in Rosebank or Melville.

Unfortunately, there's no escaping the fact that Johannesburg has a pretty rough international reputation. Crime is a reality, but if you're savvy about what you do and how you do it, holding on to your possessions and well-being is not the lottery that urban legend makes out.

Getting away from the city is easy. An hour west and you're in the majestic Magaliesberg mountains near the major-league anthropological site of the Sterkfontein Caves. Head north-east and within a few hours you can have your breath taken away by the Blyde River Canyon, or the 'big five' (lions, leopards, elephants, buffaloes and rhinos) as well as other nice beasties in the Kruger National Park.