In the co-capital of the country, politically and geographically alongside Johannesburg, Pretoria (national co-capital with Joberg and now officially known as Tshwane, in the Setswana language), besides snapping a selfie at the statue of Madiba (above, as Mandela was fondly known) in front of the Union Buildings, seat of South Africa's government, you'll want to check out the Old Arts Building, including the Mapungubwe Collection (whose star is a trove of gold treasure from the eponymous 11th- to 13th-century kingdom in the extreme south of present-day Zimbabwe); Meanwhile, Freedom Park, commemorates heroes of the anti-apartheid and some international liberation struggles as well as South Africa’s war dead, and in the 1897 Palace of Justice you can see old prison cells as well as the courtroom where Mandela and his compatriots were sentenced to life in 1964).

Other highlights include Johannesburg's MOAD (Museum of African Design), the Apartheid Museum, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and Museum Africa. In Cape Town, musts are Robben Island (where anti-apartheid activists were imprisoned, including Mandela for 18 years), the District Six Museum (documenting the forced removals of black residents during apartheid), the recently opened Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa.

Also highly recommended are guided tours of its cities' poor townships: Soweto (the largest in the country), Alexandra, and Diepsloot around Joberg; Cape Town's Khayelitsha, Guguletu and Mitchell's Plain; and Soshanguve and Mamelodi outside Pretoria.

Read more about culture and heritage in Africa and elsewhere in my post 12 Top Destinations for African Diaspora Travel.

South African Tourism