Ask someone what is Johannesurg renown for, and it is a high chance that he or she would say that it is in South Africa. Well, that is not exactly answering the question, is it? And that minuscule knowledge is primarily due to the imminent World Cup where Johannesburg will be a principal host.

Why Johannesburg is one city you should not miss.

Johannesburg is a melting pot of cultures and races, the fruit not only of liberation but also a huge influx of immigrants and refugees. It is one of the 40 largest metropolitan cities in the world and it houses the constitution court along with the largest airport in South Africa, O. R Tambo International Airport.  

It is set on a featureless plain 5,700 feet above sea level and it is home to more than 6 million people. It is also the most transformed with the leaders planning to build a $3 billion high-speed train to link Johannesburg and Pretoria. And the national government is currently busy building a major tourist attraction around a warren of caves where archaeologists have found fossils of some of man’s earliest known ancestors known as The Cradle of Humankind.

However, Johannesburg was not all developed and harmonious before 1886. Only tallgrass and trees existed until an Aussie named George Harrison found gold in the Witwatersrand gold field. But when there is wealth, oppression and greed soon followed as the government forced blacks into what were essentially labour camps. In the South lies Soweto, short for ‘South West Townships’ and here is where the mines spawned with origins of black migrant labour. To truly experience Johannesburg, you have to take a tour here—we recommend hiring a guide or renting a car for the day.

A proper place to begin with is the Apartheid Musuem, which exhibits multimedia presentations documenting the last century’s oppression. Inside, the concrete-and-steel space, you can find nooses hung from the ceiling including video and picture depictions of victims caged in wire or trapped behind bars—a reminder of the apartheid’s brutality. You can also check out The Hector Pieterson memorial and museum in the Orlando West neighborhood which recounts the 1976 Soweto riots, the event that sounded apartheid’s death knell. Orlando West is also the world’s only neighborhood that housed two Nobel Peace Prize winners, Nelson Mandela and the Anglican bishop Desmond Tutu.

Over the years, Soweto has shed its reputation for violence. And it is now in fact a haven for middle-class blacks especially in neighborhoods like Orlando West. It is reminscent of New Orleans where you can find many jazz clubs, rock-n-roll bars and hip-hop joints in most corners. We recommend that you sway your hips to the beat of Kwaito, a Soweto-born adoption of hip-hop and a favourite among white tourists.

You can also get an authentic taste of the city life in Alexandra, a century-old township. A handful of bed-and-breakfasts offer overnight stays but bear in mind that the living conditions are slightly more impoverished than Soweto. It is advisable that you go with a guide for security reasons, but do not be discouraged because there are gems to be discovered underneath the poverty, which one has to go through to truly unearth.

Out of that poverty there is also an astonishingly rich culture.  A hot spot for African arts, primarily in downtown’s Newtown cultural district, the area is being outfitted with a new science museum and a new home for the Johannesburg Art Gallery to complement the theater, dance and musical centers already there.

Johannesburg is a town progressing at warp speed.  One could spend living luxuriously up north especially at Montecasino, where high-end condos, malls, casino and posh restaurants lie or down south at Soweto or Alexandra with an enriching experience that will last a lifetime. Johannesburg  is certainly the heart and soul of South Africa.