South Africa Guide
Gauteng
Pretoria
Gauteng's two major cities are just 50km apart, but could hardly be more different. With its graceful government buildings, wide avenues of purple flowering jacarandas, and stolid Boer farming origins, PRETORIA – or TSHWANE as the metropolitan area has now been officially renamed – has always been a staid, sleepy city. Yet although South Africa's administrative capital was long regarded as a bastion of Afrikaner nationalism, home to the notorious supreme court and a massive prison, things are changing fast. Ever since democracy arrived, Pretoria has become increasingly cosmopolitan, with a substantial diplomatic community living in Arcadia and Hatfield, east of the city centre. Furthermore, most Pretorians are not Afrikaans, but Pedi and Tswana, and the change of government has brought many more middle-class blacks into the ranks of civil servants living in the capital. The city's Afrikaans community is hardly monolithic, either: alongside the old-school khaki-shorted types, there are thousands of students, a progressive art scene and a thriving Afrikaans gay and lesbian community.
Pretoria is close enough to Johannesburg's airport to provide a practical alternative base in Gauteng. It feels safer and less spread out than Johannesburg (though don't make the blithe assumption that Pretoria is crime-free), there are more conventional sights, and the nightlife is energetic and fun.
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