South Africa Guide
Gauteng
The zoo
Opening time: Daily 8am–6pm
Price: R36, children R22; night tours R50
Telephone: 012 328 3265
The National Zoological Gardens are spacious and surprisingly good, housing rare species of antelope, a white rhinoceros, and a wide selection of South American as well as African animals. A cableway (R10) carries you right over the zoo on both sides of the Apies River, and you can even rent golf cars if you're feeling lazy (R70 per hour). It's well worth trying to book one of the night tours, starting at 6pm on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, when you'll see some of the zoo's freakiest creatures at their most active. Next door, the PretoriaAquarium and Reptile Park (entrance included with zoo entry charge) is less impressive, but nonetheless has plenty of beasts, some very weird and highly poisonous.