Northern Gauteng is dominated by Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa (now known as the Tshwane municipality). It is where the headquarters of most of the national government departments are to be found as well as that of the South African national Defence Force. It is named after the Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius.

A lot of history is to be found here with monuments, memorials and public sculptures very evident. There are also many old historical buildings all over the city which was the capital of the Transvaal Republic from 1860 to 1900 and of the Province of Transvaal from 1910 to 1994.

Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first democratically elected president at the Union Buildings in 1994. It was also at this amphitheatre that Mandela’s body laid in state when he passed away in 2013. The iconic Mandela Statue towers over the Union Buildings amphitheatre and has become a major tourist attraction.

It is a beautiful, leafy city with its trade-mark jacaranda trees that bloom in spring and early summer. It has a slower pace of life than Johannesburg fifty kilometres to the south - easily accessible by either road or rail - on the ultra-modern Gautrain.

Renowned for its restaurants it is also a stone's throw way from some charming little towns or villages. Places like Irene and Cullinan offer a wonderful day out and are within easy reach from anywhere in Gauteng. The largest known diamond in the world comes from the mine at Cullinan.