West Rand

The West Rand is the western part of the Gauteng province of South Africa.

Cities

• 1 Carletonville
• 2 Krugersdorp — a good base for visiting the Krugersdorp Game Reserve, and home of the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens
• 3 Magaliesburg
• 4 Randfontein
• 5 Westonaria

Other destinations

• 1 Cradle of Humankind - undoubtedly one of the must-see destinations of Gauteng. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site where a lot of human ancestry fossil finds have been made.

Understand

Trivia The West Rand is home to the deepest mine in the world. TauTona (near Carltonville) operates at a depth of 3.9 km, surpassing the previous 3.7-km record held by the Savuka mine in the North West Province.

Do

Dragracing at Tarlton

Visit a goldmine

• Kromdraai Gold Mine, Ibis Ridge Farm (12 km north of Krugersdorp), ☏ +27 11 957-0211. 
• Blaauwbank Historic Gold Mine, Station Road, Magaliesburg, ☏ +27 82 567-3111, fax: +27 14 577-1080, sparkle@wildparkgroup.co.za. 

Adventure

• Johannesburg Skydiving Club, Carltonville outside Johannesburg, ☏ +27 82 928-2455, skydive@worldonline.co.za. Mostly uses a Pilatus Porter (PC 6). 
• Magaliesburg Gliding Club, ☏ +27 83 649-9918, sagliding@telkomsa.net. Based just outside Krugersdorp on the West Rand. 
• Tarlton International Raceway (Follow the R24 from Krugersdorp towards Magaliesburg. Tarlton is about halfway between the two towns), ☏ +27 11 762-5431. Gates generally open at 08:00 on race days. Home to spectacular drag racing. See their website for upcoming events. Price depends on event, but is usually around R60 per person.