Gold Reef City
This vast historical theme park is a reconstruction of pioneer Johannesburg during the heady days of the gold rush.ince it opened in 1987 it has become one of the city's main tourist attractions,drawing many thousands of visitors.
Gold Reef City is an authentic reproduction of Johannesburg as it was at the turn of the century. It is built around the old headquarters and shaft no.14 of the historic Crown Mines. There are a number of fully furnished miners houses, museum exhibits and various gold artifacts to be seen. Visitors can tour the mine underground, watch demonstrations of gold-pouring, enjoy a train ride around the park, amble along the quaint streets, peer into the many shops decorated in period style with "bookie" lace trim and pressed ceilings, and even watch traditional gumboot dancers.
GOLD REEF CITY is situated eight kilometers outside central Johannesburg on the site of Crown Mines which,until it ceased production in 1975, was the world's richest gold mine.The reconstructed town, with its charming tin roofed houses and shops, gives visitors a good idea of what Johannesburg must have looked like after the discovery of gold a century ago, when prospectors from all over the world poured into the Reef in their thousands, transforming a dusty, tented camp into a thriving boom town in matter of months. Thankfully, none of the dirt, vice and squalor that characterized the pioneer town is to be found at GOLD REEF CITY,which imaginatively combined an old world setting with every modern convince.
There is a bewildering choice of things ton see and do at GOLD REEF CITY. Sixteen museums are to be found in the park, many of them portraying the history of gold - a high light is the underground Mine Tour.
A wide selection of specialty shops, many of them quaint reconstructions of Victorian originals, sells any thing from diamonds to doughnuts, while there are over twelve comfortable restaurants, salons and snack bars providing refreshment for hungry revelers.