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Gauteng - Carletonville |
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Gauteng Province, west of Johannesburg This large town is, together with nearby Westonaria, the focus of a rich gold-mining district and a relatively new centre - it was proclaimed a township only in 1948 and received municipal status in 1959. In the past, the area's labyrinthine underground caves and passages - the product of calcium carbonate dissolving in acid water - caused the collapse of parts of the surface into huge sinkholes, some of which swallowed up whole buildings. The first such collapse occurred in 1960. The area hosts the Western Deeps mine, which descends nearly four kilometres (a world record). For all its industrial muscle, however, Carletonville also serves as one of the country's leading maize centres.
Gold Mines Visits to the area's many underground workings - including Western Deep Levels, Elandsrand, East Driefontein and West Driefontein - are welcomed. Carletonville Pleasure Resort Popular among anglers and bird-watchers (200 avian species have been recorded in the area). Chalets accommodation and campsites are available. There's also good angling in the Boskop and Settlers' dams. Abe Baily Nature Reserve This spacious (6,000-hectare) stretch of grassy terrain and wetland, just to the north-west of Carletonville, attracts large numbers of water-related and other birds. Altogether, some 250 different avian species have been recorded here, among them the endangered Cape vulture, which breeds in the rocky Magaliesberg region farther to the north-west. Several kinds of buck have been introduced into the area, together with zebra and ostrich. Hiking trails have been laid out. Part of the reserve is controlled by the Wildlife Society of Southern Africa, which runs educational courses within the reserve.
Westonaria lies to the east, beyond which is Johannesburg. |
NOTE!
CARLETONVILLE Western Cape
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