The capital of South Africa’s biggest province may not be the largest in the country, but to an intrepid traveler the diamond city of Kimberley aptly passes for the proverbial dynamite that comes in small sizes. 
Visit any museum here and gain interesting insights into some of the country’s first inhabitants, trawl the townships that have an intricate mix of different people living together harmoniously, meander through places where the world’s biggest concentration of millionaires once walked or simply relax in the lushlawns of Kimberley’s gracious gardens.
The Big Hole
But let’s start with the heartbeat of Kimberley. That which led to the birth of Kimberley itself – mining. Take a tram ride from the City Hall and head straight for the Big Hole of Kimberley.
Many people think there's nothing to get excited about a hole. After all it is just that – a hole. Mostly they are not wrong but some holes are worth every minute of your admiration. The Big Hole of Kimberley is one of them. Just imagine a hand-dug hole the size of eight football fields. It sounds crazy, but if we were to reverse the hands of time, I’m sure you and I would, without today’s equipment, still dig pick tip by pick tip for the precious metal. Check its price and you will understand why the digging is worth every drop of even today’s sweat. Something to the effect of a staggering 10 000 carats worth of each sweat drop!
By the time the mining closed in 1914, over forty years of hard digging had resulted in the Big Hole of Kimberley stretching an imposing surface area of 17 hectares. A total of over 22 million tons of earth was dug out from this hole making it the widest man made hole in the world. Not bad for folks who managed to rob the soil of over 2 722 kg of diamonds.
Big mining name De Beers has forked out a decent R50 million to make the BigHole a world-class tourist facility.
The Mine Museum
Adjacent to the Big Hole is the Mine Museum which is an exact replicaof the city in the frenetic days of the diamond rush. If you are notfaint- hearted take the world’s only guided tour of an operational diamond mine which goes a staggering 840 metres below the earth.
There is also a guesthouse and pub. Through displays at the museum youwill be taken back to yesteryear’s mining life, when folks arrived in ox wagons after several months of travel and resistance to attacksby life-threatening diseases.
Belgravia
A few kilometers from the centre of the city lies Kimberley’s oldest residential suburb, Belgravia, which dates as far back as the 1870s. These homes were built at the peak of diamond trade. This is the place where South Africa mining dynasty’s patriarch, Harry Oppenheimer, was born. It’s said that there once was more millionaires per area in this place than anywhere else in the world. When in Belgravia you can’t help feeling that theyare still there in one way or another.
The Original Drive-Thru
While you tour Kimberley, have a test of the original meaning ofdrive-thru take-away. Simply park your car at Half Way house, hootand a waiter will come to take your order and when ready they willdeliver your order to your car. Half Way House’s traditional drive-thru is said to be Cecil John Rhodes’ idea. Apparently he didn’t like the idea of disembarking his horse just tobuy food. His unique snack purchasing style has lived on.
South African & European Art
Kimberley is probably the only place in the country which hasa unique blend of ancient African art and some early Europeanart. The Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Centre and !Xun & Khwe Kamatoka Shop showcases contemporary San paintings, rock art movie and a walk back through time. Not far from it is the William Humphreys Art Gallery. The gallery is South Africa’s only Grade 1 art gallery specialising in South African artists and offering a fine collectionof the 16th and 17th century Flemish, Dutch, English and French masters.
Don’t linger too far from these galleries to grab a taste of Southern Africa’s pastoral life at the world famous Duggan-Cronin Gallery which displays a collection of 8 000 priceless ethnographic photographs taken on expeditions into rural Southern Africa between 1919 and 1939. Here you can also detour to the Honoured Dead Memorial, an imposing 2.5 storey high structure purportedly made with stones imported from Zimbabwe at a spot near Cecil John Rhodes' grave in Zimbabwe. The memorial bears the names of soldiers who died during the siege of Kimberley inscribed on solid bronze tablets andalso bears an inscription by English poet Rudyard Kipling.
Customised Jewellery
Many of South Africa’s cities boast big malls and Kimberley is no different. Being the diamond capital of the world, Kimberley’s malls are a shoulder above the rest because of their almost infinite list of jewellery shops. The jewellery is often individually crafted offering you a precious personalisedmemento of your trip to Kimberley.
Township Tours
You would not have completed a Kimberley tour without visiting any of the city’s surrounding townships. Unlike any other township in South Africa, where different races or tribes live in different sections of the townships, the Kimberley townships are a unique mix of the San people, Tswana people as well as the coloured people all living harmoniously together. Visit the Galeshewe cultural village in Galeshewe township, just a few kilometres outside the city, and be enriched by a unique mix of all these cultures in action.
Kimberley may be a small city in comparison to the vast open spaces that it governs but it offers an experience as glittery as the diamonds that broughtit into existence.
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