African Train Safari Destinations

The Goldfields of Johannesburg - to the east lies the major railway junction of Germiston.

During the rush to the Witwatersrand gold fields a Scot named John Jack, an itinerant trader, decided to try his hand at prospecting. He was passing the farm Elansdfontein when he made his decision and immediately began scraping around in the ground. He found traces of gold almost at his first attempt.

With his partner, August Simmer, Jack bought the farm – which at one time had been exchanged for an ox-wagon – and floated a mining company, Simmer and Jack. Both men made fortunes. The town that grew next to the mine was called Germiston by Jack, after the farm near Glasgow where he was born. The original Elandsfontein homestead still stands near the city centre. The colossal dumps of waste rock from the mines have enclosed the city within great man-made mountains.

Germiston became a municipality in 1903 and a city in 1950. The Simmer and Jack mine closed in 1964 by which time it had produced 15 802 469 ounces of gold. Germiston today is a major industrial centre with over 2 000 factories.

Labels: Cape Town to Dar Es Salaam, Golf Safari, Pretoria to Victoria Falls Journey