go! YOUR JOURNEY STARTS HERE

Why is a Cullinan diamond so special? Because it was formed about 1300 million years ago when a subterranean volcano pushed lava up from 120km beneath the earth’s surface – a rare occurrence indeed.
Ronnie du Plessis, tour guide and a retired diamond courier, has many of these facts up his sleeve: The Cullinan Diamond Mine, previously known as the Premier Mine, has been in business since 1902. Did you know that the famous Cullinan Diamond was found just 9m below the surface?
I crane my neck to take in the 60m-high mine headgear, which was built in 1945. We’re standing above 700km of tunnels, the deepest of which is 763m below ground.

Ronnie tells me that the mine has an excellent safety record, largely because kimberlite – volcanic rock that sometimes contains diamonds – is very stable. A diamond pipe has a straight-down, carrot-like shape, so there’s no need for miners to crawl down narrow tunnels.
“We can walk comfortably and even drive around in 4x4s,” Ronnie says.
Later, from a safe distance, we take a look at the gigantic openpit mine. It’s 1km in diameter and 450m deep. In surface area it’s apparently bigger than the Big Hole in Kimberley. (The Big Hole was dug by hand, though.)
In the mine museum, where you can see two Pierneef paintings of the open-pit mine, we learn that the Cullinan Diamond Mine is the world’s only significant source of blue diamonds, which are very rare and valuable.

Cost: R80 per person for a twohour surface tour and R490 per person for the four- to five-hour underground tour.

Contact: Premier Diamond Tours 012 734 0081

go! says: Do the underground tour if you have time. You’ll be lowered into the belly of the earth to a depth of 500m.

A diamond’s worth is determined by its colour, clarity, cut and carat. To see the real McCoy, visit Prima Lux.

I used to associate these shiny stones with foul-mouthed rappers and blood diamonds from Sierra Leone, but in Cullinan I learnt to appreciate nature’s volcanic temper and man’s struggles to wrest the gems from rock.
If you’re in the market for an engagement ring, you can buy a diamond at Cullinan Diamonds (on the mine premises; visit after your mine tour) under the gaze of the late Elizabeth Taylor.
Or browse diamond trader Dawn Morrison’s Prima Lux store above the Wimpy on the main road. Dawn says most of her clients are foreigners. “Unlike their Europeans and American counterparts, South African men tend to think diamonds are too expensive. For a special occasion they would rather buy a fridge,” she says wryly.

Contact: 012 734 2930; www.primalux.co.za

go! says The smallest diamond you can buy from Dawn is about the size of a pinhead and costs R80.

McHardy House

About 40 years ago, John Lincoln left the coal mines of England and came to South Africa to work for De Beers. Eventually he was transferred to Cullinan. He’s retired now, and passionate about the town’s history. John will drive you around in his car and show you interesting places from Cullinan’s past. His tour kicks off at the “history room” in the Tourism and History Centre, which is filled with things saved from the garbage dump, in his words. My favourite is an old mirror from a hotel bathroom on which an Australian scratched out the word “digger” when he found an alluvial diamond.

Next we visit McHardy House. In 1903, the first manager of the mine moved into this house with his wife and their seven children. Two of the manager’s daughters lived here until 1984, when they passed away in their nineties. The house has been almost perfectly preserved. After that, John shows us Cullinan’s 20 Edwardian corrugated iron houses where mine workers once lived.

Adjacent to the Miners Pub & Grub bar in the main road you’ll find the magnificent Recreation Hall that was built by the mine in 1912. Paintings made by Italian prisoners of war hang high on the walls. You can only imagine the grand events that played out on the polished wooden floors and up on the stage. John also takes us to the compounds where black mine workers once lived. The stories of their ordeal at the hands of mine management are awful. The compounds are closed to the public, so we look at the old brick buildings and long grass through the gate – it looks like a good place to shoot a grisly vampire movie.

Cost: R75 per person.

Contact: John Lincoln on 082 551 6089

go! says: On Tuesday mornings, Emilio Coccia ( 012 667 3279) does a tour focused on the legacy of Italian prisoners of war who were housed at Zonderwater (now a prison) during World War II.

The nine-hole golf course in Cullinan is more than a century old

A round of golf at Cullinan’s nine-hole course is a good way to walk off that slice of lemon meringue pie and take in the beautiful setting. This 106-yearold club was previously called the Premier Mine Golf Club.
There are massive eucalyptus, mulberry and jacaranda trees, some as old as the golf course itself. Numerous birds nest in the trees; see if you can spot a cardinal woodpecker or an olive thrush.
To get to the fourth tee, it’s a stiff climb up a series of terraces. You’re rewarded by a sweeping view of the golf course and the town, with the mine headgear in the distance. It’s especially striking in October and November, when the jacarandas are blooming.

Hours: 6 am to 6pm.

Green fee: Non-members pay anything from R60 to R250 for 18 holes, depending on the day of the week.

Contact: 012 734 1078; www.cullinangolfclub.co.za

go! says: Plans are in the pipeline to build a sectional title complex on the golf course.

Experience traditional meals

If you want to see where 90% of the mine’s work force lives, go on a tour to Refilwe, a township with roughly 40000 residents about 4km outside Cullinan.
“Refilwe” is Northern Sotho for “we have been given”. The township was established in 1975. “It’s one of the best and safest townships to live in,” guide Peterson Mahlangu says.
He takes us to a few spaza shops – one is called Walala Wasala, Zulu for “you snooze you lose”.
We also visit a sangoma in a thatched rondavel, where goats browse in the front yard. She empties her bag of bones, old coins, shells and seeds on the floor and foretells that a male family member will soon try to thwart me. I’d better watch out.

Cost: R250 per person.

Contact: Peterson Mahlangu 082 265 6231; fundanitourism@webmail.co.za

go! says: Peterson usually takes his clients to Fani Face Restaurant or Big Mama’s Tavern for a traditional meal of pap and vleis. Go hungry!