Few people know that southern Africa is one of the earliest homes of mankind and has an outstanding collection of cave and rock paintings, some dating 10,000 years. With new paintings still being discovered each year, these treasures attest to the challenges of daily life long ago.

Even much-maligned Johannesburg has something to offer in its leafy nineteenth-century suburbs filled with elegant mansions, noble churches and stately fieldstone prep schools (now fully integrated) modeled after those in England.

Perhaps the secrets of the intriguing and complex land of South Africa are best discovered in the extensive Heartland. It is the heartbeat of modern South Africa and the center of its booming economy and phenomenal wealth generated by its great mines of gold, diamond and uranium.

When most of us think of South Africa, we think of its recent history. The sites where much of this recent history was enacted have become monuments to a brave struggle. The once-notorious law courts of Pretoria and Johannesburg, which resounded not long ago with heavy gavels maintaining the tainted laws of Apartheid, are now presided over by those who fought for its demise. Dark and crowded jails have been emptied of political prisoners, many of whom now inhabit the corridors of power.

The streets and alleys of Soweto (and countless other urban townships) echoed with the cries of the innocent and stank from burning rubber. Heroes like Nelson Mandela and Stephen Biko rose in Soweto. And many giants were brought down here.

The stage for this 10,000 year drama is the vast heartland of South Africa. More enthralling than its material wealth is its culture, history and politics. Explore the heart and soul of South Africa with your own eyes:

• Visit the humble (and bullet-riddled) home of Nelson Mandela.
• Seek out rarely-visited cave paintings. (For veterans of Lescaux in France, no reproductions here and certainly no crowds.)
• Enjoy a springtime picnic in the brilliant gardens of British Pretoria.
• Explore some of Africa's most dramatic mountain scenery en route to the great game reserves.
• Meet local tribespeople and witness first-hand the day-to-day battles between modernity and their ancient cultures.
• Visit centers of indigenous culture, where mechanisms have been set up to support local inhabitants in retaining aspects of traditional life while incorporating the more desirable parts of modernity. We can make arrangements, for those willing to "rough it" a bit, to spend the night in such a center.