Learn about World Cup’s 9 South African host cities

POLOKWANE

This agricultural, mining and manufacturing center is a major stop on the busy route from Johannesburg to Zimbabwe. Its corner of South Africa is eerily beautiful, with stretches of flat, dry landscape broken by statuesque baobabs and dramatic boulder formations. Attractions in the area include the Modjadji Nature Reserve, a forest of cycads, a protected species native to southern Africa.

The homeland of the Balobedu is near the reserve. The tribe is one of the few in Africa to have a leader who comes from a female line of succession. Balobedu legend holds that magical powers are passed from queen to queen, allowing her to transform clouds and create rain. The legend was respected by other tribes, and in times of drought, caravans of gifts were sent to the Balobedu.

PORT ELIZABETH

This Indian Ocean port city is known for its beaches, a wealth of examples of Art Nouveau architecture and the elephants of nearby Ado National Park.

Nelson Mandela’s home village, Qunu, is a day drive from Port Elizabeth. Mandela, who lives in Johannesburg, often spends holidays and his July 18 birthday in Qunu, which also has a Nelson Mandela Museum.

The University of Fort Hare also is a day trip from Port Elizabeth. Mandela writes in his autobiography that at the time he attended Fort Hare, “for young black South Africans like myself, it was Oxford and Cambridge, Harvard and Yale, all rolled into one.”

PRETORIA

South Africa’s executive capital is known as the Jacaranda City. Pretoria won’t be in full, purple bloom in June, but its hilltop Union Buildings, seat of the presidency, will be stately as ever.

In 1956, women of all races from across South Africa singing, “Strike the woman, strike the rock,” marched peacefully on the Union Buildings to protest the extension to women of pass laws restricting blacks’ movement. After apartheid ended, the words of their protest letter were inscribed in the steps sweeping up to the presidential offices as part of a memorial to the women marchers.

In 1994, Mandela took the presidential oath of office on the steps of the Union Buildings. Pretoria also is home to the mammoth Voortrekker Monument, honoring 19th-century pioneers who battled Zulu warriors to settle South Africa’s interior.

RUSTENBURG

Rustenburg’s World Cup matches are being played in a stadium owned by the Bafokeng-Bakwena, or “People of the Crocodile,” a South African clan proud of its history. In the late 19th century, the clan’s king, Kgosi Mokgatle Mokgatle, sent his men to the nearby Kimberly diamond mines to earn cash to secure title to traditional Bafokeng land. The kgosi’s foresight helped the Bafokeng maintain a sense of identity and a measure of independence during the apartheid years.

Platinum was discovered deep under Bafokeng territory in the 1920s, but the tribe did not fully realize the benefits until after apartheid ended in 1994.

Nearby attractions include the Sun City resort, the Pilanesburg National Park and Hartbeespoort Dam.