South Africa
Cullinan
The world's largest gem diamond emerged behind a town still living beside its mine.
The mine headgear rises above corrugated roofs and jacaranda-lined streets. Somewhere behind it, rock once yielded a diamond larger than a fist.
The pit here is three times larger than Kimberley's Big Hole, and the diamond it gave up remains the largest gem diamond ever found. The village never left: Oak Avenue runs between jacarandas and oaks, its wrought-iron cottages and picket fences facing a mine that still works. That is the draw. Not a preserved set piece but a living diamond town, headgear over the rooftops and mampoer country all around.
Couple
Walk Oak Avenue under the jacarandas and oaks, browse the wrought-iron cottages, and finish with pancakes at Harrie's.
Family
Children get the full arc from raw rock to the world's largest gem diamond in one small village, with the pit's sheer scale doing the teaching.
- The largest gem diamond ever found came out of this pit.
- The open-cast hole is among the biggest on earth, three times larger than Kimberley's Big Hole.
- Oak Avenue's wrought-iron cottages and picket fences still face a working mine.
- Mine visits stay on the surface.
This is mampoer country, and the old Transvaal's fierce fruit brandy still gets its own village festival each May.
Pancakes at Harrie's on Oak Avenue, the village institution that has rolled them since 1986.
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