Day 96 - Diamond mine tour

Tracey and I went on a tour of Cullinan Diamond mine owned by De Beers. It was a bizarre experience. The tour is clearly targeted towards people who came there to buy cheap diamonds. They tell you how nobody died in the mines in the last year or so, and how fabulous diamonds are.

I couldn't stop thinking about the whole diamond industry being a giant scam. De Beers must have some marketing geniuses - so you are telling me that I must be crazy if I don't find little sparkling minerals worth tens of thousands of dollars and/or human lives? Wait, and if this little sparkly mineral has pinkish color, then it's worth hundreds of thousands of dollars? I don't think so. It would be interesting to see this multi-billion dollar industry burst like a bubble if diamonds go out of fashion.

P.S. The only white people who work in the mines are managers. Top management positions are taken by foreigners.

P.P.S. We stopped in Pretoria after the mine.