I believe bwana & landyman are canon guys?
LOL, I, on the other hand, have been a Nikon fan for years. I bought a F90x as a kit in 2002, which included a very nice Nikon carry bag, 2 lenses (28-70mm & 70-300mm) and 20 rolls of 36-exposure film. DSLR's were still not mainstream yet.
Anyway, 5 years later and later and having sold the F90 on for about a 6th of what I paid for it, I now have a D80, which is everything the dumbass D70 should have been.
From experience I've found that Canon DSLR's generally have the edge on features compared to Nikon's, mainly thanks to the crap that was the D70 and D70x.
Without doubt, Canon lenses are awesome when it comes to action photography - it's a rare sight to see a Pro with anything else than his Canon with corresponding lens at an even such as a rugby match or motor racing. They are fast, silent and robust.
Nikon bodies and Nikkor lenses are more suited to portraits and wildlife/nature photography. Their cameras are heavier and even entry level SLR's rarely feel as plasticky as equivalent-model Canon's.
A DSLR for R6000? I'd lean towards the D40 double-lens kit (only R1500 extra).
OR.......get the D40(D40x), sell off the included 18-55mm lens and get the 18-200 AF-DX VR lens with a 2x teleconverter (about R8000 for the lens and teleconverter). It's expensive but you will never need any additional lenses, apart from a macro lens later on.
