The Bo-Kaap (translated as Upper Cape) is Cape Town’s most famous neighbourhood, known for its brightly painted, colourful homes. It is displayed in almost all tourism brochures, videos, and advertisements of Cape Town. The Bo-Kaap community has special significance to the story of Cape Town, symbolizing resistance, resilience, and rebirth.
What was once a poor neighbourhood on the edge of town, lined with white-painted rental homes, is today the vibrant and colourful Bo-Kaap, alive with cuisine, culture, and history. The neighbourhood became the home of the city’s freed slaves in the 1830s after the abolishment of slavery in the then British Cape Colony. Built before the era of the industrial revolution and the motorcar, the neighbourhood is a tightly built-up village, planned for pedestrians. It brims with the history and culture of Cape Town’s Cape Malay Muslim Community – with homes dating from both the Dutch and British eras, but a community with Eastern heritage.
Our 2-hour tour comprises a concise overview of Cape and South African history, going back to the times of the Khoi and San people, Portuguese sea trade and the first conflict between Europeans and African people in what today is Cape Town. It then delves into the consequent establishment of a halfway station for the Dutch East India Company, the arrival of settler farmers, and the importation of slaves from the East. All the way through to British occupation and the eventual establishment of the Union of South African in 1910.
We also delve into the establishment of apartheid by 1948 and how the Bo-Kaap resisted and survived attempts to demolish the neighbourhood, and forcefully move the residents. Up to the era of democracy when people could now own their homes, rather than renting, and the colourful paint that represents freedom of slavery but also freedom from apartheid.
We ponder upon solidarity with other communities in the world under threat of forced removal and the impact of gentrification on the contemporary neighbourhood.
We amble along cobblestoned streets, staircases, and walkways. We linger in an intimate square at Faeeza’s Kitchen & Tea Garden, sampling some Cape Malay delicacies (koesisters and samoosas) and we sip coffee on the sidewalk at Bo-Kaap Deli. Along the way, we pop into shops and galleries, as well as the Bo-Kaap Museum.
It is a sensory and most inspiring experience which will make you understand South Africa and Cape Town so much better. If you only have two hours to do a walking tour in the city, then this is the must-do tour!
Rates:
Available as a private tour at all times, at a minimum of R2000 for up to 4 guests, or R500 per person if you are more than 4 guests.
Any food, drinks, or shopping along the way for guests’ own account.
BOOK NOW:
To book your tour, send an email to gerald@localplaces.co.za or a WhatsApp to + 27 82 894 5216.
Please do not phone as we are mostly busy hosting guests.
Send a message and we will contact you as soon as is possible.
We will respond to your booking request and provide an online payment link for you to pay by bank card to secure the booking.
TERMS & CONDITIONS
Guests participate in all IkapaPlaces tours at their own risk. Neither IkapaPlaces, nor its guides, accept any responsibility whatsoever for any injury, accident or death that may occur while participating in an IkapaPlaces tour, whether in a public or a private space.
A tour booking is only secured upon payment.
Provisional bookings will automatically be cancelled if not paid within 48 hours from making a booking.
Bookings cannot be cancelled once paid for any reason whatsoever and no refunds will be offered for cancelled bookings.
Bookings can be postponed to another date if postponed more than 30 days in advance of the booked date. However, bookings cannot be postponed for any reason whatsoever within 30 days of the tour date, as we would lose the opportunity to take another booking for that slot.
STARTING POINT
We will stipulate the starting point for your tour in your booking confirmation letter. This tour starts in front of the Atlas Spice Shop in Wale Street, Bo-Kaap.
For private tour bookings, it is possible to arrange pick up and drop off from your hotel or accommodation, possibly for an additional fee, depending on location.
JOIN OUR GROUP:
If you urgently want to know about already scheduled open tours in a current week, which you could join, please WhatsApp us directly on +27 82 894 5216. We also run a WhatsApp Group where we post news on upcoming quick encounters, tours and events. send a message to us requesting to join this group.
WhatsApp us on +27 82 894 5216 or email us on gerald@localplaces.co.za to check availability.