While our Soweto driving tours explore the greater area of this sprawling township, this 4-hour walking tour focuses on Orlando-West. Arguably Soweto’s most famous suburb, especially known for the fact that two Nobel Peace Laureates once lived here along the same street – Vilakazi Street!
Our tour starts at the incredibly poignant Hector Pieterson Memorial & Museum, where we pay homage to the 1976 Soweto Student Uprising. The moment that propelled apartheid firmly into the international spotlight, and that set in motion a series of events that lead to a continued and effective struggle to topple the apartheid regime. It took until the 1990s for apartheid to crumble and for South African to reach democracy.
We do not only investigate the uprising itself but delve into the essence of what apartheid meant and how it was implemented. And how Soweto was created as a township, then a giant labour camp in essence. This tour will make you understand the makings and breaking of apartheid much better than any single museum could, and this with mesmerizing storyetlling in one of the most important places that fought against apartheid.
The tour is not only about history but also enjoying the contemporary Soweto vibe, We walk through the neighbourhood to the world-famous Vilakazi Street and enjoy the vibrant street scene before visiting the Nelson Mandela House Museum. It was here that Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela Mandela lived before his imprisonment – and the house he returned to after his release.
Vilakazi Street is today one of Johannesburg’s top public gathering spaces, lined with many local-owned restaurants, bars and shop. Of course, we can enjoy a drink and something to eat too. Reveling in the tastes of Soweto. All in all, a fantastic morning or afternoon, strolling around, learning astonishing history while experiencing simply the friendliest and most welcoming part of Johannesburg.
Rates:
Only available as a private tour at any time, subject to availability. The minimum rate is R3200 for up to 4 people or R800 per person if you are more than 4 guests.
Any food, drinks, or shopping along the way for guests’ own account.
This tour does NOT include any transport. The tour starts and ends at the Hector Pieterson Museum in Orlando-West, Soweto.
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 LocalPlaces tours at their own risk. Neither LocalPlaces, nor its guides, accept any responsibility whatsoever for any injury, accident or death that may occur while participating in a LocalPlaces 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 at Hector Pieterson Museum.
SAFETY
We care for all our customers’ safety as our reputation depends on our guests feeling safe and enjoying their experiences. We have been doing tours safely in Johannesburg for 13 years. Regardless of what your hotel receptionist, concierge or even other residents in the suburbs of Johannesburg, may tell you, it is safe to come on a walking tour in town. We would not recommend that you set out and go and explore on your own before having done a walking tour. As a tour will orientate you and give you the local streetwise knowledge of how to navigate the area and what to avoid.
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.