Cape Town Township Half Day Shared Tour

Cape Town Township Half Day Shared Tour

Join this 5-hour shared tour of Langa and Gugulethu, two Cape Town-area townships, led by a local resident guide. Take a step into the culture of the Xhosa community in South Africa and experience their lifestyle and traditions. This is a unique walking tour alongside an experienced local township tour guide who will share stories of history and culture in this diverse community. Optional opportunity to stop for a Braai (BBQ) lunch (own account) at Mzoli Meat Market and dine with the locals.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Guga S'thebe, Washington St, Langa, Cape Town, 7455, South Africa

You will be collected from your Cape Town area hotel or guest house at approximately 09H00 and driven for approximately 20-minutes to one of the city's oldest townships known to the locals as Langa (meaning ‘Sun’ in Xhosa). The township is named after a very respected chief Langalibalele, who was a renowned rainmaker that spent time in jail on Robben Island in 1873 for rebelling against the Natal government.

Upon arrival in this township, originally developed for black South Africans who were evicted from their homes in District Six under the Group Areas Act, your guide/driver will introduce you to the local resident tour guide. The local guide will accompany you on a short walking tour (0.5 miles or less than a kilometer), affording opportunities to interact with locals.

The walking portion will start at Gugasthebe, a tourist information center, where various non-profit organizations teach skills to the local youth. Then, you will visit what used to be a detention center during apartheid, before proceeding to the local shebeen or tavern, where you will learn how the local beer, Umqombothi, is brewed, and enjoy a beer tasting with locals. This will be followed by a visit to the municipal beer hall built-in 1945.

Afterward, you'll visit the township's entrepreneurial businesswomen who prepare barbecue (braai) meat on the streets of Langa, old and new hostels to see the transformations done by the government in order to better residents' living conditions, an area crèche, and a newer housing development. In the Langa market, you will spend a few minutes with a traditional doctor, or Sangoma (optional). The walking township tour will end at the public library.

Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Guguletu, Guguletu, Western Cape

Then, you'll board the vehicle to explore other places of interest around the township before heading to a second township called Gugulethu, known to the locals as 'Gugs'. Gugulethu comes from Xhosa name ‘igugu lethu’ meaning 'our pride'. It was established in 1960 because Langa was overcrowded. The tour will drive to area attractions and stop for lunch at the Mzoli meat place (at your own expense). Here you will have an opportunity to eat and drink with the locals.

At the end of the tour, you will be dropped off at your hotel at approximately 1pm

Duration: 2 hours