Day Tour in Soweto
It was a bright sunny day in Johannesburg, myself and my family got ready to go on a day tour with Safari With Us. We boarded the shuttle and started our day. The excitement was in the air as we drove towards Soweto. As we drove into Soweto our Guide (Victor) informed us about the different styles of housing and how Soweto became what it is today. In the beginning only the doctors and policemen were allowed to have slightly better housing than the rest of the black South African people and this general type of housing was called matchbox housing as it is very small. Nelson Mandela was also staying in a matchbox house. As we drove down into Soweto our Guide also told us that the meaning of Gauteng was gold as there are many tails after the gold mine was done in Johannesburg. Our guide informed us that these tails are not mountains but just heaps of sand that came about after the mining was done back in the day.
We headed off to Hector Peterson Square and museum where our guide took us on a tour and explained to us about the students that were going to peacefully walk down to the police station and explain that they were being taught in a language that they don’t understand, this language was Afrikaans. On that day (16 June 1976) there was a terrible shooting and there was a little boy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he lost his life that day. There is a Red paving all the way up to the crossing where the little boy and many other students lost their lives due to the police using live ammunition at the students. This is to symbolise the bloodshed that day. There are also olive trees planted at the square to symbolise peace as well as a water feature which is to symbolise the tears of many mothers and fathers that lost their children that day. Across the road there is a local flea market that we went to and enjoyed the story’s and conversation of the locals in Soweto.
We then boarded the shuttle and went to Vilakazi Street where we were entertained by people dancing in the street. They were doing their traditional dances from the tribes that they came from. We walked down the street and there were many stalls that we could purchase some souvenirs from. Lunch was at a beautiful restaurant where we could choose what we wanted from a buffet including African food mogudu (stomach of a cow) also pap which is a traditional meal made of crushed mealies and then cooked in water. We also had an opportunity to enjoy beer brewed in Soweto which is called Soweto Gold. There was an option to try out traditional beer (mxomboti) which is drunk out of a type of bowl which is called (sego). While we were enjoying all of these South African dishes we were being entertained by people singing and doing dances.
After lunch we then went to Bishop Desmond Tutu house, we could not go inside as it was privately owned but we could see it from the outside and it was the same “match box style house.” We then walked further down the street to Nelson Mandela house where we went on a guided tour of the house. We were told that Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela did not know each other till many years after living so close to each other even though they were fighting for the same thing. We entered Nelson Mandela’s house and we saw the reality of the size of a “match box” house and the bullet marks of drive by shooting at night. We could read some of the letters that Nelson Mandela wrote while he was in jail, and we saw the original coal stove that his family was using years ago.
We then headed back to our guesthouse and on the way back our guide Victor told us very entertaining stories of Soweto. It was a day to remember, and I would definitely suggest this tour to anyone who wants to do a day tour in Johannesburg.
