Ethnic Experience in and near Cape Town

Tours South Africa - Cultural Township Tours

Taking a township tour through Cape Town leaves you with an insight into the past and post 1994 progress. It will educate you about South Africa's turbulant past. You will be able to visit and gain knowledge about various projects. ... more

With a turbulent history and a variety of cultures, South Africa is a wonderful place to experience diversity and develop an understanding of how different people live. Ethic Experiences can be found almost everywhere and they provide a vital part in the upliftment of previously disadvantaged groups within South Africa. By spending your money in these regions, you play an important role in reinvigorating communities.

Top on the list of many travellers to South Africa is a tour through the townships of Cape Town or Soweto. Several tour companies offer their services and visitors can experience a shebeen (tavern), visit community projects, eat traditional cuisine, visit with a traditional healer and get a chance to meet with people who live in these vibrant areas.

In Cape Town, the Cape Flats draw many visitors. People were relocated here in the 1960s and 70s when they were forcibly removed from District Six near the Cape Town Business District. The largest township in the area is Khayelitsha.

Soweto is a township that has become a city in itself, and played a major role during the struggles against apartheid. Included in many of the tours are visits to the Sowetan homes of Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Some incorporate music, with a visit to an African township jazz club.

If you had a more traditional rural South African experience in mind, head to Hartbeespoort Dam where you will get a chance to immerse yourself in the cultures of the Zulu, Xhosa, Basotho and Pedi peoples. There are rousing dance and theatrical productions and African feasts and you can spend the night in a traditional hut. Traditional villages are also found in Clarens, Hluhluwe and Hazyview.

The history of the Zulu culture plays a big part of South Africa's legacy, and it is in Eshowe in KwaZulu Natal where you can learn most about these fascinating people.