• Experience Soweto
    Experience Soweto

About Soweto

History

Soweto – acronym for South Western Township, (located South West of Johannesburg) emerged just after 1900 as a racially segregated area re-locating an emerging black labour force for white companies, especially the gold-mining industries. Johannesburg or ‘Egoli’ – ‘The City of Gold’, attracted South African’s from all corners of the country, the vast majority of Black African people settled in Soweto. Besides accommodating the working class, Soweto was also home to anti-Apartheid political activists such as Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela and PAC-leader Zeph Motopeng.

Thus, Soweto became a home to political philosophers and has produced some of South Africa’s greatest leaders. In the 1970’s Soweto was the home of the Black Consciousness Movement lead by Steve Biko. On 16 June 1976 Soweto was on the world’s headlines when police opened fire on marching students. Soweto started a fire that lit the country alight and led to the downfall of the Apartheid regime.

Today Soweto is the beacon for the new South Africa and a symbol of resistance to overcome repression and exploitation.

Township Vibe

Many visitors of Soweto are taken away by the vibe and the friendliness that you experience in the township. Many think it is unsafe to visit but once moving around in Soweto engaging with people you quickly realize that this place is full of life and positive people. Here people spend a lot of time outdoors socializing with neighbors and friends. We encourage our guests to walk along the streets, greet people and learn the local lingo!

Food

Whether you are up to try some street food - such as chicken feet, cow cheek meat, shisa nyama (barbeque) – or some fast food from the local food outlets, or proper restaurant food – Soweto has it all. We also run our own Outdoor Restaurant where we cook home cooked African stews and curries over the fire. For dinner we always have freshly home cooked dishes giving our guests a taste of Sowetan and African food.

Music

Soweto has been home to many famous musicians in various genres such as Jazz, kwaito (local hip hop) and…. Famous songs have come out of Soweto such as “Mbube – The lions sleep tonight, Meadowlands and Jive Soweto…

When Sowetans go clubbing it’s all about house music and there are live music venues throughout Soweto.