Join this 4-hour private tour of Langa and Gugulethu, two townships in the Cape Town region, with a local guide. Hotel pickup and transportation to townships is included.
You will be picked up from your Cape Town hotel area or guesthouse at approximately 09:00 AM and driven for approximately 20 minutes to one of the oldest townships known to locals as Langa (this which means "the sun" in Xhosa). The township is named after a well-respected man called Langalibalele, who was a famous rainmaker who spent time in prison 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 the Sixth Ward under the Group Areas Act, your driver will introduce you to the local guide. The local guide will accompany you on a short walking tour (1 kilometer or less), providing the opportunity to interact with the locals.
The walking part will start at Gugasthebe, a tourist office, where various non-profit organizations are learning skills for local youth. Next, you'll visit what was once a detention center during apartheid, before continuing to the local shebeen or tavern, where you'll learn how the local beer, Umqombothi, is brewed, and enjoy a beer tasting with the inhabitants. This will be followed by a visit to the municipal brewery built in 1945.
Next, you will visit township women entrepreneurs who prepare meat barbecue (braai) in the streets of Langa, old and new hostels to see the transformations made by the government to provide better living conditions for residents, a nursery area and a newer model of real estate development. At the Langa market, you spend a few minutes with a traditional doctor, or Sangoma (optional). The walk through the townships will end at the public library.
Then you will board the vehicle to explore other places of interest around the township before driving to a second township called Gugulethu, known by locals as “Gugs”. Gugulethu comes from the Xhosa the name "igugu lethu", means "our pride". It was established in 1960 because Langa was overcrowded. The excursion will take you to the amusement area and stop for lunch instead of Mzoli meat (own expense). There you will have the opportunity to drink and eat with the local population.
At the end of the tour, you will be transferred back to your hotel at approximately 13:00 PM
