Soweto (Full Day) SOWFD

This full-day Soweto tour actually starts in the Johannesburg precinct, Constitution Hill, the seat of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. There, the living museum tells the story of South Africa’s journey to democracy and provides context for all you will learn today as you travel on to Soweto and take in more of the struggle as presented in the Apartheid and Nelson Mandela National Museums - an ultimately inspiring journey.
 

You will be met at your hotel by your tour representative for this significant full-day tour of Soweto, which is a cluster of townships located southwest of Johannesburg and where between four and six million people live. This township is a stark contrast to the up-market areas of Johannesburg and may well be disturbing to some, particularly when viewing the shanty areas of many of the poor resident black population.

First, you will travel to Constitution Hill, in Johannesburg, which is a living museum that tells the story of South Africa’s tumultuous past and transition from colonialism and apartheid to democracy. The site served as a prison, and briefly as a military fort, for 100 years. Today it is home to the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land, which endorses the rights of all citizens.

Apartheid was dismantled almost two-decades ago but its full horror lives on in a stark white building in Soweto, the Apartheid Museum, which will take you on a fascinating, horrifying, humbling and ultimately inspiring journey from the dark days of 'whites-only' privilege, through to Nelson Mandela's historic release from prison. Documentary pieces of film, texts, sound clips, and live accounts recapture life in the old South Africa.

Then you will explore Vilakazi Street where you will enjoy lunch. This street is the only street in the world that can boast having had two Nobel Laureates as residents - Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela. And this street is where Mandela spent the first couple of nights of freedom upon his release after 27 years of imprisonment.

After lunch you visit Mandela's former home now officially named the Nelson Mandela National Museum (aka Mandela House) and which houses a multi-media tribute to the man’s life and legacy.

After your full-day tour of Soweto, you will be returned to your hotel.

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