Soweto experience is a half day trip by Frontline Africa Travel

Day Trip - Soweto experience

Categories: City / Cultural / Historical / Sightseeing / Township

The only place in the World where three Nobel Prize winners lived in the same area namely Luthuli, Thutu and Mandela. Visit The Nobel Prize Winners House’s, Hector Peterson Memorial, Mandela Family Mu... [continued]

At a Glance

Tour Description

The only place in the World where three Nobel Prize winners lived in the same area namely Luthuli, Thutu and Mandela. Visit The Nobel Prize Winners House’s, Hector Peterson Memorial, Mandela Family Museum, Winnie Mandela’s House, Regina Mundi Church, Freedom Square, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Visit the Apartheid Museum, Visit to an African Shebeen with lunch (optional extra) or lunch at Gold Reef City Casino and there is a Short Johannesburg City Tour included.

Johannesburg’s twin city populated exclusively by black people is Soweto (an acronym for South-Western Townships). It is the largest black township in the country consisting of 26 townships, each of which was designed to be independent. The township of Soweto as a whole could be called multiracial, in the sense that its residents are from all the tribes in South Africa.

The type of housing ranges from shacks to large mansions and there is one street where you can find the houses of two Nobel Peace Prize winners; Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Also located in Soweto is the Baragwanath Hospital, thought to be the largest hospital in the southern hemisphere but despite this, almost 85% of the local residents still consult traditional healers who concoct medicines in their age old tradition.

It was in Soweto that much of the struggle against apartheid was fought. On 16 June 1976 the riots, which spread through the country, started here with black children protesting against Afrikaans being used as a joint instruction medium with English in African schools. As the demonstration increased in size, the police threw a teargas canister into the crowd. This led to a wave of panic, stone-throwing and shooting into the crowd. A newspaper photographer, Sam Nzima, captured the moment when a fatally wounded 13 year old, Hector Petersen, was carried out of the crowd. This photograph came to symbolise the tragedy of that day and each year the 16 June is remembered with a national holiday called Youth Day.