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Township Tourism booming in South Africa
Beyond safaris, visitors attracted to the authentic, urban scene
 | A child stands at the service window of a spaza-shop in the Langa township near Cape Town, South Africa. Township tourism, which started after the multi-racial elections on 1994, has increased in popularity every year and has now become a multi-million dollar business. |
Karin Colsen / AP file |
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Major Ndaba dons his wild cat skin hat, stands by his "lucky charm" baboon skeleton and poses for the cameras of visitors intent on experiencing a South Africa far removed from game reserves and glistening beaches.
Ndaba's dark herbalist store, crammed with tree bark, animal horns and dozens of different powders and potions which he claims will treat everything from AIDS to infertility to flu, is a regular attraction on tours into the sprawling settlements set up by the old apartheid government which are still home to the majority of the population.
Township tourism, which has increased hugely in popularity since South Africa's multiracial elections of 1994, is now a multimillion dollar business.
Soweto, the heart of the anti-apartheid struggle, is now Johannesburg's top tourist attraction, according to local authorities. Tours pass by Nelson Mandela's first home, that of his former wife Winnie Madikezela Mandela and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, as well as monuments to fallen heroes of the struggle against racism.
Even in Cape Town, which lacks the historical significance of Soweto, about 25 percent of foreign visitors take time out from the stunning scenery and beaches to trawl the dusty streets of the wind-swept Cape Flats.
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There are no reliable figures on the economic impact of the tours, which cost on average $40 for a half-day visit and more for overnight stays in basic but clean houses or shacks.
But Simon Kumanya, who runs a craft stall on a dusty corner in Langa, shows the importance of the tours when he explains that the carved wooden and exquisitely beaded souvenirs he sells provide work for about 20 people.
"The Germans are my most important customers," he said, flicking an ostrich feather duster and straining his voice above the belting music from a nearby minibus taxi.
City officials are anxious to encourage the tours, especially in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup. The benefits trickle down to the poorest of the poor, with schools and child-care centers funded by some of the profits and donations.
"Township tours spread the tourism dividend to the townships. We are simply never going to unlock the huge potential of this city and province if we confine it to Table Mountain and the Waterfront," said the incoming head of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, Sheryl Ozinsky, in a recent newspaper editorial.
But there have been some bad incidents. In November, a group of Germans was robbed by armed thugs as they visited a school in Langa, and a Dutch group was attacked outside a restaurant there. Langa was the first township developed after the 1923 Urban Areas Act tried to force Africans to live in specific locations.
A year ago, German tour operators on a fact-finding visit were robbed in the Khayelitsha township.
The negative headlines caused a dip in visitors but - officials insist - are the exception and not the rule.
"Crime is a very real threat to continued tourism growth, not just in the townships. It would be a tremendous pity and ultimately self-defeating if ... we simply throw up our hands and confine the tourism experience to a few high-security areas," commented Ozinsky.
She pointed out that a similar spate of robberies had happened at the Kirstenbosch gardens, but there were no calls for people to stop visiting there.
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