Published on Dec, 2024

The Joburg CBD gets a bad wrap. With Refilwe, we asked the city for four hours, soaking up the sites and sounds. Would recommend as an introduction to the city.

Published on Dec, 2024

The Joburg CBD gets a bad wrap. With Refilwe, we asked the city for four hours, soaking up the sites and sounds. Would recommend as an introduction to the city.

Published on Nov, 2024

I spent an amazing afternoon with lead guide Mulalo Mphuma and Sihle Bontle (who was fantastic - shadowing Mulalo while training to be a walking guide) - I would thoroughly recommend to any visitor to Johannesburg. As a tourist from the UK in S Africa for work/ holiday - in Johannesburg for a few days, what I wanted from the walking tour was to connect in a meaningful way with Soweto (like a city in itself - 1.5million people) that wasn’t limited to a sanitised, tourist-orientated experience. I got this from this walking tour - an informative, respectful (to Soweto) and enjoyable afternoon spent with Mulalo and Sihle who are both from and still live in Soweto. The tour was personalised around what I wanted to experience - which was to get a feel for and understanding of Soweto. Mulalo gives an unflinching and honest overview of the history of Soweto in a way that ensured I could see the human side of historical facts - the racialised, racist laws that brought it into being, the struggles by the Black African majority population for freedom, the site of the courageous peaceful protest by Soweto children in 1976 that gave rise to a murderous, violent response from S.African police, as well as passing Nelson Mandela’s and Desmond Tutu’s family homes. We visited different sides of the township, from the more prosperous neighbourhoods, to the informal side settlement where people who experience the most structural barriers battle with ingenuity and resilience to make a future for themselves and their wider community. We stopped at a snack stop where I attempted to fit into my mouth a fabulous yet somewhat daunting open Sandwich - made of a tall slice of bread, chips and various bbq meats slathered in delicious sauces- larger than my head! Mulalo recommended eating through some of the chips first to reduce the enormity of the task… I did my best to devour it all. From a high point we overlooked the surrounding hills, on one of which was the Cape Town University Soweto campus, where Soweto students can attend without having to travel great distances from home. We also passed through an enormous, bustling shopping mall - full of every modern/ luxury item you could want - frequented by the shoppers all from Soweto. Mulalo and Sihle were keen to pass on an insight into a Soweto as a nuanced, varied place that is energetic and creative despite all the structural barriers they still face. I can’t recommend enough! Thanks both of you for an unforgettable afternoon.

Published on Nov, 2024

I spent an amazing afternoon with lead guide Mulalo Mphuma and Sihle Bontle (who was fantastic - shadowing Mulalo while training to be a walking guide) - I would thoroughly recommend to any visitor to Johannesburg. As a tourist from the UK in S Africa for work/ holiday - in Johannesburg for a few days, what I wanted from the walking tour was to connect in a meaningful way with Soweto (like a city in itself - 1.5million people) that wasn’t limited to a sanitised, tourist-orientated experience. I got this from this walking tour - an informative, respectful (to Soweto) and enjoyable afternoon spent with Mulalo and Sihle who are both from and still live in Soweto. The tour was personalised around what I wanted to experience - which was to get a feel for and understanding of Soweto. Mulalo gives an unflinching and honest overview of the history of Soweto in a way that ensured I could see the human side of historical facts - the racialised, racist laws that brought it into being, the struggles by the Black African majority population for freedom, the site of the courageous peaceful protest by Soweto children in 1976 that gave rise to a murderous, violent response from S.African police, as well as passing Nelson Mandela’s and Desmond Tutu’s family homes. We visited different sides of the township, from the more prosperous neighbourhoods, to the informal side settlement where people who experience the most structural barriers battle with ingenuity and resilience to make a future for themselves and their wider community. We stopped at a snack stop where I attempted to fit into my mouth a fabulous yet somewhat daunting open Sandwich - made of a tall slice of bread, chips and various bbq meats slathered in delicious sauces- larger than my head! Mulalo recommended eating through some of the chips first to reduce the enormity of the task… I did my best to devour it all. From a high point we overlooked the surrounding hills, on one of which was the Cape Town University Soweto campus, where Soweto students can attend without having to travel great distances from home. We also passed through an enormous, bustling shopping mall - full of every modern/ luxury item you could want - frequented by the shoppers all from Soweto. Mulalo and Sihle were keen to pass on an insight into a Soweto as a nuanced, varied place that is energetic and creative despite all the structural barriers they still face. I can’t recommend enough! Thanks both of you for an unforgettable afternoon.

Published on Oct, 2024

Great tour ! Walking with the nice local guide was perfect to discover the city center and feel its spirit. The tour is also full of History and architecture.