“Pah, he lives there in his own Hollywood, and we have nothing,” spits a drinker while whacking his fly swatter furiously against the bench we’re sitting on, lashing one unfortunate drinker.
It’s just another afternoon in Africa’s most famous township — a hotbed for political dissent since its creation in 1903 as part of the forced resettlement of black workers from Johannesburg.
Soweto, now incorporated into wider Joburg, is a generally safe and culturally rich place to visit that’s gone through substantial regeneration in the past few years.
We’re seeing it by bicycle, a far more direct way to appreciate the street life than from behind the windows of a tour bus.
Our guide is local man Tshepo Mokone, from Lebo’s Soweto Backpackers.
The roads are good, although be warned: Soweto has hills — but they’re a great place to catch the views including of the new Soccer City stadium and Orlando Towers, which you can bungee jump from.
Shebeens
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Boutique hotel
Kliptown is one of Soweto’s oldest neighborhoods and the venue for the signing of the Freedom Charter in 1955, when thousands of activists agreed on a document that would form the basis of the country’s post-apartheid Constitution.
Freedom Square is a vast and impressive area of modernist architecture with an unusual monument and art gallery, shops and a bustling marketplace.
You can hop off your bike and walk into Soweto Hotel on the square (+27 11 527 7300). A funky boutique hotel featuring black and white photos by the late great black South African photographer Alf Khumalo, Afro-retro decor and friendly staff, it’s a great place to recover while listening to live jazz and sipping a cocktail.
The hotel’s founding partner Lindiwe Sangweni-Siddo trained in Switzerland and worked for luxury chains abroad but returned to South Africa to launch her vision for a high quality Soweto hotel.
“My vision was to start a company with a typical African flavor — a place where we could begin to define South African hospitality,” she says.
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