Follow Madiba into the heart of Joburg
JOBURG - It can be easy to forget just how African a city Joburg is, but, thankfully, the Heart of an African City walking tour can provide the perfect refresher course.
Ancient Secrets will offer this tour, which follows the footsteps of Nelson Mandela into the heart of the city of gold, on 1 February.
According to Ancient Secrets’ Ishvara Dhyan, the tour will begin at the former Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
“We will meet local sangomoas and inyangas (herbalists), and visit the famous Museum of Man and Science,” he said. “We will also learn about Traditional African Religion… the Zionist church and the Shembe religion,” he said.
“Our walk [will take] us to shops that supply traditional beads and cloths… Shona, Shangaan, Zulu, Swazi, Basotho, Ndebele, Venda, Xhosa, Bapedi and Tswana.”
Other stops on the tour include a traditional Basotho blanket shop and a Shweshwe factory shop.
Dhyan said, “We will meet the Gujerati traders that have [traded] for over a century in the area, as well as the Chinese community that dates back to the 1800s.”
Tracing the footsteps of Mandela, the tour will take in the offices where he practised law in the 1950s, a favourite restaurant of his, the apartment where he lived under house arrest, places where he met with anti-apartheid activists, and the rooftop where he practised boxing.
The tour will end in Newtown. Booking is essential.
Details: ancientsecrets@absamail.co.za
