4-day 

 

Dark tour South Africa

 

Dark tourism has been defined as tourism involving travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy. 

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Imagine retracing South African history from the day South Africa was colonised and brought in slavery in 1653, visiting the Castle in Cape Town to see the torture chamber, Wine Estates built by slaves and where a slave called Eva was sent to Robben Island to quarry stone as she was considered strong enough to carry the quarried stones.

Then apartheid was designed, and many people were kept on Robben Island as political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela. Visit his house in Soweto, as well as many other spots where he and other cadres were involved in fighting apartheid like Liliesleaf farm, Constitutional Hill etc, while a professional Tourist guide explain the entire history to you, like the Sharpeville massacre in which police fired on a crowd of Black people, killing or wounding some 250. It was one of the first and most violent demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa.

 

     Itinerary:

 

Day 1:

Day 1: Meet us at your centrally located hotel and start this trip, or at the Nelson Mandela Gateway, V&A Waterfront from 08:00 am to board for Robben Island. This must-see excursion takes about 4 hours and includes a ferry trip to the Island where you will be guided to see all the historical sites around the Island, as well as the cell of Nelson Mandela where he would spend 18 of his 27 prison years. We then enjoy lunch and browse through the awesome shops at the Waterfront. You can then see the Bo-Kaap, an area formerly known as the Malay Quarter. It is a former racially segregated area, and walks the steep cobbled streets to view the Colorful houses. Museum visits include the Malay Quarter and slave lodge museums. Choose one of the numerous restaurants in the vicinity to have dinner, and overnight at The Portswood Hotel, Cape Town (or similar).

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Day 2: A scrumptious breakfast follows a visit to the Castle of Good Hope to unearth the hidden history of the Castle where you will see prison cells, the governor's house and the gruesome torture chamber. Built by the Dutch East India Company between 1666 and 1679, the Castle is the oldest existing building in South Africa. This follows a drive to a wine estate near the town of Stellenbosch, where the tragic history of slavery is preserved in museums, located in the farm’s original wine cellar dating back to 1740. You will do a cultural tour here to browse through the museums starting from the very beginning of the human settlement through pre–colonial pastoral usage of the land. Explore some of the multi-layered roots of rural Cape music from human development from indigenous, slave, African, European, apartheid and modern cross–cultural influences. Optional wine tasting can be arranged at Solms Delta. You return to the Cape Town International airport and fly to Johannesburg, where you have a room booked at an airport hotel. One way economy flight included. Overnight at Birchwood Hotel OR Tambo. (or similar)

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Day 3: Your tour start at Constitution Hill Human Rights Precinct to experience the Old Fort, the Women's Jail, Number Four (Former political prisoners incarcerated at Number Four include Indian civil rights leader Mahatma Gandhi) and the Constitutional Court. This holistic tour comes to the heart of what Constitution Hill is all about. Nelson Mandela was incarcerated at Constitution Hill on two occasions. A permanent exhibition has been established at Constitution Hill in his honour.

Visit the Apartheid Museum, where the rise and fall of apartheid is illustrated. Overnight at Birchwood Hotel OR Tambo (or similar).

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​Day 4: Now to Vilakazi Street where we can relive the history of two Nobel Peace Prize winners: Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. We visit the Hector Peterson Memorial and Museum, and then the Mandela House Museum. The 1976 uprising that began in Soweto and spread countrywide profoundly changed the socio-political landscape in South Africa. During this event, many demonstrates fled to the Regina Mundi church. The police entered the church, firing live ammunition. Both the interior and the external walls of the church still bear the signs of the shootings, which you will see on this tour. A traditional lunch in Soweto is followed by a visit to the Voortrekker Momument and study marble friezes depicting the history of the Great Trek and incorporate aspects of everyday life, bloody wars, beliefs and culture of the Afrikaner Boers.

You also have the option to do shopping at an African arts and crafts market. As this tour come to conclusion, we drop you at the airport or your hotel from 5pm.