Day 01
Walk Through Cape Town's Apartheid-Era Landmarks
- Step back in time to when the apartheid system started in South Africa in 1948, when different groups of people were separated based on their race.
- We start our tour in an area called District 6, where people of all races used to live before they were forcibly removed by the government of that time. Here, we will visit the District 6 Museum, where we will see the remaining debris of the area formerly lived in by this mixed-race community.
- From there, we will visit the Castle of Good Hope, the oldest colonial building in South Africa, constructed by the Dutch settlers to protect themselves against ships going to India and Europe, as well as from the primary inhabitants of this land, the Khoe-Khoe people.
- Next, stop at the Parade, where Nelson Mandela gave his very first democratic speech after coming out of prison on 11 February 1990. Then, move on to the Slave Lodge, where slaves from Malaysia, India, China, and other places were accommodated so they could work on farms and become soldiers and other hard labourers.
- Our next stop will be at the Apartheid Benches. These benches show us how a black person could not sit on the same bench as a white person when waiting for the bus. They are located at the very same place where the apartheid laws were passed at that time.
- We will end our tour at a place called the Bo-Kaap. In 1834, when England declared the end of slavery in all of their colonies, some ex-slaves came to live in this area, which later transformed into a tourist hotspot with an array of beautiful colourful houses.
