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We had read about the various guided tourist visits to South Africa's black and colored townships in our guidebooks
and guest house brochures and were alternately curious and apprehensive about joining one of the tours in Cape Town.
Traveling around Southern Africa, we encountered these ramshackle shanty towns nearly everywhere and we were genuinely
curious about the daily life of and concerned for the plight of the majority of South Africa's (new) citizens. Having
had so many friendly interactions with blacks and coloreds, as the people of mixed race are known here, we were
certainly not afraid to visit a township, but we were apprehensive for other reasons. How would we feel if mini buses
packed with camera-toting foreigners regularly toured through our neighborhood to catch a glimpse of what our
homes and lives are like? We didn't want to be packed on a big, safe, air-conditioned bus and driven through the
townships on some sort of poverty safari, as some of the first such tours reportedly were conducted.
Lonely Planet South Africa's
author assured us that, with a conscientiously run tour operator, we would have a chance to get out and meet people
and would very likely be welcomed by the townships' residents. Furthermore, we read, such visits were deemed quite
beneficial to the townships on a number of levels: for their financial contributions (many, if not all, of the tour
operators donate some of their earnings to township initiatives and tourists are spending more and more money at
township businesses during their visits), but perhaps more importantly, for raising outsiders' awareness of the
living conditions in the townships, showing them the new hope for improvement held by many of the residents and
generally fostering good will and communication between cultures. Continued here |
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