Unique Day Tours and Holiday activities in Cape Town, South Africa.

Gospel Tour - The soul of the township

Pull up a pew! It’s time to experience praise and worship township-style, as your local guides in Gugulethu, Cape Town, or Kayamandi, Stellenbosch, take you into the very heart of the community: the church. This tour throws you right into the deep end of township life – and surprise, surprise – the water’s warm!

Across the world, churches have always been an integral part of the life of poorer communities, serving a role that goes well beyond the purely spiritual. In the local townships, this truth has played out in a unique and profoundly South African way. After 1960, when the Apartheid regime banned political gatherings, it was from the pulpits that the oppressed voiced their rage, and it fell to the church leaders to rally the community under the banner of the one institution that the ruling party could not conceivably ban.

Today, the churches continue to play an indispensable and variegated role in the cultural and social life of township communities.

As a result of the broad range of needs to which they answer, services are somewhat different from those you might be used to. Casual, charismatic, and peppered with jubilant interjections from the congregation, they are as much a platform for community debate and discussion as they are occasions of worship. The welcoming attitude of the churchgoers and the rousing gospel music of the choirs are sure to lift the dourest of spirits, and will leave you with a whole new understanding of what it means to rejoice!

Under no circumstances should you assume that this tour is just for Christians. It’s for anyone who has a desire to understand the African community at its most fundamental level and experience firsthand the warmth of its people. Of course, it’s also for any fan of Gospel – whether you prefer the music or the teachings of the Good Book.

Before the service, a guided township tour (Gugulethu) or a guided walk (Kayamandi) allows us to further explore the vibrant life of the township. We will visit various places of interest such as local shops, a community centre, and private homes to round off our visit, Mama Shumi or one of her friends (on the Kayamandi Gospel tour only), the mother of a local priest, welcomes us into her home for a cup of tea or a glass of homemade ginger beer, and tells us stories about the spiritual life of the township, now and in the difficult years gone by.

This tour brings you right to the heart and soul of South Africa, and into the lives of the ordinary people that earn Cape Town the moniker ‘The Friendly City.’

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