Verified A big treasure in Johannesburg! The Alexandra Township Tour was an absolute highlight off the beaten track! Moya is an excellent guide, he answered all my curious questions and enabled a lot of interactions with locals. I learned so many interesting things about daily life in Alexandra. Absolutely recommendable!Verified Brilliant tour Visitor from the UK. Booked a personal tour with Ms Mandy for myself and my 12 year old daughter. So glad we did as she took us to different parts of soweto and gave us a real personal tour of the area with her own experiences of the issues and history there. Always felt safe with her. Please book with them rather than the large outside companies.Verified A MUST do if you are visiting Johannesburg. Dedicate the time, you will not regret it. We booked a half day Soweto tour with Imbizo Tours after reading other outstanding reviews. It did not disappoint! From the booking process to arrange our pick up, communication was excellent. We chose to do a half day tour before we flew home and wow what a humbling experience to leave with. Moya our guide was full of so much information and knowledge, he guided us to places that I honestly didn't think I'd see or experience in my lifetime and it's going to have a lasting impact on us. I am grateful and humbled that people were so kind and willing to talk to us about their life. THANK YOU so very much Moya and Imbizo Tours.If you are looking for a tour, DO NOT follow the herd onto your hotel bus tour, book THIS tour, it benefits those in the community directly. You see the Real community. If you want to support ask in advance what you could/should bring that would help the communities you will see.Verified Only tour to take in Jo'Burg and would go again We didn't have much time in Jo'Burg but really wanted to see a few places in a meaningful way. We are so glad we decided on a private tour with Mandy. We learnt a lot about the current state of affairs of the city and country but also got so much context of the historical sites - including Nelson Mandela's home in Soweto. It enhanced our understanding of what is going on now and also some of the problems that are still there. Mandy also shared her own experiences of living through some of the most turbulent times in the country's history. We would recommend using her company and she is local rather than going to some of the tour companies that are based sometimes even out of the country. She is also opening up a lovely healing garden centre that is worth visiting in Soweto.Verified Excellent and thought-provoking tour of Soweto with Mandy and Fred My wife and I had a great private tour of Soweto with Mandy and her driver Fred. They were incredibly well placed to conduct the tour because of their remarkable personal experiences which they were generous to share and over a fascinating day we learnt so much about Soweto and its historical significance as well as some of its famous people. We were well taken care of and felt safe and welcome visiting a couple of homes in Soweto, Freedom Square, as well as Mandela’s house and the moving Hector Peterson museum. As well as Soweto we stopped at some interesting other places on the way there and back. Mandy’s commentary was often insightful and thought provoking and she puts a lot into her guiding day. Fred was a great foil - a very safe, calm and friendly presence. We really enjoyed our day with them and learned a lot. It was a memorable tour.Verified Great 1/2 Tour of Soweto. We took the 1/2 day tour of Soweto with Maya. He was a fabulous guide providing with with tons of historical, cultural and political information about Soweto. He exceeded our expectations. Afterward we went on our own to the Apartheid Museum which made of a great conclusion to the day.Verified A unique tour like no other We really enjoyed our tour with Mandy. Think of it as a cultural/political tour, not just being driven from place to place with historical sites pointed out. We covered markets, historical sites and townships. Conversationally we covered African spirituality, politics, economics etc. Mandys ethos is that tourism needs to be spread around and its about the exchang of ideas. It's clear how well she is thought of in the community - she knows everybody! She also has a really compelling personal story.It was important to us to support a black and female owned tour operator. Highly recommend.Verified The real Soweto A great experience! I'm very glad me and my family decided to book the Soweto tour with Mandy. We booked a group tour but ended up getting a private one. Mandy and her driver are lovely people and the tour was tailored to what we were interested in. I feel like we got to see a real representation of Soweto, which left us with not only a positive feeling about the culture, the warmth and the openness of the people from Soweto, but also a lot of food for thought regarding the poverty and misfortune some of our fellow humans are facing.Thank you!Verified Amazing tour, not to be missed! Mandy's tour of Soweto is not to be missed. It was perhaps the richest and most important experience I had, travelling to South Africa for the first time. Through stories and conversation, she engaged my partner and I in learning about the history of the Soweto uprising and its legacy. She spoke of the trauma as well as steps to healing with sincerity and wisdom. She is knowledgeable, insightful and inspiring - a beautiful person inside and out. Our tour included a visit to Walter Sisulu Square, Kliptown, the Nelson Mandela National Museum, and the Soweto Inspirational Home Museum. Each part of the tour added a different dimension to the dialogue and experience. I could not recommend this tour more highly!Verified Challenge the Soweto Stereotypes Imbizo Tours, Mandy Imbizo – SowetoSoweto – the stories, the history, the stereotypes. How to make sense of it all! The best way is to join Mandy Imbizo on a half-day – or better yet, full-day – tour of the throbbing city. My husband and I did just that and could not have been more rewarded with our experience other than, perhaps, spending several days with this remarkable teacher. Mandy lives there, knows everyone, and is of an age where she has experienced a lot. Trust her to give you a full picture. And, you will enjoy yourself as you learn. I am not sure whether our Saturday excursion was a-typical, but the Soweto streets were bustling – shoppers jostling, groups performing, foodies grazing, families laughing, tourists huddling. The atmosphere was infectious. The thriving area has attracted upwardly mobile South Africans who are returning to the Township – maybe a form of gentrification that, one hopes, does not bring displacement of those who never moved out. One focus of all that activity was at Sakhumzi where we gorged on the famous buffet, trying out fantastic new-to-us South African dishes. We visited some pretty sacred sites, too – Bishop Desmond Tutu's house right in the center of things and Nelson Mandela's house a short stroll away – a far more accommodating home than either his incarcerations at Constitution Hill Prison (Johannesburg) or Robben Island (Cape Town), both of which are necessary stops on any South African itinerary. The Hector Pieterson Museum & Memorial is a short ride beyond. We spent a fair amount at the Pieterson Museum which makes a great complement to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. Maybe it should be called the Mbuyisa Makhubu Museum after the brave boy who carried the dying Pieterson captured in a photograph (6/16/76) as stark and tragic as that of the “Napalm Girl.” Both icons changed minds around the world. Sure, some of the self-built homes of a settlement still dot the outskirts -- and these might be closer to what one assumes are the stereotypical houses of Soweto – but they are not. They definitely do not reflect the Township itself. They are, however, a necessary reminder that South African government has a long way to go in order to provide decent housing for all of its citizens. One should see it all – the vibrant along with the sad. But think: the United States has been at its own Civil War past for over 150 years and still doesn't have it right. What makes a tour with Imbizo Tours special is Mandy herself. Our conversations ranged all over the place – from informative to candid but always tinged with good humor. We were sorry to end the day together as we felt we were just scratching the surface of South Africa's present. It is one thing to study or even visit museums, but it is quite another to learn from an expert who is actually living the history today. Mandy Imbizo is such a person. We highly recommend you join in the conversation.Load more
