Johannesburg & Soweto: The History Most Safari Travelers Skip

I landed at O.R. Tambo International Airport with a rental car booked and Kruger as the only plan. Johannesburg was just the transit hub — something to get through quickly, not something to see.

I extended the trip by two days after a conversation with the man at the car rental desk. “You’re not going to Soweto?” He said it the way you’d say: you’re going to Paris and skipping the Louvre?

He was right. Those two days were the most affecting part of the trip.

Why Do Most Safari Travelers Skip Johannesburg?

Joburg gets a reputation that precedes it: large, sprawling, crime-conscious, not particularly beautiful in the conventional sense. Safari travelers arrive, collect their rental car, and push north toward the bushveld, treating the city as an obstacle rather than a destination.

The city is all of those things — it is large and spread out, you do need to be aware of your surroundings in certain areas, and it’s not Cape Town. But what it contains, historically and culturally, is unlike anything else in South Africa. The anti-apartheid movement was centered here. The liberation struggle’s most important figures lived and organized here. The country’s post-1994 story is still being written here.

Skipping Joburg on a South Africa trip is like going to the United States and visiting only national parks. You’ll see extraordinary things and miss the point entirely.

What Is Soweto, and Why Does It Matter?

Soweto (South Western Townships) is a cluster of townships southwest of Johannesburg, created under apartheid to house Black workers who were required to supply the city’s labor but prohibited from living within it. At its peak, it housed roughly 2 million people on a fraction of the city’s total land, with deliberately inadequate infrastructure and services.

It was also the birthplace of some of the apartheid era’s most significant resistance. The 1976 Soweto Uprising — when students protested against compulsory Afrikaans-language instruction — began here. The image of Hector Pieterson, a 12-year-old student shot by police on June 16, 1976, and carried by a classmate while his sister runs beside them, became one of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century.

Nelson Mandela grew up and lived on Vilakazi Street in Orlando West before his imprisonment. Desmond Tutu also lived on the same street — making it the only street in the world to have been home to two Nobel Peace Prize laureates.

How Should You Spend Two Days in Johannesburg and Soweto?

Day 1: Johannesburg — the Apartheid Museum and Constitution Hill

Start at the Apartheid Museum in the morning. Set aside at least 3 hours — this is not a place to rush through. The museum opened in 2001 and remains the most comprehensive examination of South Africa’s apartheid history anywhere in the world. From the entrance (where visitors are assigned “White” or “Non-White” admission tickets — a deliberate disorientation) through the chronological display of racial classification, forced removals, resistance movements, and eventual transition to democracy, the museum does something that most history museums fail to do: it makes the scale and banality of the system viscerally real.

The section on Mandela’s life is extensive, but the photographs of ordinary life under apartheid — pass books, township housing, police documentation of detainees — are what stays with you.

Afternoon: Constitution Hill in Braamfontein is the site of the Old Fort Prison, where Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela were held at different points. The Constitutional Court was built on this site in 2004 — the idea being that South Africa’s highest court would occupy ground that once imprisoned people under an unjust legal system. The building incorporates bricks from the demolished prison. Tours run daily.

Braamfontein is also Joburg’s most interesting urban neighborhood right now — a genuine creative revival has produced decent coffee shops, galleries, and the weekly Neighbourgoods Market (Saturdays). Lunch there before Constitution Hill.

Evening: Maboneng Precinct is the city’s most talked-about urban renewal project — a cluster of renovated warehouses on the east of the CBD with restaurants, art studios, and the popular Market on Main (Sunday market). Have dinner here. The area is best visited with awareness — take an Uber directly to the precinct rather than walking the surrounding streets after dark.

Day 2: Soweto

Book a guided tour for Soweto. This is not optional advice. The township is large (over 100 square kilometers), the context matters, and having a guide who grew up there changes the experience from observation to conversation. Half-day guided tours depart from most Joburg accommodation and from the Apartheid Museum. A good operator will take you to Vilakazi Street, Hector Pieterson Square, local shebeens (informal bars), and township homes.

Vilakazi Street: The houses where Mandela and Tutu lived are close together. The Mandela Family Museum is inside his former home — modest by any measure, which is part of what’s striking about it. The house where one of the 20th century’s most significant figures was raised and then eventually returned to after 27 years in prison is a plain Orlando West dwelling. There’s something important in that.

Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum: The museum at the site of the 1976 uprising is smaller than the Apartheid Museum but more focused. The story of June 16, 1976, is told in detail, including the events that led to the shooting, the aftermath, and the way the uprising spread across the country. The original Sam Nzima photograph of Hector Pieterson is displayed with full context. This is heavy material, but it’s important material.

Shebeens and lunch: A good guide will stop for lunch at a local shebeen or a township restaurant. Braai (grilled meat), pap (maize porridge), and local beer. This part of the experience tends to be where genuine conversations happen — between visitors and residents, between the formal history and the present.

Orlando Towers: The old cooling towers of a decommissioned power station at the edge of Soweto have been converted into an adventure activities venue — bungee jumping, abseiling, and a viewing platform. The towers are decorated with murals. Worth seeing even if you’re not jumping off anything.

What About Safety in Johannesburg?

Johannesburg has a genuine crime problem, particularly in the CBD and certain outer areas. The tourist-facing areas — Maboneng, Braamfontein, Sandton, Rosebank — are active and relatively safe during the day. The practical rules:

Use Uber for all transport, including short distances. Never hail an unknown car.
Don’t walk in the CBD after dark. Don’t walk anywhere unfamiliar after dark.
Keep phones and cameras in pockets when not in use. Don’t walk while looking at your phone.
Sandton and Rosebank are the safest base areas for accommodation — they feel like distinct, upscale neighborhoods separate from the city center.

The townships have a specific dynamic. On a guided tour, you’re in the company of a local guide with community relationships. Many guides grew up in Soweto and know residents in the areas they visit. Solo township travel, especially driving unfamiliar roads, is a different proposition.

The vast majority of tourists who visit Joburg and Soweto with a guide have no incidents. The concern is real but proportionate — sensible awareness rather than paralysis.

The Joburg-to-Kruger Drive: Does It Work?

Yes, and the Panorama Route via Blyde River Canyon makes it significantly better than the direct N1 north. The route via Graskop and God’s Window adds 1.5–2 hours to the Kruger drive but passes through some of the most spectacular gorge scenery in southern Africa. See the Kruger self-drive guide for details on the route and what to expect.

The Joburg to Orpen or Paul Kruger Gate via the Panorama Route is a long day — allow 6–7 hours with stops. Leave Joburg by 7am. Alternatively, overnight in Graskop or Hazyview and enter Kruger the following morning at gate opening.

Cross-Link Your South Africa Trip

If you’re adding Joburg to a Cape Town trip, Cape Town to PE via the Garden Route is the natural bookend — fly into Cape Town, drive east, fly home from Joburg. That route puts Robben Island (Cape Town), the Garden Route, and Johannesburg/Soweto on a single logical circuit.

Plan your full South Africa circuit with the AI Trip Planner.