taste of africa

This was such an amazing experience and such a wonderful addition to my African adventure! I was given a private tour around Soweto, and learned much about the city and South African history! I met some wonderful people, and loved walking/touring around the city!

We called Taste of Africa at the very last minute one day in advance and still the owner, Cedric, managed to organize our visit in Soweto with a local guide for the following morning. During our driving to Soweto, Cedric explained a lot about the actual reality of living in South Africa, and even if he is "white", he pointed out many examples of segregation with a deep insight view in the South african culture.The visit in Soweto with Andile (Stenley) was also really interesting: we managed to actually walk in the rural area, not just touristic places and we had a very thoughtful walkthrough in the "Black" community.

Value for my money, good breakfast, healthy food, great start to each morning. / helpful staff / made you feel welcome / sorry to leave.Mosquitoes are a pain.

We had a great day with Angie learning about the history of Soweto. We were taken to all the major hotspots; hector pieterson museum, Mandela's house, Desmond Tutu's house, the Orlando Towers and right through past the Chris Hani hospital, the bus station and it's surrounding markets. Angie was incredibly knowledgeable, and told us about everything from soweto's history, day to day life and the major events of the apartheid struggle that she experienced. It was a really interesting day with a great guide.

We are a family with 3 boys from Australia. We first contacted Cedric (Taste for Africa) in 2010. He organised a stay with a family for 2 days in Soweto. The kids slept on the floor in the lounge room with about 5 others kids and we slept in granny's room (she was unfortunately booted out for the nights, but did not seem to mind). We spent the days walking around Soweto with a guide Cedric organised - a minefield of info - as well as being escorted by some of the kids from the family. The people in Soweto were very friendly - we felt very safe - and we got to see how Sowetans go about their daily lives. Lunch was a highlight. Near a busy Soweto intersection you would go to an African butcher - with huge meat hanging from hooks - tell them what you want, they cut it and you go outside to a huge communal braai / bbq and cook it, sit down on long shared tables and chat to the locals about life in Soweto, soccer, politics and family. When we returned to our homestay the locals were already playing chess and drinking beer in various backyards (operating as shebeens or informal pubs) - my wife and I joined in while the kids played soccer with the locals. In 2013 Cedric organised avillage stay for us near the Kruger National Park - again a fascinating experience, especially the very old matriarch of the family, who was also a sangoma / medicine woman, who explained the meaning of the many bones and herbs she had. In 2013 we also stayed at Alexander for a few nights, in a small mudbrick 'house' owned by an Ex ANC freedom fighter. What a conversation I had with him about politics. He is scathing about the corruption of the newer ANC leaders, from national to local levels. We drank at a few rustic shebeens and then went into a nice private one room 'club' with jazz music hidden between some shacks. In 2015 Cedric is organising a village stay in an remote area of Zululand for us.....cannot wait!! In short, Taste for Africa organises fascinating, authentic, non touristy tour because the owner operator, Cedric de la Harpe is passionate about getting white's / European's and Africans to meet and interact/. This is not a money making enterprise, but one of deep passion. He can plan any itinerary you want from an overnight homestay day to a few of cultural tourism of the highest level, at very (too) reasonable prices. It is obvious that his African friends deeply love him and treat you - the tourist - as a friend as well. You cannot go wrong with his tours!!!!

We had a great day with Angie, who welcomed us in her house and took us for a cruizy stroll though the different townships of Soweto. She's very knowledgeable. We visited the Opperheimer Tower, Hector Pieterson memorial, Nelson Mandela's house, a church in full swing (it was Good friday), Orlando Towers and we had lunch (cow's head) at a local street store. You'll be walking and using local transport, which is much better than some groups of tourists you see coming out of a coach, take 60 photo's and disappear again. It's safe, personal, relaxed and flexible to adjust to what you would like to see or learn.

We were looking for a reasonable-priced way to get to know Soweto but above all, we wanted to be close to the people, walk the streets and experience Soweto from within and not through bus windows or from a bicycle.After calling three agencies and not finding a single company that would offer us a walking tour, we stumbled across a tip regarding Taste of Africa Tours. As it was nearly 22:00 we were surprised to be able to go on a tour the next morning, for the entire day, for not even half the price of what other companies charged.After meeting our guide, she welcomed us to her home, took us into her aunt's house some blocks away and spent the entire day walking through Soweto, sometimes taking buses to reduce transport time. It was lovely! exactly what we wished for, more than that even. We went everywhere where we wanted to go, got all questions answered, talked to neighbours and shop owners and never felt treated like a tourist group just being rushed through in order to finish the tour quickly. All in all, it took us more than 8 hours to finish the tour.I can recommend Taste of Africa with all my heart, it was the best way to explore Soweto, very personal and well guided!

In 2007 we had an half-day Soweto tour with "Taste of Africa", it was very interesting: our guide was a very young girl from Soweto, both she and the driver explained and showed us a lot of interesting things about life in South Africa and in Soweto.Last August (2013) we went again to Johannesburg and we asked to Cedric (the owner of the company) to have a tour called “Unseen streets of Johannesburg”. We first went to Alexandra (the other big township in Joburg) where we had a walk with Jabu, a man from there, we also met his wife Judith and they showed us their small house, then we continued walking with Jabu and Adolf too, another man from there. It was interesting because we had a sight to the township and we talked with them about many subjects: politics, daily life, TV, soccer, school, troubles in South Africa and in Italy and much more. In Alexandra people were friendly with us, I can assure you that it’s not dangerous if you go with them.Later in the morning we went to the city centre with Cedric and Adolf, we visited a street market and then we had a walk in the center.There are many reasons to choose a tour with “Taste of Africa”: Cedric is skilled and reliable, it’s a company working in responsible-tourism sector, they give job opportunities to local people, you can see a true example of daily life in the township that it’s impossible to see if you go there with a “bus tour” without walking around.

Vi 6 personer gjorde så här: Tog en egen guidad tur till Soweto som blev mycket givande och man fick bra information av vår guide. Vi åkte runt i hela Soweto och vi fick en inblick i det sydafrikanska samhället samt om livet i Soweto av vår guide. Vi var bl.a. till kåkstäderna där vi fick gå in och få en visning av en speciell lokal guide från området. Vi var även till Mandelas hem. Vi avslutade dagen på en äkta sydafrikansk restaurang (Wandies Place) med äkta god hemmagjord sydafrikansk buffé med massa olika rätter. Det var så gott.Under denna heldagstur besökte vi även Apartheidmuseet.Rekommenderar verkligen en sådan här tur med Soweto och Apartheidmuseet. Räkna med en heldag.

Gracias a este foro descubrí Taste of Africa. Les enviié un email y enseguida Cedric se contacto conmigo. Te explican muy bien como llegar a Soweto ( transporte publico). La persona que te acompaña durante toda la visita es alguien que vive en Soweto. Conocimos su casa, su familia, saludamos a los vecinos , visitamos museos, presenciamos una hermosa misa ( era domingo), almorzamos en un braai sin ningun turista, y tambien hubo tiempo para hacer jumping en las Orlando Towers. Gran parte del recorrido lo hicimos caminando y otras veces tomabamos los taxis populares ( mini vans compartidas ) . Realmente nos sentimos muy comodos, porque la gente es muy alegre y afectuosa. Es algo totalmente diferente a un tour tradicional, donde uno se siente un habitante mas de Soweto y no un turista. Lo mejor fue el contacto con la gente. Una forma diferente y autentica de sentir y disfrutar el verdadero Soweto. 100% recomendable!!!

Siamo stati trattati come una vera family da angie, una delle 13 signore di soweto che ospitano i turisti nelle loro case dignitose. Cucinano ballano raccontano. Ci fanno sentire a casa. Bisogna riservare da cedric l ideatore di taste of Africa. Comincia ad avere il successo che merita. 40 euro includono anche la visita guidata a soweto la mattina dopo di 5 ore molto interessante.