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nn data-contrast="none">n a midweek Port Elizabeth township tour you'll find places like Zwide, KwaZakhele and Korsten humming with activity. A troop of streetwise goats look left and right before crossing. A few mothers stand gossiping at a tap collecting water while their children play.
Further along on your township tour, you'll find a market. On sale, everything from fruit and clothes to beaded cell phone holders and doilies. Under an awning, a hairdresser shaves all the hair off his customer's head - they call it the chiskop look.
There's nothing quite like Calabash’s Real City and Shebeen Tours - they are so full of life and accredited by Fair Trade in Tourism.
Then you'll come to the Ramaphosa informal settlement, a maze of close-set shanty houses. The poverty is unavoidable. But in the very centre is a joyous pre-school and nutrition scheme, funded by a trust set up by the tour company that is hosting you. Here volunteers chat while they cut up vegetables and prepare nutritious porridge for hungry youngsters.
Your guide on this township tour knows everyone around here. This is where he grew up, and he easily guides you through the experience, candidly answering all questions. Later you find that the tour company has given him a share in the business.
Last stop is a primary school. The children, all shiny-faced, array themselves in a group and sing the most delightful hymns. You cannot help notice that there are no bookshelves, no posters and no reference books.
Maybe this is something you'd like to help them with, and you talk to your guide. Whether you do or not, you know that your mere presence here today on this township tour in the Eastern Cape has helped uplift a community with a fascinating history, and has immeasurably deepened your experience of South Africa.
Did You Know?
Travel tips & planning info
Who to contact
Calabash Tours
Tel: +27 (0) 41 585 6162
Email: tours@calabashtours.co.za
How to get here
Port Elizabeth has a domestic airport. Buses stop here, as do trains.
Best time to visit
Pleasant all year round, but bear in mind this is known as the Windy City.
Things to do
Calabash Tours also organise volunteer placements for individual volunteers and have initiated community partnerships with local primary school and community care organisations which need assistance from volunteers. Stay for a minimum of 4 weeks.
Port Elizabeth has beaches, national parks, natural and cultural attractions and casinos, so you will be spoilt for choice.
What to pack
You'll regret it if you don't take a camera.
Where to stay
Check the listed Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism website for the many accommodation options available to you.
What to eat
On the Shebeen Tour, you will dine on traditional Xhosa fare which is wholesome and delicious.
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