I ask for forgiveness in advance if I offend anyone with this egregious display of past ignorance, but when I was growing up in the 70s I always believed that Soweto was a sprawling walled compound, with huge iron gates, that were shut every evening at 6 o’clock.  This belief probably stemmed from vague references on every evening’s news to passes and curfews.

I was astonished, when I finally visited Soweto in early adulthood, at how normal it all seemed – houses, shops, sports fields and churches, just like any other suburb.   But at least I have visited Soweto…. many South Africans have never set foot in one of the country’s most storied townships.  This is something that Jo Buitendach would like to change.  Jo runs a tour company called Past Experiences, and one of her trips takes visitors to Soweto in public transport. “We have a Tour of the Month,’ she says, “where we take people on a tour of the historic side of Soweto.  This is not for foreigners, it is aimed at South Africans, who just don’t know much about the place.  We visit the Regina Mundi church, we have a braai at Thokoza Park, we go past Soccer City (the World Cup venue) and we experience the township as it should be experienced.  It’s a lot of fun.  The braai is a typical African braai with shisanyama (meat), pap and chakalaka,  a local beer and maybe even a casual game of soccer with the locals.” In order to keep the tours informal and inexpensive for the local market, the tour uses the Rea Vaya bus system, which criss-crosses all the major thoroughfares. Jo’s company specialises in unusual tours.  She is not only a registered tour guide, but also a highly-qualified and registered archaeologist.  “When I left school I went overseas and got a job involving taking people around museums,” she says.  “When I came back and got my degree in archaeology, I became most interested in the public side of archaeology, combining archaeology with tour guiding.  This is very big overseas.” Jo started up her company with her family, who help her run the admin side of things while she does the tours.  Initially her target was taking people to the Cradle of Humankind and Mapungubwe in Limpopo. “I have worked on the fantastic archaeological sites on the De Beers Venetia mine, and I also take people to see the wild dog project on the mine’s property.  That fascinates people.” Even though the archaeological tours were keeping Jo busy, there was something missing.  So she looked a little closer to home. “I love Johannesburg,” she says.  “I wanted to introduce tours that would show Johannesburgers the city they live in.  And by extension also show foreign visitors the best parts of the biggest and richest city in Africa.” The idea that came out of this was the Tour of the Month, which takes in a part of Johannesburg that most tours don’t reach.  Soweto is just one of the destinations. “Johannesburg people don’t go to Soweto.  But it is an amazing place.  It is full of history and culture and there is so much to do.  Jozi is a beautiful city with an amazing history, culture and vibe – we want to share this with everyone.  We also want to take locals into areas that they have not had the opportunity to visit, or wouldn’t want to visit on their own.” The programme of tours, past and present, shows some very interesting ideas.  In the Monkey Business Tour, Jo takes people to the Johannesburg Zoo and introduces us to the primates.  From there, it makes sense to take a step further to the Origins Centre at Wits University, where Jo moves up the evolutionary ladder to the advent of Mankind.  The Johannesburg CBD features in a shopping trip that takes shoppers to unusual places to look for bargains, finishing off with a Nollywood film (from Nigeria).  The “I Love the Pavement” tour is a walk around the city’s most historic buildings where viewers relive the rambuctuous times of the gold rush.  The seething melting pot of Fordsburg takes in the food, shopping, sightseeing and culture of a famous suburb that became most prominent during the 1922 miners’ strike and thereafter became, variously, Little Pakistan, Little Beirut – and now Little Mogadishu. The ‘I Love Joburg’ tour features the top sites on interest in Johannesburg (which is incidentally the largest man-made forest in the world) with a little twist. “We aim to attract local people, so we keep the prices really low,” says Jo.  “History and archaeology have a fuddy-duddy image that we want to change.  History – both recent and ancient – is a lot of fun.  We would like to encourage young people and families to come on these tours.  They meet fellow-Joburgers, have some delicious picnic food, enjoy their city from a different angle, and learn a lot.” To find out more, visit www.pastexperiences.co.za