HAVING recently taken its 1 000th foreign visitor on a tour through the Cape Town township of Khayelitsha since its inception in October 1998, Roots Africa Tours is planning to corner the young, domestic market by targeting students attending private schools and taking them into the area on educational tours.
Owen Jinka, owner of Roots Africa, told Travel Now that while the tours are popular amongst international visitors - especially German and Dutch tourists - there are still SA children who have no conception of "life across the highway".
"Our tours are not just a 'bus trip through the zoo', so to speak. We actually walk through the town, go into houses, visit the shebeens and have overnight stays at the five bed and breakfast establishments in the township."
Jinka is proud of what he terms the "real new South African feel" and believes that it's a shame that many foreign tourists know more about township life than their domestic counterparts.
"The best place to start is with the children. Let them see how their nanny lives and this might create a better understanding of each other's lives."
Jinka also plans to negotiate exchanges whereby children spend a week in each others' homes.
"How can we promote our country to international visitors if we know so little about each other? The requests we get from foreign tourists is for a cultural experience."
(Adele Mackenzie)
