Cycling day tours in Cape Town

country:	South Africa
location:	Cape Town
trip type:	Introductory cycling holidays
departures:	This trip can depart anytime with a minimum of 2 people. Variations of this tour are available to suit your requirements
price:	From R500 per person (half day) excluding flights. Price includes 14% VAT, transport to and from accommodation, bicycle, equipment and lunch in an African home'

South Africa holidays

Cultural day tours

Community based tourism

the amazing things you'll be doing

We operate community based bicycle tours in Cape Town – a new take on township tours – providing the tourist with many more opportunities to interact with the community than they would have from an air conditioned bus. We facilitate the importation of discarded second hand bicycles to South Africa where they have helped to set up and provide ongoing support to locally owned bicycle workshops, training and employing members of the local community to renovate the bikes for the community bicycle tours.

You might have reservations about visiting an informal settlement and awkward at viewing people’s obvious poverty. The people of Masiphumelela welcome you and encourage tours to take place in their communities, as it is one way in which they have an opportunity to get involved in the tourism sector. Your tour fee goes directly to the people you visit and who make this tour possible. Townships should not be romanticized; but at the same time it is a reality and it’s important for people from more privileged backgrounds to see how a majority of people in the world live.

day-by-day itinerary

A local guide will take you round the township visiting interesting places and explaining some local customs. A highlight of the tour is to visit a pre-school where enthusiastic teachers work under very difficult circumstances. Be sure to keep any problems for the Sangoma, the traditional healer to solve.

You also will have the chance to meet Nomaweto, a local lady who hosts the tourist groups for authentic African tea or lunch and has the dream of starting her own restaurant in the township. The tour price includes guided experience with accredited tour guide and township guide, tea and snacks in an African home, bicycle and equipment.

travelling with a local operator

This holiday is operated by a company based in the holiday destination and they will be able to provide expert local knowledge. They will be able to tailor make your holiday to suit your requirements not only concerning the dates of travel but also typically the standard of accommodation, and thus price. It is rare for local operators to be able to help with the booking of your flights.

Award winner

This tourism business won an Award in our 2006 First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards - organised by responsibletravel.com in association with The Times, World Travel Market and Geographical Magazine, of the Royal Geographical Society

how this holiday makes a difference

The land is government owned and has been designated as a residential area for the Xhosa speaking community in the area. Our workshop from where we start the tour is a non-profit organisation, which promotes the use of the bicycle in all of its forms to enhance low-cost, non-motorised transport and health and access to opportunity, employment, skills and education. Commuter transport is a critical problem in the outlying areas and school children often have to walk 10-15km to school each day or job seekers have to spend money on taxi fares to find work. So a bicycle is obviously a much cheaper form of transport. The programme has ambition to train and employ on a more permanent basis tour guides to various townships and Cape heritage and environmental sites managed by the Tourism Director. Successful candidates will eventually own the township tours as a small business.

Bicycles, cycling day tours in Cape Town

Bicycles, cycling day tours in Cape Town

Once the venture has been set up and running, it would be able to provide benefits to the community. Nevertheless we support the following activities:

Rehabilitation of the wetland and environmental education for the school children

Assist local people in small business development for example funding for crèche and development of African restaurant

School children get bicycles donated and have developed a cycling club. This has given those opportunities, freedom and transport.

The biggest challenge that we face is the lack of funding to promote our tours; that is why is so important to us that people come and visit the township. Visitors provide us with funding and/ or volunteer to assist teachers in a crèche; clean up of the wetland system or become involved in housing projects etc.

This holiday is part of the responsibletravel.com and Conservation International Community Based Tourism Programme to support and promote community based tourism ventures that offer significant conservation and development benefits to local communities. To see other community based tourism holidays and find out more about the programme click here.

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