The Inner City Urban Hiking Tour combines walking and the use of safe public transport to provide a structured tour of the City’s best kept secrets. The tour passes some of the City’s most magnificent heritage sites, offering a complete cultural mix and in doing so, exposes parts of the city that most people are reluctant to visit.
10:00 – Meet at Curiocity, in the Maboneng Precinct, sip a fresh-brewed cappuccino while we kick off with introductions and an orientation.
10:15 – Discover The Maboneng Precinct.
Maboneng meaning “Place of Light” is a fitting name for a district that has fast become a center of the creative energy for Johannesburg’s urban artists, designers and entrepreneurs. Only a few years ago, this inner-city neighborhood was largely viewed as a no-go zone due to urban decay. Today, as the result of plan to place art at the center of the revitalization efforts in Johannesburg, the now popular Maboneng cultural precinct is living up to name as the “Place Of Light” and drawing tourists from around the world eager to be witness and be part of this transformation.
You will see: Over 50 PUBLIC ARTWORKS / ARTISTS STUDIOS/ INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES.
11:00 – Kwa Mai-Mai Traditional Healers Market.
One of the oldest markets in Johannesburg. Once an old horse stable, now houses over 176 market stall, with traditional medicines, African attires, beaded items, artifacts, walking sticks and craft works. A truly hidden treasure and an authentically genuine place to buy souvenirs to take back home.
11:30 – The Collectors Treasury.
We visit the largest second hand bookstore in the Southern hemisphere. There are books stacked everywhere in this 8 storey building, plus LPs, maps, porcelain &postcards
11:45 – Hop onto our shuttle for the Carlton Centre building.
Built between 1969 until 1976 by the American architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The Carlton Centre is a skyscraper with a panoramic views of the City of gold. At 223 meters above Johannesburg we will narrate the history of the city, from the gold rush in 1886, to the urban decline in the late 80s and 90s and now the re-birth of the city centre.
13:00 – A visit to Gandhi Square
Remember the lawyer? Gandhi Square, is named after Mahatma Gandhi the Indian leader and human rights activist, who spent 21 years in South Africa and had his law firm in downtown Johannesburg.
13:20 – A walk through the Main Street mining district towards Chancellor’s House.
In the 1950s, the humble 3-storey Chancellor House was home to Mandela and Tambo Attorneys where they set South Africa’s first black-owned law firm. Opposite the old law firm now stands “The Shadow Boxing Sculpture” designed by artist Marcos Cianfanelli based on a famous Bob Gosani image of young Mandela boxing.
14:00 –Tour Ends, hop onto our shuttle for Curiocity.
*Guests can have lunch in Maboneng after the tour, at their own cost.
*Saturday tours end off at the Neighborhoods Market, before heading back to Curiocity.
Meet
302 Fox Street, Curiocity, Maboneng Precinct
Times: 10h00am until 14h00
Cost:
Backpacker guests: R350.00
Tour only guests: R400.00