Lebo's Soweto Backpackers — Hotel in Gauteng

We had a fantastic bike tour of Soweto in April 2024 with our family of 4 (kids 11 and 14 years). Our guides for the Soweto bike tour were Sia and 2 others- were young- born after apartheid- but very knowledgeable about the township and its close to 3 million people. We had a fresh lunch and then picked bikes and headed out. They showed us a hill that used to be a dump- now converted to a communal gardening space and on top of the hill we had a great view over Orlando East and West- great football rivals within Soweto (East = Pirates and West = Kaiser Chiefs). Trevor Noah was raised in Orlando East. They were friendly and frank and open and willing to discuss the social and economic issues facing their city and country. We biked by the nicer homes- some walled- in Soweto which although neat and tidy are very small by European standards. And then on the other side of the main road we saw the poorer part of town. To this day many of these homes do not have running water or toilets. The small children greeted us enthusiastically, running and waving and calling hello and many people also greeted us kindly. You can tell that the Lebo’s bikes are friendly with everyone as they greeted and were greeted constantly. From there we biked onward after a freezie stop to cool down to the Hector Pieterson memorial across from a gorgeous market. We even met Hector’s sister Antoinette - she still volunteers at the museum/memorial to teach people about apartheid. Inspiring! From there we biked further to Nelson Mandela’s home (pre- and post-prison) where of course it was a bit of a circus. The friendly Zulu warriors posed for a picture there and we biked safely back to Lebo’s after a fantastic tour. We highly recommend this tour as it is a wonderful way to really use all of your senses to experience Soweto. Our image of the township has been forever changed for the better and the people couldn’t have been more welcoming....

Phyll Andile Amelia Tado Lungile Isaac Matsidiso and everyone else working to make Lebo's a wonderful place to rest and learn, Thank you! I had the best time staying here for 4 days. I learned about apartheid history and resistance on Lungile's 4 hr bicycle tour (which really was 5 hr because of my questions) and learned to cook a traditional meal during the food tour, expertly guided by Phyll and Matsidiso. We picked our vegetables in the garden right before! One of the highlights of my entire trip was the visit to the aquaponics project, only 5 min from the hostel. Max, a manager there, spoke to us about the fight against food insecurity and the need for education around self sustenance. I was moved and so honored to be given the responsibility of choosing the cabbage for our lunch meal. :) For meals, I enjoyed fantastic and homey meals made by the hilarious and kind Andile!

The environment was super welcoming and every night I met new people who gave me a different perspective on politics, education, travel, etc.

I may have been a little anxious to travel on my own to a new country for the first time, but my stay at Lebo's grounded me and I leave with so much gratitude for all those who keep it thriving.

Ngiyabonga!! Ps. Thanks for all the...

I took a 4 hour tuk tuk tour of Soweto, which seemingly unofficially ended 2.5 hours into the tour. The rest of the tour was spent in two museums (Hector, which was very rushed and Mandela's house, which I decided to not enter) self-guided and a quick stop at Desmond Tutu's house, which I decided to not go with. I wasn't informed that we would visit the museums before making my reservation and payin for the tour, which I don't appreciate at all. I thought we would cover more ground and get to see more with a tuk tuk however I felt like we saw very little and I personally would have loved to visit the local businesses or families to understand how they live. We did have a tasting at two food stalls but the guide didn't engage with the locals on our behalf.

I had visited Apartheid museum before this tour and felt like the museum does a great job explaining life in Soweto in the past. The guide didn't tell us much about present life in the Soweto. I find the Apartheid museum offers more info about the Soweto than this specialized tour actually did.

Overall I was very disappointed with the amount of information and insights offered on the tour. Also I think the lunch should be optional and the cost of the tour is quite high for...