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Township Tours

Tours to Katutura in Windhoek, Namibia

The Windhoek Municipality developed Katutura in the late 1950s as an apartheid township. However, before Katutura was developed, most black Namibians lived in a location west of Windhoek in the area now known as Hochland Park. When the town council decided to move the black Namibians from the old location to the new area of Katutura, there was great opposition to the move. These objections were both practical and ideological. Naturally there was a general opposition to the apartheid policies and that the move was forced. There were also unfair conditions put on the residents such as they could never own the houses that they were forced to rent plus the distance to Windhoek Central Business District (CBD) from Katutura was greater than it had been from Windhoek West.

The original Katutura was much smaller than the Katutura that exists today. Windhoek's total population is currently around 200 000 people, about 60% of these people live in Katutura. There are many suburbs of Katutura with poignant names such as Soweto, Havana, Babylon and Wanaheda.

The Tour:
The tour starts in the centre of Windhoek to see some of the historical buildings such as the Alte Feste (1892), Christuskirche (1910), Tinten Palast (1913), State House, Windhoek National Museum, National Theatre of Namibia and the new Supreme Court. We continue to the water Tower Hill offering an excellent view of the different suburbs of Windhoek mentioned above.

Once in Katutura, our guide drives through the oldest suburb in the old location. We also take a short drive to the single quarters, one of the poorest areas of Windhoek. Along the way the local people sell traditional food called kapana and a traditional drink which is called Tombo. At the Soweto market you will be able to see traditional hairdressers and tailors, and the impressive open air butchery. Then to Babylon which is a low to zero income area offering an overview of a typical shanty town.

Finally we visit Penduka Woman's project where there is the opportunity to purchase some local arts and crafts and a nice relaxing view of the Goreangab Dam.