Cape Town Township Tours: Is Poverty Tourism Okay?

One of the biggest things you’ll notice when you first land in Cape Town is all of the townships that are in between the main city centre and the airport. Cape Town has many different townships and it’s become popular for members of the townships or tour companies to run tours there for tourists to experience the ‘real’ South Africa. Today I wanted to talk about Cape Town township tours and whether or not it’s ethical to visit one. 

I’ll also outline the pricing of the tours, as well as the most popular township tours in Cape Town while looking at how these tours help or hurt the people living in townships. 

What is a township? 

There are a couple of ways you can define a township but from my knowledge, they’re essentially the slums of Africa. 

It’s where the poorest of the poor live in South Africa because they can’t afford regular housing. They’re usually communities of people living in pretty rough conditions, where they don’t have regular access to electricity, water and other basic necessities. 

Townships can be found throughout the country but in this blog, I’m going to focus on the townships near Cape Town. 

It’s common for people in the townships to be drunk or high regularly and children born and growing up in townships don’t have the same level of education that children from wealthier parts of Cape Town have. 

Should You Visit a Township in Cape Town? 

This is something I wondered when I first heard about Cape Town township tours in 2022. 

At the time, I was living with a couple of guys from the Netherlands and they were going to visit a township on one of the tours. 

When I asked them a little more about it because it seemed a bit odd to visit one, they explained that they’re run by locals and the money spent goes right back into the community. 

At face value, that seemed like a good enough reason to go and visit because after all, it would be great to support those people in need, right? 

Well … Something never really sat right with me when I thought about visiting these townships and I couldn’t really put a finger on what it was. 

Later in 2022, I did a volunteer experience through Worldpackers in Uganda. I was working at a non-profit school in a village, handling the organization’s social media to help promote them so they could receive regular donations. 

Since I was in charge of the social media and posting content on my own social media as well, I started to receive a lot of ‘hate’ comments about being a ‘white saviour’. 

These comments made me think twice about volunteering with children in Africa and while I had a great experience and my heart was in the right place, I can understand how working with children can have a negative effect on that particular country and its people. 

In that particular situation, I was donating money each day, while volunteering, so it felt like the money was going to directly help the people. 

And honestly, it did. They were building more classrooms for the children, a hospital and more but was me being there actually necessary? Couldn’t I have just donated from afar? 

These are the questions I started asking myself afterwards and some questions that came up in March this year (2025) when I came back to Cape Town and was thinking about writing this blog post. 

I was debating whether or not it would be best to visit a township to provide real and updated information about these tours for my readers here but I eventually decided not to. 

Slum Tourism 

The interesting thing about these Cape Town township tours is that tourists seem to think it’s a great way to give back to the communities in and around the city that need help. 

But … after speaking to some locals, as well as people from other parts of South Africa, such as Joburg, it became clear that it truly is ‘slum tourism’. 

The idea of entering someone’s home (slum) for the day, playing with their children, taking pictures of their homes and family and then returning to a nice air-conditioned Airbnb or even a hostel just felt so wrong. 

Tourists who go to visit these townships around Cape Town are 99% of the time doing it to feel as if they’ve done something to ‘give back’ or ‘help’ the people. Meanwhile, they’re not really doing much to help. 

Sure, the money (usually) goes to the locals who live there but what problem is it actually solving? 

People who live in townships generally don’t have a high level of education and will take any money they get. That means that the money you give them in the tour likely won’t go towards making changes to their way of life at all. 

It might provide them with a couple of means or it could just be spent on more drugs and alcohol. 

Regardless, there is a power dynamic at play here and when tourists go on township tours, they’re playing into that. Despite meaning well, the people who live in these townships will perform for the tourists, in hopes that they’ll get an extra donation or spread the word about these tours so more tourists come. 

It’s also strange when people use it as ‘content’ for social media and make the townships out to be a really amazing place, when we all know that isn’t the case. 

If you truly want to learn about these townships, you can do research of your own, instead of entering someone’s home to see just how poor they really are. 

It honestly feels really dystopian to me and I’m SO glad I didn’t end up going on a tour without thinking about it for myself. 

Cape Town Township Tours Prices 

The price of these township tours in Cape Town range depending on the length of the visit. Most tour operators offer half day and full day tours. 

A half day tour is typically 3-4 hours and around $45-50 USD. These usually take place ni Langa and Gugulethu. 

A full day tour is more expensive and sometimes combines a visit to the townships with a trip to Robben Island and cost around $100 USD. 

There are also specialized tours that have different pricing structures depending on what is being offered but it’s usually no more than $50-80 USD per person. 

The tour operators who offer trips to townships usually take a cut and then distribute a small portion of the funds to the people in the township or they go to NGOs that work to help improve the lives of people living there. 

About the Langa Township Tour 

Langa is one of the most popular townships to visit on these township tours. 

This is in part because it’s Cape Town’s oldest township, established in 1927 as a forced settlement for black South Africans under apartheid policies. 

Langa is about 12km from the centre of Cape Town and is home to approximately 58,000 people. The township itself has streets with plenty of informal markets and bars, small businesses and art. 

Many tour moperators emphasize ‘responsible tourism’ by having a local guide show tourists around and by contributing to different initiatives to help ‘save’ the people in these townships. 

Unfortunately, a lot of tourists fall for it and don’t think critically about what they’re really doing. I don’t say this to shame anyone who’s been to a township tour but rather to open up the conversation around this type of tourism. 

I know I’ve made mistakes while travelling and cringe when looking back on certain things I’ve done. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m far from a perfect traveller and continue to learn more about ways in which I can add to the places I’m visiting, rather than have a negative effect. 

Best Township Tour in Cape Town 

If you came to this blog looking for the best township tour to book in Cape Town, unfortunately, I’m not going to be of any help. 

As you can probably guess from reading this post so far, I’m not the biggest supporter of these tours and therefore wouldn’t recommend any of them to you. 

What About Camissa Township Tours?  

If you’ve been doing your research and looking for different tour operators to potentially book a township tour with, you might have stumbled upon Camissa. 

At first glance, they seem to be a great option, as they state that they’re a “Black owned and managed South African” company and that they “do not do poverty tours”. 

They then go on to explain they focus on the people’s lives in the townships, including their traditions, culture and more. 

And while that sounds great, I still don’t think that the people in the townships particularly feel comfortable with rich tourists walking around and taking photos of how they live each day. ……

Better Ways to Give Back to the People in Cape Town 

If you’ve been agreeing with everything I’ve been saying in this post, you might be wondering if there are any other ways you can give back to these people without impacting them in a negative way. 

Here are a few things you can do: 

Support Local Businesses

You might be surprised by how many businesses are foreign owned in Cape Town. Do some research and you’ll quickly find out just how many, including many Airbnbs, hotels and restaurants. 

If you truly want to support locals, try to ensure you’re spending money with them. Also, you should also tip generously to the locals. The best way to ensure your server or Uber driver is receiving the money is by leaving a tip in cash. 

This can be a bit annoying if you don’t usually have cash on you because Cape Town is very easy to get by with card only. However, it’s a small thing you can do to use your foreign currency in a positive way. 

Volunteer with Reputable NGOs 

If you want to volunteer in South Africa, make sure you’re doing so with a reputable NGO. Also, I highly suggest you avoid working with children and at schools (unless you’re just there to help build). 

Do your research to find organizations that are working to improve opportunities for people in underserved areas. 

Donate and/or Fundraise

Instead of booking a township tour in Cape Town, simply donate the money you would’ve spent to a credible organization that works to improve conditions in disadvantaged communities around Cape Town. 

You can also try assisting with fundraising once you’ve found an organization you want to work with to bring more money and help their way. 

Change the Narrative 

Stop referring to Cape Town as ‘cheap’. 

A LOT, and I mean a lot of tourists say this and I know for a fact that it really bothers locals. 

Imagine being in your home country, barely able to put food on the table and someone from another country coming to visit and bragging about how cheap it is there. 

It would probably piss you off, right? 

While Cape Town might be cheap or affordable for you if you’re earning in dollars, euros or pounds, it’s not cheap for locals. 

And as someone who isn’t a local but has travelled to Cape Town since 2021, I’ve seen exactly how much prices have increased here. 

Hostels that were once $8-10/night are now $20-30/night and the cost of groceries is comparable to Canada (which is actually INSANE!!). 

Have tough conversations with people who are talking about Cape Town in this way, even if it feels uncomfortable and educate people about what township tours are really like and how they truly affect locals. 

Other Activities You Can Do in Cape Town

As someone who’s spent a lot of time in Cape Town, I can tell you with confidence that you’ll never run out of things to do in that city!

There are SO many incredible activities I’ve done while I’ve been there that are much more ethical than visiting the townships.

If you’re an adrenaline junkie, you can try your hand at bungee jumping! If you’re not quite ready to take that step but want something that pushes you out of your comfort zone, paragliding is also an amazing thing to in Cape Town.

Hiking more your speed? You’ll love Kloof Corner!

There are also some incredible day trips you can take like this one to Elands Bay Cave.

And we can’t forget about some time at the Winelands in Stellenbosch!

So .. Are Cape Town Township Tours Okay?

Personally, I wouldn’t book one of the Cape Town township tours. Intead, I’d find other ways to give back to the people of South Africa without making their poverty a spectacle or content.

I’ll be back shortly with another blog but in the meantime, you can connect with me on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube!

Cheers,

Amy xx