A Touristy Trip to Soweto

 [by Cathy Gatland in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa] Soweto has been a place on Joburg Sketchers bucket list for years, but somehow we hadn’t got it together to find out exactly how to get there, where to park or walk or sketch – it’s a vast sprawling area full of little houses and streets that look very similar to the passing eye as you whizz by on the highway.

But when visiting Swedish sketcher Holger Wendt and his wife Susanne, and my friend Jane from Cape Town, said they’d like to go, we decided the time had come to venture forth. As it turned out, it was pretty easy – five of us in my car on a Friday morning, past Johannesburg city centre, onto the N1 Western Bypass, turn right and there in front of us were the iconic Orlando Towers, originally cooling towers for a coal power station, now an adventure destination where you can bungee jump, abseil, zip-line and swing from those heights (um, no thanks very much!)

Wiggling through a maze of very sketchable streets full of children playing, neighbours chatting and general community activity, we found our way to the famous Vilakazi Street, and had immediate offers to help us park, watch/wash our car, sing/dance/guide for us, as well as countless shops, vendors, and restaurants vying for business  – we had to explain that we were just there to sit and draw which caused some puzzlement and then fascination –  I wished I’d brought a stack of blank exercise books so that everyone who stopped to watch could have joined in.

We sketched the towers on the way back out, in blazing midday heat we squeezed into the only little strip of shade we could find with a view, outside Bara Mall. Holger found an upstairs alcove with shade for one and a great high viewpoint…