Table of Contents
Sightseeing Soweto #2: Visit Soccer City
Our first point of interest was Soccer City, the largest stadium in Africa, where the opening ceremony and final game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup took place.
A short while later, our van stopped at a sign that read “Welcome to Soweto”: we were at the entrance of Soweto in Diepkloof.
We got out to take pictures, to prove we’d been there in person, and then our tour began in earnest.
READ ALSO: Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge Images & 30 Other Photos Liked By My Instagram Followers
Soweto’s Matchbox Houses
As we drove around Soweto, I saw lots of one-storey houses.
The locals call them matchbox houses because of their size.
The government originally built these four-bedroom low-cost matchbox houses.
To me, they looked very much like lower middle class housing in many other African cities.
This in no way matched the picture of Soweto that I had in my mind. (I expected tin shacks and shanty towns—stupid I know…blame the media!).
Very soon, we passed a busy area filled with lots of activity.
To our left stood the third largest hospital in the world, the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital; to our right was the Baragwanath Taxi Rank, one of Johannesburg’s busiest.
Quickly (but carefully), we made our way through the crowd.