Owner Loyiso Damoyi now offers you the chance to tour the township of Khayelitsha from the saddle of a bike. But it is more than just a bike tour; it is an educational and personal experience of the township's unique culture and community, first-hand insights you are rarely exposed to when travelling through a country.
While visiting South Africa in September, I had the opportunity to go on one of Loyiso’s tours. It started at the Khayelitsha Lookout Hill, with breathtaking views over Khayelitsha, and included a guided tour through the Khayelitsha Museum.
Prior to the start of the tour, Loyiso introduced himself and told us his incredible life story. Growing up in Khayelitsha with a history of gang violence in his youth, he became part of a leader-development programme, which was instrumental in changing the course of his life. After participating in this programme, he started a successful dance academy, cleaning business and the township bike tour ‘Ubuntu Township Tours – Khayelitsha on Bikes’.
Besides sharing his personal history, he also provided us with a lot of interesting facts about the cultural and community life in Khayelitsha, with its clans and the history of the people living there.
From the museum, we walked across to the Hub Space, a business hub that offers office space, a networking environment and learning and collaborating opportunities for entrepreneurs from Khayelitsha, and is where a lot of the successful local startups are developed. Whilst here, we had a quick lesson in isiXhosa to learn the basic phrases needed to communicate with the people we would meet on our bike tour. After this, we saddled up and hit the road.
