Orlando Tours

The Orlando Power Station was commissioned in 1942 to feed electricity to the growing city of Johannesburg, ironically while the surrounding township was largely without power. It was decommissioned in 1998 and the twin 100-metre cooling towers stood derelict until 2008, when they were repainted in the world's largest mural — a colourful collage of Soweto life and a giant Nelson Mandela portrait — and turned into one of the only bungee jump sites in the world to use industrial cooling towers as the platform.

Today the towers host bungee jumping, internal abseiling, a SCAD freefall (a controlled drop into a net) and the ‘Power Swing’ between the two structures. There is a restaurant in the gap between the towers and a bar inside one of them. Even non-jumpers come for the photos and the bird's-eye view of Orlando, Soweto and the southern Johannesburg skyline.

A few minutes' drive away, Orlando Stadium has been the spiritual home of the Orlando Pirates since 1937. The club is one of the most successful in African football, with two CAF Champions League trophies and a fan base that reaches across the continent. Match days in Orlando are a particular kind of theatre — vuvuzelas, choirs of supporters, food sellers and a sea of black and white kits filling the streets around the stadium.

FNB Stadium (Soccer City) sits on the western edge of Soweto and is the largest stadium on the African continent, with 94,000 seats. It was the venue for the opening and final matches of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and for Nelson Mandela's first major public speech after his release in 1990. Even on non-match days the calabash-shaped exterior is worth a stop for the architecture.

We include a drive past the Orlando Towers, FNB Stadium and Orlando Stadium on our Soweto Tour, with the option to book a bungee jump or SCAD freefall in advance for visitors wanting an adrenaline add-on. On match days we can arrange match tickets and transfers to and from the stadium.