Staying in this small (three guest rooms only) but comfortable bed and breakfast feels more like paying a visit to a family in their home - which you effectively are - rather than staying at your more conventional holiday B&B. My girlfriend and I stayed in a nice, clean, comfortable bedroom with en-suite toilet and shower room. Breakfast is included and other meals can be provided for an extra (very reasonable) charge. One thing I would say is that, due to Khayelitsha being such a large, sprawling place in which you can easily get lost if you don’t know where you are going, it is strongly recommended that you get a taxi driver who is familiar with, or ideally from, the area.

On arrival we were warmly welcomed by three generations of great hostesses: Thope (the proprietress), her daughter Mpho, and Mpho’s five month old daughter Palesa. We were given coffee and tea and we all sat down in their living room to relax and chat for a while after which Mpho cooked us a delicious traditional meal. She then took us for a long afternoon/evening walk around the neighbourhood where we visited various local points of interest, shops, craftsmen, a barbershop (for some mandatory gossiping), and finishing with a festive visit to a very lively shebeen - an informal pub/bar/club - and a few merry beers before returning home to bed.

Everyone we met and spoke to were very friendly, proud, accommodating, inquisitive (in a nice way), and eager to show off the positive aspects of Khayelitsha, one of the largest/fastest growing townships in South Africa, with its own gradually improving (albeit slowly) infrastructure, transport networks, social services provision, et cetera. That is not to say that the negative aspects of crime and poor living conditions most commonly encountered in the media are non-existent or not a problem, but the picture is not as one-sided as it may appear at first glance. During our visit to Khayelitsha we never felt unsafe or unwelcome at any time - quite the opposite, in fact - and it gave us a valuable insight into how the majority of Capetonians live. We really urge others to visit this genuine and fascinating place, and when doing so there is no better place to stay than at Kopanong Bed & Breakfast, “where the world meets”!