Soweto Towers

Cooling towers, 1951

Orlando's power station was planned from 1935 to feed Johannesburg's growing appetite for electricity; construction started in 1939, was slowed by the war, and the last phase finished in 1955. The two cooling towers went up in 1951, when the spray ponds below them hit capacity — and those ponds were the first in South Africa to run on sewage effluent, piped from the Klipspruit sewage works, because clean water was too precious to burn. The station served Johannesburg for over 50 years before it was decommissioned in 1998.

Practical line: the towers are the landmark you navigate by — visible from ridges across the south of the city, they tell you exactly where you are in Soweto.

Paint and the adventure era, from 2006

In 2006 work began to turn the power station site into an entertainment and business precinct, and the towers became canvases: one operates as an advertising billboard, the other carries what is described as the largest mural painting in South Africa — most recently repainted by the South African illustrator Karabo Poppy, whose work South African Tourism calls a celebration of Soweto's creativity. The adventure business grew around them: bungee, swings and a viewing deck pitched at the same tourists who come for Vilakazi Street. Practical line: the painted sides face the street, so the classic photo costs nothing — the frame everyone takes is from below with a jumper mid-fall, if the jump is running.

From the lift to the sky bridge

Per South African Tourism: an open-air lift carries jumpers up the outside of the west tower to a platform 3 m below the rim, and a floating staircase finishes the climb to the top. The bungee itself runs from the sky bridge strung between the two towers, a 100 m drop — about 33 storeys — with the jump platform between them. Non-jumpers get a viewing platform at the top; the operators have also run a power swing with a 40 m freefall before the cables catch, the Abyss (a swing inside the tower's shaft, a world-first when launched) and base jumping events.

Practical line: this description is the authority's, from before the operator's site went dark — treat it as what the setup was built to be, and verify what it is today.

How the ground rules worked

Two operational facts from the same source matter even if you never leave the ground. First, bookings were not accepted — activities ran first come, first served, which is why tour timing mattered. Second, the operation was cashless: card payment only, so an unplanned visit with an unplanned wallet failed at the counter.

Practical line: both rules predate the outage at check, so confirm both when you phone — and if you are photographing rather than jumping, none of this stops you from standing under the towers with the tour.

Here is everything we know, and where it leaves you. The official website, orlandotowers.co.za, served only an "under maintenance / coming soon" page at check — no prices, no hours, no booking form. A second domain, sowetotowers.co.za, ranks high in search results, but the copy of it captured in our research was stuffed with hundreds of unrelated casino-listing pages, a sign the site is not being looked after — so nothing from it is printed here as fact.

South African Tourism still lists the operation, with two phone numbers: 071 674 4343 (office hours 09:00–17:00) and 064 681 8478 (Wednesday to Sunday). That is the practical answer: phone before you go, or let a guided Soweto day carry you past the towers so the day works whatever the jump's status. One more practical caveat: like anywhere in Johannesburg, load-shedding can pause card machines and lifts without warning — one more reason to confirm on the day.

• Verified: the towers stand, painted, and are a standard stop on Soweto tour routes
• Not verifiable at check: bungee prices, opening hours, booking, and that the jump is currently operating
• Best move: phone the numbers South African Tourism lists, or arrive as part of a tour and decide on the ground

For almost every visitor the towers are a photo stop inside a Soweto day: 20–30 minutes at the base between Vilakazi Street and the Hector Pieterson Memorial, both ten minutes away by vehicle. The jump, when it runs, is a half-day affair — first come, first served means arriving early and waiting your turn. Mandela House on Vilakazi Street charges $11.35 (R185) for international adults, and the Hector Pieterson Memorial's published fees run $1.84 (R30) for pensioners to $0.31 (R5) for children, with the adult rate not listed.

- The towers were an afterthought. They went up in 1951, six years before the power station's last phase finished, only because the spray-pond cooling system had hit its ceiling [Wikipedia, Orlando Power Station]. - They ran on sewage. The spray ponds the towers served were the first in South Africa cooled by effluent from the Klipspruit sewage works — scarce clean water went to people, not to coolant [Wikipedia]. - The plant died; the towers outlived it. The station was decommissioned in 1998 after more than 50 years; within a decade the towers had started their second life as canvas and adrenaline rig [Wikipedia]. - Television found them early. The Amazing Race sent contestants across the suspension bridge 30 storeys up for a Fast Forward in season seven; An Idiot Abroad built an episode around trying to make Karl Pilkington jump; Chappie used the station as its gang HQ, towers painted in Die Antwoord artwork [Wikipedia, film and TV]. - The mural is a job, not a one-off. The towers carry advertising on one face and the country's largest mural painting on the other, most recently repainted by illustrator Karabo Poppy [South African Tourism].

South African Tourism's driving route: take the N1 south towards Bloemfontein, leave at the M68 Soweto off-ramp and follow the signs to the towers. From Sandton or the northern suburbs count on 30–40 minutes by car; from the CBD less. Tours are easier: the Soweto cards on this page all include hotel pickup, which removes both the navigation and the daylight problem.

E-hailing works in Soweto and is the standard self-organised option — order from the memorial to the towers rather than walking between them in the Orlando grid unless your guide is leading. If you fly in and come straight here, OR Tambo sits roughly an hour away depending on traffic.

• By car: N1 south, M68 Soweto off-ramp, signed to the towers (SA Tourism routing)
• By tour: hotel pickup included on every card in the table above
• By e-hail: standard across Soweto; link the towers to Vilakazi Street by car, not on foot
• Timing: daylight only for visitors on foot; morning gives the mural its best light

The classic order works north to south: Vilakazi Street and Mandela House first while the street is quiet, the Hector Pieterson Memorial for the 1976 story, lunch off the tourist strip, and the towers last — the painted shafts read best with the day's context behind them, and the afternoon light lands on the murals. If a jump is confirmed, flip the order and take the towers in the morning, first-come-first-served. The Soweto guide carries the full township plan, is a Soweto tour worth it answers the booking question honestly, the one-day Johannesburg itinerary shows where Soweto sits in a short trip, and the Johannesburg guide homepage pulls the whole plan together.