2 Best Sights in The Eastern Cape, South Africa

South End was once the most vibrant part of Gqeberha, until it was flattened by the apartheid-era government to "tidy up" the city and put everything and everyone in their places. At the South End Museum a map, photographs, and paintings give you an idea of what the old South End was like in its heyday.

The state-of-the-art heritage center, which opened in 2012, is in Ginsberg township in King William's Town (now officially known as Qonce), where Steve Biko grew up. It's actually about a 40-minute drive out of East London, but it's well worth a visit for anyone interested in South Africa's "struggle" history, as well as the development of its young democracy. There's a museum, an archive, a library resource center, a commemorative garden honoring human rights activists, performance and production spaces, training rooms, and a community media center. The center is also the focal point for a heritage trail that consists of various sites that pay tribute to Steve Biko, the South African activist and leading Black Consciousness Movement proponent who died in police custody in 1977 at the age of 31. Biko has often been held up as one of the greatest martyrs of the anti-apartheid movement. Imonti Tours offers a Buffalo City Heritage Tour which includes stops at the center, as well as historic sites in East London, Mdantsane, and Bisho.