2010 World Cup: Guesthouse owner hopes fans will book one of her rooms in South Africa

• A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.

Traveling to the 2010 World Cup (June-July 2010) in South Africa and want to experience something more authentic than run-of-the-mill hotels and guesthouses? Perhaps something a little more “South African” and closer to local fans?

The adventurous might consider heading to Khayelitsha township. Bed-and-breakfast owner Vicky Ntozini is hoping overseas supporters will find the path to her door.

Some 400,000 people are expected to attend the month-long soccer tournament, and South African officials are scrambling to come up with enough sleeping space. "We must find 200,000 beds. If there is more accommodation available that we don't know about, we would like to hear about it," Danny Jordaan, head of the 2010 World Cup Local Organizing Committee, said in September according to the Guardian.

With views of Table Mountain and mile upon mile of shacks, Ms. Ntozini’s B&B, called Vicky’s, is based in the sprawling township where the majority of Cape Town’s more impoverished residents live.

Two stories high and painted yellow, the B&B is being expanded ahead of the tournament: Two adjoining rondavels (traditional, round African houses) are being added, and the kitchen and restaurant are being enlarged. Ntozini says she will have eight bedrooms to house 16 people – with the obligatory wide-screen TV for those without tickets.

Ntozini, who has run the B&B for 12 years, says: “This is where the real soccer fans live – they watch the games in the shebeens [taverns]. It’s completely safe here because the community are my eyes and ears and depend on this place.”

Ntozini says she can arrange transportation and will offer traditional Xhosa cooking such as tripe, samp bean stew, and “smileys” – roasted sheep heads (vickysbedandbreakfast.com).