Blogs from Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, Africa - page 44

(In order to convey the feelings I had while writing this blog, please have the following paragraph read out loud by an overexcited, out of breath 5 year old.) This one time in Africa. We saw Lions. And Zebra. And went on a boat. And Then. There was this huge waterfall. And Hippos. And we ate cake made of candy bars. And there were monkeys. And I jumped off a bridge. And we rode in a big truck. And we went to a birthday party. And we played with baby lions. And then I pooped in a hole. Needless to say, we've been quite busy. So much so, that the last three weeks will have to be split into a pair of blogs. I will be covering the South Africa portion of our adventure, while Jenny ... read more

After 24 hours of travel I landed in Joberg. While descending for landing the pilot informed us that there was about to be a storm.....and he wasn't kidding. As soon as the wheels of the plane hit the tarmac the sky opened up and the most rawkus thunderstorm I have ever experienced commenced. By the time we taxied to the terminal there were 3"- 4" of rain on the tarmac. Took ages for the luggage to come through, but I finally retrieved my pack and went to find the person who was supposed to be holding a sign with my name, and would take me to the hostel. Of course it wasn't quite that easy, but eventually we located each other, and as soon as he found the other folks he was looking for we piled ... read more

Return to point of arrival in South Africa. We have stayed with nine delightful families, visited another seven, been to five national parks and five nature reserves. The number of kilometres driven in our car was 10,000 which took us to each of South Africa's nine provinces. An exceptionally rainy week in Jo'burg from our Friday arrival to Thursday departure. A charming and respected amateur meterologist by the name of Angus said that he had measured the most rain for any month in 20 years since he began his hobby (by the 24th of the month). See photo of fungus. ... read more

Hello, friends! I am SO excited to be back in South Africa! It's now been five days and one entire night of sleep since I got to South Africa. I met up with the rest of the U of C students on Friday, after a couple of lovely days at a hotel on my own. We've been in class and taking a couple of tours, and I've been bombarded by thoughts. And new experiences. I'll try to outline a few of these, despite the fact that they're barely yet formed in my own head. After meeting up with the rest of the students (we're 23 in total), we went straight to the lovely home of one of the faculty, Prof. David Bunn. Professor Bunn studies the history of conservation and the role of land and landscape ... read more

Africa has obsessed me since I was a kid. My dream as an 8-year old was to come to Africa, and kiss a wild hippo. Yes, weird, I know. Perhaps I shouldn't have revealed that little nugget of information. Nevertheless, the history, the mystery, and the tragedy of this immense land has attracted me for years. Finally, around ten months ago, I had the funds, the air ticket, and the time to launch my own exploration of at least part of this gigantic enigma. My aim was to challenge my own prejudices, and discover whether the stereotypes presented to us in the West were true. Who knows, maybe I would actually uncover some signs of hope and promise in these scarred lands. And so, here I am, 34,280 overland kilometres and 19 African countries later. Or, ... read more