This year my family and I went on a big trip to five countries in Africa. In this blog post I will focus on South Africa and Zimbabwe.
When we arrived in South Africa it was late at night so almost the first thing we did was go to bed. The following morning we went on a tour of Soweto, a township in Johannesburg which was where we were on that tour. We started at a memorial of someone who died because of apartheid and his name was Hector Pieterson. Hector Pieterson died during a protest against the apartheid school system however, Hector Pieterson was not involved; he only died because his teacher let them leave class because that teacher was scared (Hector pieterson’s classmates were also not involved because they were too young). He died because he got caught in the crossfire of police shooting at the protesting students. His sister rushed him to the hospital but it was too late, after that his sister was wanted for it so she took refuge.
After that we headed to Nelson Mandela’s house which was very small because of apartheid and we spent some time there then
we went and got some lunch which was a local food called a Kota
then we went to archbishop Desmond Tutu’s house, we didn’t actually go in because it was a rental property, the reason was because if it was a museum then the government owned and the government was very corrupt so they just rented it out. Then we went to a beer tasting at a local brewery. After that we went on a shuttle bus, a popular mode of transport in South Africa, and headed toward a place where there were old factories turned into bungee jumping and free falling places, then the tour was over. We didn’t really do much for the rest of the day. After Johannesburg we flew to Chobe National Park in Botswana then we drove to the Zambia side of Victoria Falls.
After that we went to the Zimbabwe side of the Victoria Falls and for the first day (not the first full day by the way) we just relaxed because we were very tired, the next day, our first full day, was very exciting. We went to Victoria Falls and it was really cool (although we got wet from the mist of the falls)
after that we went on a Rhino Drive and saw a few Rhinos (those rhinos were actually Black Rhinos)
then we went to a Boma which was like a barbecue except much more exciting and it was local. On the next full day (also our last full day there) we went to a local village and spent a few hours there learning about the people who lived there. It was very fascinating. Then we didn’t do much for the rest of the day.
The next day we flew to Kruger National Park in South Africa
The first day (again not a full day) we went on Safari. We saw a lot of animals, like Elephants and we saw Buffalo we tried to find a Leopard but couldn’t, then it was already nighttime.
On the first full day we saw a Rhino and then some Elephants in the distance. Then we got pleasantly surprised and one of the other guides found a Leopard with an Impala that the Leopard hunted
then the spotters who were out because they saw lion tracks found the Lions and we saw them. This was lucky because we had just seen all big five, Elephants, Buffalo, Lion, Leopard and Rhino. They are called the big five because they were the hardest to hunt on foot.
That night we checked on the Leopard and saw Hyenas trying to get the scraps.
Then we saw some lions hunting Zebras and they had a perfect setup for a kill however they did not kill one because the Zebras saw them and bolted.
After that the Lions saw more Zebras and tried to hunt those, this time they did get a kill and we didn’t see it but when the Lion got the Zebra the Zebra did a screech that still haunts me, as soon as we heard that our guide rushed toward the kill and told the other guides that he was right and the Lions did get a kill.
Then on the way back we saw a Honey Badger which is very rare.
Then we went to bed and the next morning it was raining so it wasn’t the best safari. After that we drove back to Johannesburg and stayed at the airport hotel for a night, we did nothing there so there really isn’t anything to write about. The next day we flew to Mozambique, stayed there for a while then went back to Johannesburg.
We didn’t really stay at Johannesburg, we went to a place close to the Cradle of Humankind, stayed there for a night then went to the Cradle of Humankind it was very exciting and was mainly about the homo species and way back in time, it was very interesting and we stayed there for a while.
After that we went to the apartheid museum in Johannesburg and learned a lot about apartheid and also stayed there for a while.
After the apartheid museum we ended our trip.
We had a very good time in this trip to Africa and it was very exciting and was definitely worth it, these were the highlights of South Africa and Zimbabwe.
