In my lifetime I’ve traveled all over the world. In fact, my first time out of the country was when I was two weeks old and flew to Germany. My parents really like to travel and expose my brother and I to different cultures. If I had to pick a favorite, I’d probably say South Africa.

 

My mom, dad, brother and I flew into Cape Town and did a quick private tour of the city before we went to our hotel for the night.

 

The next morning we drove to Cape Point and climbed to the top where you can see the meeting of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

 

After we left Cape Point we walked along Boulders Beach to see the penguins. We were going to see the seals too, but we missed the boat so we finished the day.

 

The next day we took a tour of The Ernie Els Winery. The vineyards are so gorgeous in South Africa.

 

After we left the vineyards we headed up to Durban for a total of three days. My family and I attended Indaba 2008 where we saw the Archbishop of Canterbury speak. The other two days we went to an aquarium and Indian Ocean.

 

From there, we went to our final destination where we would spend two nights at the Shamwari Game Reserve. I was so blown away by my first game drive. The animals were breathtaking and I was so excited at how close the animals got to us. One of the elephants even started searching around the back of our vehicle.

 

The next day we saw even more animals, the first one we saw was a leopard and last one was a hippo. Our ranger told us it was very rare to see a hippo out of the water during the day.

 

The morning after, we skipped our final morning game drive and had a transfer come pick us up and take us to the Oceana Beach Resort. We didn’t spend much time there, but we got to walk on the beach and had a really good lunch, dinner, and breakfast. The next morning we were off to the United States.

This was an experience I’ll never forget and I’m so happy I was able to go. To see the culture and lifestyle of South Africa was such an eye opener and something that everyone should experience.