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    South Africa

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    Nicholas Thompson
    The traveler had a long but worthwhile flight to arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa. Upon arrival, they found a hotel near the airport to rest for a few nights. They went on a guided tour of Soweto township and visited important sites from the anti-apartheid movement. The traveler is excited to experience South African culture and nature over the next month through planned activities like visiting national parks, beaches, and historical sites around the diverse country.

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    South Africa

    Uploaded by

    Nicholas Thompson
    71 views4 pages
    The traveler had a long but worthwhile flight to arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa. Upon arrival, they found a hotel near the airport to rest for a few nights. They went on a guided tour of Soweto township and visited important sites from the anti-apartheid movement. The traveler is excited to experience South African culture and nature over the next month through planned activities like visiting national parks, beaches, and historical sites around the diverse country.

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    The traveler had a long but worthwhile flight to arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa. Upon arrival, they found a hotel near the airport to rest for a few nights. They went on a guided tour of Soweto township and visited important sites from the anti-apartheid movement. The traveler is excited to experience South African culture and nature over the next month through planned activities like visiting national parks, beaches, and historical sites around the diverse country.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    71 views4 pages

    South Africa

    Uploaded by

    Nicholas Thompson
    The traveler had a long but worthwhile flight to arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa. Upon arrival, they found a hotel near the airport to rest for a few nights. They went on a guided tour of Soweto township and visited important sites from the anti-apartheid movement. The traveler is excited to experience South African culture and nature over the next month through planned activities like visiting national parks, beaches, and historical sites around the diverse country.

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    of 4

    My trip to South Africa

    My interest for South Africa began when I found a band called Die Antwoord about two years ago. Its a band consisting of three members Watkin Tudor Jones (Ninja), Anri du Toit (Yo-Landi Vi$$er) and DJ Hi-Tek, who has chosen to remain secret. Their music is what they call zef, something in between hip hop, rap and rave. They had me from the start, they fascinated me and I cant go a day without listening to them. I started saving up for a trip to their homeland just a couple of weeks after discovering them, and now when I finally have the money to go Im super excited! Im sure its going to be a life-changing trip that Ill always remember. Ive made sure that I know as much as possible about South Africa. I know that its a multiethnic nation with both white and black people. Its a common misconception that Africa consists of only black people, but thats totally wrong! South Africa contains the largest communities of European, Asian and racially mixed ancestry in all of Africa. They have eleven official languages Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans being the most commonly talked. Afrikaans is an Indo-European and West-Germanic language which resembles Dutch a lot. I have actually learned a bit of Afrikaans, its a beautiful language if you ask me! The reason why I chose to learn Afrikaans is that its somewhat close to Swedish and English if you know both of them its not really that hard to learn Afrikaans since they resemble each other quite a bit. I also know that its a republican country with a parliament. Although unlike most such republics the President is both head of state and head of government. It has three capital cities - Cape Town, which is the seat of Parliament and the legislative capital; Pretoria, which is the seat of the President and the administrative capital; Bloemfontein, which is the seat of Supreme Court of Appeal and the judicial capital. South Africa is located at the southernmost region of Africa, with a long coastline that stretches more than 2,500 km and along two oceans. At 1,219,912 km2, South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world. I also know that South Africa has a generally temperate climate, due in part to being surrounded by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans on three sides. Due to its varied topography and oceanic influence, a great variety of climatic zones exist. The climatic zones range from the extreme desert of the southern Namib in the farthest northwest to the lush subtropical climate in the east along the Mozambique border and the Indian ocean. Winters in South Africa occur between June and August. South Africa is also ranked sixth out of the worlds seventeen megadiverse countries, with more than 20,000 different plants, or about 10% of all the known species of plants on Earth. Numerous mammals are found in the bushveld including lions, leopards, white rhinos, blue wildebeest, kudus, impalas, hyenas, hippopotamus and giraffes. A significant extent of the bushveld exists in the north-east including Kruger National Park and the Mala Mala Reserve, as well as in the far north in the Waterberg Biosphere.

    Making the preparations


    Since Im going to be a backpacker for two months, my luggage cant be too heavy. I have to think of many things, like the weather and how much Im allowed to travel with. I actually had quite a problem with this step because I always pack too much! This is what I decided to bring with me: My backpack, of course! Five t-shirts Two long-sleeved shirts One pair of jeans Two pair of shorts Two pair of leggings One sweater One pair of tough, durable shoes Toothbrush and hairbrush Other small things that I might need during my trip like toothpaste and medicines Ill just buy when Ive arrived. Oh, and about the money! The South African currency is called rand and is worth just a little bit more than kronor. Ive made sure to exchange some money since Im not really sure if card readers are a common thing. Well, Im sure they have card readers in the big cities, but since Im going to backpack and travel around Ill most probably end up in some little village without card readers. Although, Im bringing the card with me if I lose it, I still have the money. If I lose the money theyre gone! Im going to be away from the 1st of April to the 1st of June. The flight Im taking departs from Arlanda Airport at 19:05 (GMT+1) and stops in Frankfurt at 21:15 (GMT+1). I have to wait in Frankfurt until 22:05, when the flight to Johannesburg departs. Ill be there at around 08:35 (GMT+2). Its a long flight, but itll be worth it! About four weeks before the trip I have to take a couple of vaccines. Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Rabies

    Arriving at Airport
    I made it! Im finally here, in South Africa! I am super excited; its such a beautiful country with so many interesting and friendly people. When I was reading about this country I found quite a bit of information that got me worried, like the high amount of people with AIDS and that 500,000 people are raped each year! There are also 50 murders being committed each day I have to be honest, I was really scared! But Im feeling so much better now that Im here; Ive only met friendly and open people. I started to look for a hotel as soon as I arrived, I was longing for a bed to sleep in instead of an airplane seat! I found a cheap hotel called Sunrock Guesthouse in Kempton Park, just a few minutes away from the airport. Its absolutely beautiful! Ill stay here for two nights for some rest and to get used to finally being here. The staff has already offered me a guided tour which Im very glad for! A young man in the reception asked what I wanted to do during my trip, and I mentioned going to Soweto

    (South Western Township). He told me that it could be very dangerous for a tourist, so he booked a spot for me in a guided tour bus. When Im there I want to visit Nelson Mandelas old home, which theyve transformed into an Apartheid Museum. I also want to see Desmond Tutus home and the Regina Mundi church. Ive heard you can still see bullet holes in the walls of the church from the police attack in 1976! Heres a list of things I want to do when during this travel: Visit the Kruger National Park and go on a safari Walk up the Table Mountain in Cape Town See the Garden Routes bays and beaches, starting from Heidelberg Visit the former home of black prisoners (enemies) of the white apartheid government Robben Island V&A Waterfront, a combined harbor and shopping complex Visit The Cradle Of Human Kind and the Sterkfontein Caves one of the worlds heritage sites I also want to visit many of the cultural villages and learn how they live!

    First email
    Hi Lasse! Im having such a good time here in South Africa! The people are so nice, the nature is absolutely stunning and Ive experienced so many exciting places. I still have a month left in this wonderful country, but I feel like Ive been here for such a long time. I have a fair amount of money left since I always make sure to find the cheapest trips and places to live its not really that hard, because there is always someone willing to help! The first thing I did after resting for two days in a little hotel was visit Soweto and the Apartheid Museum. It was fascinating and I learned so much. I visited the Regina Mundi church on the same day and got a lot of information about the attack. On June 16th, 1976, police fired live ammunitions in the church, after killing about 200 students in a nearby school. The reason for the murders was a protest against Afrikaans being introduced as the medium of instruction in local schools. The students didnt want to speak Afrikaans due to the languages apartheid association. They didnt want to learn the language of the people who suppressed them. Such a sad story, I dont understand why people cant get along! I met a new friend in Johannesburg Zeena. Shes given me her own little tours around Joburg and Ive learned a lot shes even taught me some more afrikaans! We visited the Sterkfontein Caves which was truly fascinating; I loved learning more about our incestors. After that we traveled down to Cape Town. We visited Robben Island together and walked up the Table Mountain the day after. After resting and just having fun for a few days we went for some shopping in the V&A Waterfront shopping complex. I really needed some new things!

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