Hi all,
Nice to be here. Here is my African journal. Hope you like it.
To many people, Africa equals poverty. When I was advised that I would be sent to South Africa, that was what I thought as well. In order to have a better understanding of what South Africa really is, I decided to go to the library and borrow some books on South Africa. After going through several books, some on history and some on its tourism, the image of South Africa becomes much clearer to me. It seems that the country has been going through a history which is similar to those of the New World, countries that were “explored”, occupied, “developed” and finally went independent. My trip to South Africa turned out to be truly an eye-opening tour.
Altogether, I stayed 10 days in Africa Continent: 9 days in South Africa, thee largest country in Africa, and 1 day in Swaziland. As some of you might have known, I was sent by my employer, Goway Travel, to go there on a “Feminization Trip”. Since there is no direct flight from any of the cities in Canada, I flew from Vancouver to New York, on 13 May, 2003. And then, my journey continued on South African Airlines from New York to Johannesburg, the capital city of South Africa. It took almost 24 hours before I landed in Johannesburg.
Cape Town, known for having Cape of Good Hope, wine and cheese, as well as the Table Mountain, is our first stop. Two full days sightseeing kept us busy. With excellent road, nice and clean street, Cape Town seems to be an ideal place for first-time visitors to start their trip in South Africa. In Cape Town, the most interesting sightseeing spot is the “Afrikaans Language Monument”. Afrikaans language was made of languages of Holland, local natives, German and English. The monument witnesses part of the history of Africa, with the involvement of many major European countries. What impressed me most was seeing people stood up, created their own language and meanwhile lived peacefully with those who spoke different languages and had cultural backgrounds. My tour in Cape Town included wine and cheese tasting, which was again my favorite! Unique geographic location, together with European “technology” makes the area one of the most suitable places to produce wine and cheese.
While in Cape Town, we also visit Table Mountain and Cape of Good Hope. Standing in Good Hope, seeing the two Oceans joining each other made me marvel the wonder that our nature offers. It reminds me the phrase that Tourism South Africa uses in promoting South Africa: “One World, one country”, meaning that people can come and see what the world looks like in South Africa. In addition to the Cape of Good Hope, we also took a cruise to a Seal Island. This is my first time, seeing seals, grouping with unbelievable numbers, staying live in icy Atlantic. I now come to see why ancient Chinese suggested: “Readings should be accompanied by traveling.” Isn’t that true that we should all travel to experience and understand other parts of the world so as to live and study more wisely?
After two days tour in Cape Town, we took bus to Knysna, a small but eloquent coast city. The bus trip to Knysna seems like a journey through a picture, the sceneries along the way seemed just unreal. One hour, we were in a barren land, and the next, we came across jade-green forests, beaches dotted with flowers and birds. Locals name the trip “the Garden Route”, which I fully agree.
