For my past two trips to Africa I did a blog as I had carried my heavy laptop around with me and updated as I went. This year around I chose to leave my heavy laptop at home and I was very grateful for that. I’m back now after my epic 6 weeks in Africa and I thought I would write some brief blogs to show you some incredible experiences I had and share some stories with you. It will also help me to relive the adventure again and ignite the flame to return.
Johannesburg 8-10 March 2016
As the plane touched down on the tarmac at OR Tambo International Airport on 8 March 2016, I felt a soft drumbeat in my heart. An African feel to it with the chorus of bringing me home. Flutters of excitement filled my body and anticipation for the adventures to come overwhelmed me.
Choosing this time to travel with my mother, we collected our bags and headed to the hotel for some much needed rest.
Feeling a little jet lagged and weary we awoke the next day ready for our first exploration. In 2013, I went on a tour around the Apartheid Museum, Soweto and the Hector Pieterson Museum. I had anticipated that this Johannesburg tour would be quite similar and we would be mainly left to our own devices. I could not have been more wrong nor more pleasantly surprised and grateful to our wonderful tour guide Colin, organised through the fabulous team at Captured in Africa.
Colin took us back through history. There were times on the tour where I felt I was walking in their footsteps as we journeyed through the troubled times.
We visited a true village where we met the people and the children of the day care, most of whose mothers were only 15 years old and still in school. We went to Freedom Square, a place dedicated to the freedom of the people when the apartheid era was over. We walk through Regina Mundi church and saw the bullet holes from when it was raided and where children ran to safety. We left messages on the walls there amongst hundreds of others leaving our love there and prayers that this will never happen again. We went to Soweto and visited the Nelson Mandela Museum, a man who I admire greatly. Where one person changed the world. We went to the Apartheid Museum and explored the history there. Even taking the time to read nearly every post and view every picture we could. South Africa’s history is heartbreaking. I will never understand how you can hate someone simply because of the colour of their skin. We all bleed the same colour and we are all the one race, the human race. I am colour blind.
Here are some photos from our journey through South Africa’s history in one day.
If you would like a similar tour, I highly recommend contacting the Captured in Africa team and requesting Colin Christie as your guide. You will not be disappointed. http://capturedinafrica.com/pdf/2015CIA-ToursPriceList.pdf - We chose the Apartheid and Soweto combined tour.
On 10 March, Mum and I took a flight to Windhoek where our Namibia adventure starts… stay tuned!!
