South Africa!..., what a lovely place to visit. I had three weeks exploring the beauty of this country, a first time for me but surely met my expectations. I started at Pafuri gate North of the Kruger National Park within the Makuleki for some training on the whole aspect of trails. It was a wonderful experience that enlightened me into this field more than I imagined. I did several walks and with the eco-training team had a few lovely encounters with elephants and in general the whole experience of being out in the bush.

After four days it was time to move on to Durban where I met with Mama Maritha, stayed there for two nights and had the opportunity to visit a few places, the most exciting was the Ushaka, later that afternoon we visited the Indaba tradefare and this was a totally new experience. The morning after we started driving to Capetown, the sceneries as we drove through the Garden route were mind blowing. My best experience of the trip though was the Bloukrans Bungy, this is the highest bungy bridge in the world and being my first time to do such an activity I really had my adrenalin pumping, I must admit, even though it sound crazy and dangerous I will definitely do it again given the opportunity. Driving on we got to Mossel bay and spent two day up in the mountains about 30kms from town, a beautiful place where Mama Maritha's family lives, whilst here we went to visit the dramatic Cango caves then the Cango ostrich farm where I got to kiss and ride my first ostrich. I also had my first elephant ridding experience. The next day we drove on towards Cape town and again through some outstanding sceneries as we went past the wine farms so full of colour and life. At Cape town the Cape point is one place I would highly recommend to visit, unfortunately it was one of those misty mornings so visibility was a bit of a mission, but I must admit that it was still an amazing experience and I said to myself ……"what if it was a clear sunny morning?". We then drove to see the penguins at the Boulders National park, it's a shame that these beautiful birds are exposed to the threat to extinction. Driving through the Hout Bay I couldn't stop wondering how that road was put into place, it is right on the side of a mountain with the most mind blowing view of the Atlantic ocean.

I moved to Rondebosch to stay with a very welcoming family that I cannot thank enough for the hospitality they showed me and the experiences they dedicated there time to make possible. The first thing I did was the sightseeing tour of which I did the blue mini peninsular tour, well know as "hop on hop off bus", I did exactly that and visited the Kristenbosch National Botanical Garden where it is what I would call treasure as it hold most of the countries endemic species of which many are being pushed to extinction. My next stop was the Groot Constantia wine estate, I learned a lot about how wine is prepared from the farm as grape to when it gets to your glass. Chasing time I moved to the World of Birds, here I was overwhelmed by the birds that I had never seen, colourful and very chorus, I could spend the whole day admiring there beauty but time came to hope on the last bus and back to the waterfront.

The next plan was Table Mountains, weather had the upper hand on this and the day we planned to go up the mountain the mist stopped us. We then changed the plan and went to the Spier, birds of prey encounters and cheetah encounters were the highlights, there are no words to tell the feeling of doing this but its worth every little effort. The next day was beautiful and bright just the right atmosphere to go up the mountain,I was with my host Mr. Joost who has been up and down a few times already and with all my excitement and determination to get to the top I still struggled going up the India Venster route, very steep and rocky it felt like rock climbing. Unfortunately the mist and cloud started forming as we got half way, it kept on building and became too dangerous to continue so we turned and headed back . Change of plan we went to watch a sailing race and literally five minute into the ocean a pod of Dolphins came to join us for a good 15 minutes before they disappeared, these were my first dolphins I had seen in there natural habitat and unforgettable experience.

I have always been an admirer with the at most respect to the former president of South Africa, a freedom fighter who brought independence to the country, Nelson Mandela. I visited Robben island where he served as a prisoner, it was sad to see how not just him but all the other prisoners had to live. A lot of history lives on and in that little island dating back centuries.

Sadly the last morning of my stay in South Africa came, that morning we went to a bird sanctuary for a few hours sitting in the bird hides and identifying birds as they come and go. There is no better way of ending my trip and could sit in those hides for many more hours but unfortunately it was time ti head for the airport and fly back to Tanzania.

I cannot possibly find the words to express my appreciation to all those that made this trip possible for me starting with Mr. Charlie and the entire Behobeho team, Mama Maritha, Joel, Dimitra, Ian and sean. During my stay there are also a handful of people that built an everlasting memory, Joost and Catherine, Zambi and their mother my grandma Julia for making my stay as enjoyable and educative as possible. My other grandma, Maritha's mother and her sister Barbara made a very homely stay and understanding of the South Africa and the South Africans themselves. All this has definitely broaden my mind both for my career and life, and to thank a team that makes something like this is not as easy as it sounds. I thank all others that maybe I had no awareness of there contribution.