Erin's Experience

Howzit from South Africa. Over this whole trip, I have I encountered countless experiences and made memories to last a lifetime. Often I think people picture South Africa all as a barren desert with wildlife and huts everywhere, but that is only half true. In South Africa, there are cities, just like St. Louis, with stores and many fast food places of their own. Yes, there are parts of South Africa where people are living in huts with no heating or air conditioning, but there is so much more than that. South Africa is amazing and has many big cities such as Sandton City.


This weekend, I went to Sun City, a resort about 2 hours away from Joburg. Most of our time there was spent in Pilanesberg National Park where we drove around by ourselves and also went on a game drive. We were able to see 3 out of the Big 5: rhino, elephants, and buffalo. Unfortunately, I never was able to spot a lion or leopard, even though we spent over six hours in Pilanesberg. There is a water park similar to six flags called the “Valley of the Waves” where we spent the day relaxing and going on thrilling slides. I also traveled to an elephant encounter and was able to feed, pet, and walk with an elephant, trunk in hand. It’s very true that elephants are “friendly giants” and it was not even scary to me one bit when I stood side by side one; one even kissed me on the cheek. 

Throughout the whole time I have been with my host family, I have grown very close to them and their five dogs. I have experienced many cuisines such as biltong, koeksisters, rusks, springbok carpaccio, green creme soda, lamb, malva pudding, and pap. I also picked up some slang such as shame, braai, joll, robot, hectic, and somehow there is a difference between now, now now, and just now. Also, everyone can just understand when they are talking about chips like chips or chips as in fries. They thought it was funny I couldn’t figure out which kind of chips they were talking about. All in all this has been a wonderful experience and I am saddened by the fact there is only two days left. My time here in South Africa is amazing and I hope one day, I can return on my own.