Sout

h Af

rica

A view of Cape Town and Table Mountain from Robben Island

Early History

• The earliest humans lived in Africa. Evidence of them has been found in South Africa in places like the Sterkfontein Caves where 2.3 million year old Mrs. Pies was discovered.

Regan and me, at the caves

Hair nets for under our helmets

Modern History

• South Africa is a beautiful land once dominated by different African tribes.

• In the 1600’s the Dutch East India Company established a port in Cape Town to provide fresh fruits, vegetables and water to passing ships.

• Slave labor was used. These people included the local native people and slaves brought by the ships.

The Castle

The castle was completed in 1679. It was built by the Dutch East India Company.

• In the 1850’s Inside the Castle

• The British came to South Africa in the 1790’s and a conflict for control of Cape Town between the British and Dutch began.

• Descendants of the Dutch who were farmers moved north and east in the country and there were conflicts with the native people of these areas.

• Gold was found in Johannesburg in the 1880’s. This caused more fighting between the British and Dutch.

• The British eventually took control of South Africa.

• Gold mining meant more abuse and hardships for the native people.

• In 1910 the South African Union was formed and South Africa was free to rule itself, but the people in power were the former British and Dutch descendants.

• For the next 80 years non-white people were not treated as equal citizens in their own country.

Apartheid• From 1948-1994 a government system of

Apartheid was law. This law declared:– People were divided into groups that had separate

rights, White, Black, Indian, and Coloured– Black and White people couldn’t marry– Non-white people could not get some jobs– Non-white schools were not as good as white schools– Non-white people were restricted from areas and had

to carry passbooks.

• The government moved non-white people to townships and homelands.

Fight for Freedom

• Adults and students fought for equal rights for all people.

• Students protested against poor education.• Adults fought to have the freedom to travel

where they wanted to and live where they chose to.

• The African National Congress (ANC) organized protesters.

Soweto

Hector Peterson Memorial

Nelson M

andela

Robben Island

Cell block of the political prisoners

Courtyard outside Mandela's cell

Nelson Mandela’s Cell

My Travels with UWSP Adventure Travel

Kruger National ParkNumber of Species:336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians , 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals.7,500 square miles, about the size of New Jersey

Big Five Rhinoceros

Cape Buffalo

Leopard

Lion Elephant

Wild African Dogs

These are a very endangered animal with only four populations in all of Africa. One group is in Kruger with a total population in the park of 400-450 wild dogs. They live and hunt in packs.

Wild dogs can only survive in packs. They can run at 40 km/h (24mph) for up to 5 km (3.2 miles) and have bursts to 60 km/h (37mph).

Cape Buffalo

African Fish Eagle

Red billed Hornbill – Chili bird

Lilac Breasted Roller

Lion Group with a Kudu kill

Female Kudu

Male Kudu

Magpie shrike

Elephants are the largest land mammal. They eat up to 600 pounds of grass, shoots, bark and roots a day. They produce 330 pounds of dung a day.

Elephants are being poached for their ivory tusks in Central Africa. In Kruger the big poaching problem is rhinoceros tusks.

Giraffes are the tallest animals on Earth. Male giraffes can weigh over 2500 pounds.

A hippopotamus lives in a group called rafts, with usually one male and several females with their young.

Magpie shrike

Cape Glossy Starling

Goliath Heron

Nyala

Klipspringer

Our Driver

Dwarf Mongoose – living in an old termite mound

Selfie with elephants

My safari group

Back in the vans and off to Addo Elephant Park

Housing along the way

Kruger National Park

Johannesburg

Addo Elephant Park

Addo Elephant National Park

• This Is South Africa’s 3rd largest park• In 1931 a farmer fenced in the only 11 last

elephants in the area to protect them.• Now it is a national park with over 600

elephants, plus spotted hyenas, lions, leopards, antelope, zebra and the endangered flightless dung beetle.

Getting Instructions for our time at Addo

Animal blind for wildlife viewing inside the compound.

Yellow Mongoose

Warthogs – a wild pig. It is hard for them to bend their necks, so they bend their front legs back so they can reach the grass.

Zebras have unique striping, no two are exactly alike.

Leopard Tortoise

Lions – Six lions were introduced to Addo in 2003. There are now 7 adults and 2 young. We saw the male adults in a chase.

This guy walked right next to our open safari vehicle!

Spectacled Weaver

Reed CormorantHadeda Terrapin

Here is an elephant eating spekboom; some places in Addo are thick with this plant and make viewing more challenging.

We watched these two little elephants wrestling.

Heron

Zebra alert as the lions are in the area.

Listening to Cathy, from the Great Fish River Reserve. She works to protect Black Rhinos.

These kids were at a gas station in a little town we travelled through. We stopped for gas and chatted with them.

A stop for lunch and a look at a river gorge that leads to the Indian Ocean.

Indian Ocean

Kruger National Park

Johannesburg

Addo Elephant ParkWilderness

Moontide Guesthousein Wilderness, South Africa

Our room in the trees!

Our View of the river valley

Breakfast area and lounge

There were 2 dogs and 2 cats at Moontide. This cat spent the night in our room. She just waited until we opened the door and then settled in.

Abseiling CrewAbseiling (/ˈæbseɪl/ or /ˈɑːpzaɪl/; from German abseilen, meaning "to rope down"), also called rappelling, is the controlled descent of a vertical drop, such as a rock face, using a rope.

All geared up

Climb to the top

Nervous abseilers

Excited abseiler!

Over I go!

I hung for a while at this spot. It was so fun and beautiful, I didn’t want to go down.

View from the cave at the bottom

The next morning some of us canoed.

Giant Kingfisher

Off to De Hoop National Park, continuing along the Garden Route

Menu in Afrikaans

Kruger National Park

Johannesburg

Addo Elephant ParkWilderness

DeHoop National Park

De Hoop National Park. Sand dunes in the background.

Our cottage for four.

Eland

Fadli Wagiet from the Dept. of Education in the Western Cape – one of our guides, and a friend from Cape Town.

Dr. Martin Hendricks, a research scientist from the University of the Western Cape, an a friend of mine from Cape Town.

Rocks along the Indian Ocean shore.

Whale Watching

Southern Right Whale

A wet hike up a mountain at Potberg Environmental Education Center at De Hoop.

A climb into a cave

Ancient Cave Drawings

Blue Cranes

Kruger National Park

Johannesburg

Addo Elephant ParkWilderness

DeHoop National ParkCape Agulhas

Next Stop……….

Lunch in Hermanus on Walker Bay

Off to Cape Town

Kruger National Park

Johannesburg

Addo Elephant ParkWilderness

DeHoop National ParkCape Agulhas

Cape Town

View from the mountain pass with Cape Town in the distance.

Entering the city of Cape Town.

Our Accommodations

Our front yard view

Our first trip took us to Robben Island. This is a view of Table Mountain which is in Cape Town

Lunch and talk of a surfing experience

A visit to an informal settlement called Egoli. This is David, a guide from the Red Cross. Egoli was first built on a soccer field because families were kicked off a nearby farm.

The other man is a leader in this community of over 400 families.

Children from Egoli returning from a day at school.

This man comes from a church that feeds the children on Thursdays.

Students have built a solar battery charger. The people of Egoli can pay a small amount to charge their phones.

Portable toilets for night time. It is too dangerous, because of gangs, to go to the port-a-potties at night.

After leaving Egoli we drove through a township called Langa

School children on their way home.

Trip to the downtown V & A Waterfront Area. Selfie with seals

View of Table Mountain from the Waterfront Mall area

Lion’s Head Hike

A view from the way up

Cape Town from the top of Lion’s Head

Hiking partners

Top of Lion’s Head

Our friends, the Schullers made it up!

Climbing the chains to get down.

A trip to Simonstown to see the Penguins

South African Penguin -

Kalk Bay Fishing Village

Fish Market

Surfing

Surfing in Muizenberg Bay

Off on my next adventureBelgravia High School;

that is in part two