Such a beautiful adventure...

We saw an amazing sunrise over the Mediterranean this morning. It was layered with bright orange and golden yellows, auburn and reds and even some deep purples as it stretched across the horizon like vibrant watercolors. Gorgeous!

This trip was one that I have looked forward to for a number of years. I, for one, am so grateful for the opportunity to visit such an intriguing country and will never forget this experience. It is almost impossible for us to realize that we were actually tracking wild animals about a week ago, were woken up by screeching monkeys or had to divert our own path for some warthogs that were in our camp. It is also incredible to think that we walked the same steps, on the same ground that many explorers did when they first landed on these surreal shores. South Africa is a country with unsurpassed beauty and with disturbing scenes of abject poverty, at least according to our standards. The “townships” that seemed to appear overnight could be found in the large cities with no regard for safety or health standards. We kept asking our guides if there was any way to stop this from happening, if it was illegal to allow these areas from being developed or if there were any plans to prevent them in the future. The answers were “no”, “yes, it is illegal”, and, as far as he knew, there were no real plans to stop these townships from being created. It boggles the mind. It is certainly unfair for us to place our standards on this country and its people so I will accept it at face value and resist the temptation to think that our ideas are better, more efficient, and appropriate for all citizens of the world. The South African people are happy, quick to smile, and ready to make friends and we are fortunate to have experienced it all.

To all of the followers of this blog: Thanks so much for following along on our journey!

Welcome home!