South Africa: An Experience That Touches You For an Eternity

Description of Trip: Only Open to those that have shown they are Ready!! This Trip includes 20 days of hikes, climbs, cliff jumps, animal parks and service. Meant to offer excitement, achievement, and clarity in life.

Imfolozi-Wild Animal Park: One of Zululand's animal preserves--home to the elephant, lion, wildebeest, giraffe, zebra, inyanga, and formerly endangered black rhino. Several hundred square miles of open veld linked by dirt roads. We drive for hours through these back roads looking for animals in the wild. Near by we spend a half a day at the St Lucia watershed where, on a boat, we work our way up close to Hippos and Crocodiles in a protected salt water park

Robben Island A 30 minute boat ride from down town Cape Town. The infamous prison that housed political activists for decades. Former inmates lead the tour. The African penguin lives on this island in large numbers (formerly the Jackass Penguin). Named for the thousands of seals that once lived here (robbe is the Dutch word for "seal"), this island has been called South Africa's Alcatraz. Now, like its San Francisco counterpart, Robben Island is no longer used as a prison. It is a popular destination for South Africans and foreign visitors, who make the pilgrimage by high-speed boat to tour the facilities and see the cell where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for many years.

Hermanus/DeKelder Boulders Two hours outside Cape Town, Hermanus is the location that beckons the Southern Right whale every August/September to birth their babies. Hundreds can show up in a week to give birth. A gorgeous spot for viewing. 20 minutes from there are the DeKelder boulders that make for an excellent two hour hike along the water's edge. Also the site of a ancient human bones from 70,000 years ago. Seals and whales are often spotted on the hike

Table Mountain One of Africa's most famous landmarks, Table Mountain has welcomed seafarers to South Africa for centuries. The sandstone mountain is some two miles (three kilometers) wide and 3,500 feet (1,000 meters) high, offering magnificent views of Table Bay, Robben Island, and the Cape Town metro area, which completely encircles it. Table Mountain National Park forms part of the Unesco World Heritage site declared in 2004 to protect the fynbos (the Afrikaans word for the local floral kingdom), one of the most diverse botanical kingdoms. Options for rope courses, base jumping, repelling and hang gliding are on the Table Mountain National Park as well.

Clanwilliam/Traveler's Rest A sprawling farm three hours outside of Cape Town. Location of bushman rock art. We stay in rustic housing for two days in this desert location, cook our own food and search for paintings that range from 1,000 to 30,000 years ago. The leopard and carocal are known to roam this farm.

Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope The symbolic tip of Africa, protected in a Preserve. We hike along mountain trails and ocean's edge, explore underwater caves, encounter baboons, bontebok, eland, ostriches and endangered birds including the Africa Black Oyster Catcher. Enormous sea cliffs tower above the battering ocean, whipped by fierce winds that whisk hats from view-bedazzled tourists. On the west side the shore is littered with shipwrecks, testimony to the notoriously treacherous waters around here.

Orbi Gorge Oribi Gorge is situated along the spectacular forest-cloaked ravine of the Mzimkulwana river just west of Port Shepstone which itself is 120 km south of Durban. At the base of the cliffs of both gorges there are rocks over 1000 million years old while the cliffs themselves are formed from sandstone deposited about 365 million years ago. It is also home to the world’s highest swing. The jump takes you off of a 33-story waterfall, for a site and an experience unlike any other.

District Six Museum Downtown Cape Town--a small museum dedicated to the memory of South Africans forcibly removed from their homes due to the Apartheid policies. Former members of the community share the stories and the future plans.

Khayelithsa Khayelitsha is a large urban center just 20 minutes outside of Cape Town. It is home to almost 1 million people who live on less than a dollar a day. Khayelitsha, Xhosa for "new home" was a creation of the Apartheid government when blacks were not allowed to own property and were not allowed to operate companies (even a fruit stand was illegal!). Today, even though Apartheid is over, Khayelitsha suffers from the effects of those Apartheid years and it will be decades before its residents are able to overcome poverty and address all the negative consequences of oppression..

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South Africa Trip 2008 Thank you for you time! This has been an Anthony Barrasso Presentation This trip includes three In Balance Staff as well as two-three South African Tour guides And we believe it will be more than worth it Please Join us for the Experience of a Life Time!