Brittany's excursion: enjoyable, educational, fun and relaxingbrit

Brittany enjoying some fun time at the Boys & Girls Club in Soweto

This past week, our group went on an excursion to Johannesburg and Kruger National Park. I was excited to go on spring break but I had no idea what to expect. We spend the first five days in Johannesburg where we visited various museums and restaurants. One of the highlights was going to see a play in Nelson Mandela Square entitled “Scenes from Soweto.” The week finished up with a two-day visit to Kruger National Park where we saw the beautiful nature of South Africa. I appreciated this visit to Johannesburg (Jo’burg) because I was able to see a completely different side of South Africa. There is a different atmosphere in Jo’burg. First of all, the African National Congress(ANC) has a greater hold in this part of South Africa; there are more blacks than coloreds in Jo’burg; the housing issues in Jo’burg do not appear as desperate; there seems to be a greater respect for the struggle against apartheid; and there is a different culture. The play "Scenes from Soweto" showed the different culture in Soweto. While there where many aspects of Soweto culture that were different, there were also aspects that were the same. This trip taught me a lot about the history of apartheid, the present issues of South Africa and the beauty of South African nature.

           

While in Jo’burg we had the opportunity to visit amazing restaurants. We stayed down the street from a place called Nelson Mandela Square. The first night, we had dinner at a place called Trump's Grill House. We spend the next five days visiting various restaurants and local diners. I especially enjoyed visiting Wandie’s Kitchen. The food was great and the atmosphere was welcoming. The walls of Wandi’s are lined with notes from people all around the world. There were two men that sang South African songs. Instead of calling it entertainment, they called it edutainment because their goal was to teach about the history and culture of South Africa. I learned that one of the first rap songs was made by a South African artist. Overall, the food was half the experience of Jo’burg.

           

The other aspect of Jo’burg was that we learned about the history of apartheid in South African. Jo’burg, especially Soweto is a significant place for the apartheid struggle. On Sunday, we visited the Hector Pietersen Museum. Hector Pietersen came to represent the youth killed in the Soweto uprisings of 1976. The museum is built close to the street from where students marched and were killed. Students were protesting because they were forced to learn Afrikaans in school. Hector Pietersen was one of the youngest to be killed on that day. His death represented the brutality of the apartheid system. I appreciated leaning more about the role of youth within the movement.

           

In the rest of the week, we visited the Sharpeville Memorial. The Sharpeville Massacre was a significant incident in the apartheid struggle. In 1960, blacks protesting the apartheid pass laws forcing them to carry around identification cards. Blacks left behind their passes and marched to the police station to protest. Eventually 69 blacks were brutally murdered for protesting. The Sharpeville Museum is built on the site were this massacre took place. The town of Sharpeville is so peaceful and it was hard to imagine that such a tragedy had occurred there. As a history major, I appreciated the opportunity to be in a place where such a big event in history took place.

           

I also, got the opportunity to learn about the current issues of South Africa. The play “Scenes from Soweto” highlighted the intricate culture of South Africa through the township of Soweto. Since I’ve been in South Africa for two months it was cool to understand many of the cultural jokes. The play showed the humor and pain in Soweto life in an entertaining way.

           

We finished our vacation with a trip to Kruger National Park. This was the most enjoyable and relaxing part of the trip. The atmosphere in the park is so beautiful and peaceful. I had the opportunity to see many animals that I had never seen before like water buffalo, hippopotamus, impalas and giraffes. I especially enjoyed seeing the elephant; it is so magnificent in person.

Erica, Kelsey, & Brittany at Skukuza Lodge Kruger National Park    

Overall this break was an enjoyable, educational, fun and relaxing experience.