Here’s why—

1.  The people we met were friendly and interested in Americans.  Most speak English and, of course, we were usually in tourist areas but the people still seemed humble and anxious to talk with us.  They were anxious to tell us all about their countries and cultures.
2. The cost of everything is much cheaper than here.  A glass of wine in a U.S. restaurant is $8+.  In Southern Africa it’s about $3—and that’s a great bottle.  Food, hotels, transportation, and consumer goods are much cheaper and your dollar goes a long way.  (Zimbabwe uses the American dollar as their currency)  The African art work in markets and galleries is so original and colorful.
3. The countries are beautiful—from oceans, beaches, mountains, rain forests, deserts, and, of course, thousands of big game to view.  Cape Town is European in culture and one of the most stunning cities in the world.  “Like San Francisco except more of it in every way.”
4. You can see lots and lots of the biggest game on the planet in Southern Africa.  They’re wild, majestic, and you can actually get pretty close to them.  It depends on the animal, especially something like hippos that don’t like humans (or anyone) too close to them.
5. The food and wine are different from ours but still delicious.  The wine produced in Southern Africa is some of the best in the world and was established long before our vineyards in California.  Want to taste grilled meat like kudu, warthog, impala, and dozens of different kinds of sausages?  Try Southern Africa.
6. The weather is more extreme than the U.S. and is wonderful to experience.  Cape Town has a mild, Mediterranean climate.  Zimbabwe and Botswana are dry with temperatures that often go over 100 degrees.  When the rainy season starts (late November) the land explodes in lush, green growth along with more animal activity.  Sluggish rivers gush over their banks flooding dry areas and bringing life to everyone.
7. You can experience the ancient symbiotic relationship between humans and animals that goes back thousands of years.  The animals are well protected in these countries and the herds are growing.  Where can you experience this in the U.S?  If you get the chance—go!!  It’s worth the cost and even the long plane ride.

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Here’s an example: In Zimbabwe in the small town of Victoria Falls (one street and an intersection) we drove through one morning on our way to a game drive safari in Botswana.  Our guide pointed to a dozen brown balls about the size of cantaloupe, spread across the main street.  Elephant droppings.  That meant elephants had browsed along the street during the previous night in spite of banks, markets, and cash machines lining the streets.

At my suburban home, we saw deer (or their droppings) occasionally but elephants??  The wild game in Africa live close to humans in the rural areas particularly.  We use fences in the U.S. to keep our cattle in; they use fences to keep big game—rhinos, elephants, and leopards—out of their yards.

On our game drives we saw hundreds of animals.  They were majestic—not only because of their size, but also their pride, freedom, and gracefulness.  With the exception of a few fences, they move among humans more than I expected.  What does this do to the humans?

1.  It creates an immediate awareness of how intertwined humans and Nature/big game are.  The people certainly have shopping centers and suburbs, but only a short distance away is Nature and big game.  These always remind people of our shared existence.
2. Many Africans are poor.  As a result, big game represents only meat and food for them.  To us in the West, we want to preserve the big game.  But to many Africans, people and animals are really similar—they both need food to live and will kill without regret in order to eat. The line between humans and Nature is very narrow.
3. The extreme weather of South Africa makes survival of both humans and big game difficult.  To Western eyes, the fact they both thrive beside each other with pride and independence hints to me of ancient dependency and cooperation between humans and Nature.  It even hints at the existence of God to some of us—

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