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By John Schneider, Class of 2017
Photos by the author

Like many of you, my husband Duane and I finally got to take our long-awaited, pandemic-delayed “trip of a lifetime”. Ours was a four-stop tour of southern Africa. It took place over the course of three weeks in May 2022.

Cape Town
Cape Town, situated very nearly at the southern tip of the African continent, is on many travel magazines’ lists of favorite cities and has been on my must-see list for years. It did not disappoint. Flying into Cape Town we were awestruck by the sight and size of Table Mountain, which stands guard over this city by Table Bay. Think of a blend of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sydney, steeped in Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonial history all while firmly rooted in Africa.

The city is cosmopolitan with gardens, museums, monuments, restaurants, coffee shops, and nightlife. For architecture, don’t miss the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art, an adaptive re-use of concrete grain silos located on the V&A Waterfront, or the brightly painted homes in the Bo-Kaap neighborhood. Learn about area’s troubled history of apartheid at the District Six Museum and the Robben Island prison.

The outdoor areas of Cape Peninsula surrounding the city provides some of the most spectacular scenery on the planet. Drive through the tony seaside suburbs just south of Cape Town overlooked by the jagged peaks of the Twelve Apostles. We drove bare-knuckle along Chapman Peak’s Drive as it hugs South Africa’s Atlantic west coast on its way to the Cape of Good Hope, named by Vasco de Gama as he sailed passed on his way seeking passage to India in the 1400s. On the drive back to Cape Town, we saw the African penguin colony in Simon’s Town and the beautiful Kirstenbosch National Botanic Gardens where rare plant species like the protea grow in a biome unique to this part of South Africa.

Wine Country
It only takes about an hour to drive from Cape Town to the Cape Winelands, reminiscent of the time it takes to drive from San Francisco to the Napa Valley. Similarly, cool, moist air rolls in from Table Bay to the picturesque foothills and mountains surrounding the South African wine country much like the fog from San Francisco Bay.

We stayed two nights in Franschhoek that was originally settled by French Huguenots and has an amazing array of top-rated inns and restaurants. Stellenbosch is the nearby university town with oak-shaded trees, cafes, boutiques, and galleries along with wonderful Cape Dutch architecture.

Victoria Falls
Located on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia, Victoria Falls is considered the world’s largest waterfall based a combination of its height, width, and volume. We were there at its peak volume so we could not help but get wet as we walked the pathways across from the falls. We stayed at a hotel upstream within walking distance to the falls and located in a national park. So, when having dinner outdoors overlooking the Zambezi River, we were entertained by zebras, giraffes, impala, and more! Truly spectacular. I recommend a helicopter ride to get amazing overviews of the falls, canyons, and wildlife.

Mala Mala Game Reserve
The wildlife at Victoria Falls was no match for what we were about to see at the Mala Mala Game Reserve. This 33,000-acre private game reserve started in 1927 is one of the largest and oldest in South Africa, adjacent to Kruger National Park. Quite literally, we never went more than a few minutes between animal sightings. Over five days, we took twice-a-day photo safari game drives at sunrise and sunset, with relaxing afternoons and evenings in between. Because it is private, the vehicles can go off-road, so we got close-up views of lions, leopards, elephants, giraffes, African wild dogs, hyenas, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and more. This was the splurge we saved for!

Mozambique
After five busy days on safari, we wrapped up our trip at a resort on the Indian Ocean south of Maputo, Mozambique. Our individual villas were staggered on a jungle-covered sand dune connected by boardwalks. Instead of waking at six, we slept in, listening to the crash of the ocean waves. A perfect way to recharge before the 30-hour journey back home.

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