A reminder that we live in a wonderful world

We live in such a rush every day that most of us tend to forget what a beautiful world is out there.  Add to that all the bad news around and I think it becomes a case of people spending more time indoors "hiding out" than getting out there and experiencing nature.  Earth Day was celebrated on 22 April and I spotted this video on an Earth Day blog post on the Getaway blog.  How can I not use it in a post as well?  Watch it and allow David Attenborough to remind you that we live in a wonderful and beautiful world. 

Dawn Jorgensen's favorite travel companion: Africa

Fellow travel blogger Dawn Jorgensen of The Incidental Tourist, entered this video into Southern Destinations' #SafariSoulmates competition and was selected as one of the finalists.  While all the other entrants chose to showcase their loved ones or best friends as the perfect travel companion, Dawn decided that it was Africa herself.  Really gooseflesh stuff making one want to travel.

 

Her dust under my feet, cool dark waters, endless landscapes, oceans, game and incredible people. Wherever I find myself, whatever I'm doing. Be it on the back of a bike in a capital city, hot air ballooning over Hartebeespoort, Gorilla Trekking in Uganda, Whale Watching off Gansbaai, Cheetah Trekking in the Eastern Cape, singing with children or getting soaked at Victoria Falls. It's my love affair with all things Africa that shines through. Africa is my Safari Soulmate.
- Dawn Jorgensen

The more you experience Africa 

the more you realize

the best companion isn't a person...

It's Africa itself

"Reconsider South Africa" and experience it with all your senses

"What is beauty?

Is it a view that's been waiting for you for centuries?

A setting that gives you goosebumps when you see it for the first time?

A scene so striking it remains in your memory forever? 

Is it a moment that stops you in your tracks and leaves you in awe? 

Some people spend their whole lives looking for them. 

When you open yourself up to it, suddenly you find yourself in a place where true beauty isn't something you'll ever see

Cause in this place, beauty has a much deeper meaning which is why when you meet South Africa, you'll reconsider what you think you know."

South African Tourism has just released their latest destination marketing video for South Africa and it's really thought provoking.  Its not just about seeing South Africa's beauty, but also how you experience it using all your senses.

"South Africa is different" promotional video

South Africa is a popular tourist destination and visitors often just come here for the scenery and wildlife, leaving with so much more.  South Africa has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world and the wildlife experiences are unequalled, but it's also about the people, the cultures, the food, the rural country side and the urban vibe.  One thing that many people don't expect is how modern South Africa is, how you can go from a small village in the middle of nowhere to a big city with all the amenities you need.  One thing always stays the same no matter where you go, and that is the people and their hospitality.  The you who leaves South Africa won't be the same as the you who arrived. 

 

Enjoy this promotional video by SA Tourism.

I am an African and proud of it

I am an African and I am proud to call myself an African.  Yes, my forefathers came from Europe a couple of hundred years ago, but my father, grand father, great grand father and before him was born in Africa.  As was I.  Does it mean that the fact that I am white means I'm not an African?  I beg to differ from anybody who would so say so.  I am a white African.  A proud African.  One with a passion for Africa and particularly South Africa.  On 8 May 1996, Thabo Mbeki, who was the then vice president of South Africa under the presidency of Nelson Mandela, did a speech called I am an African on the occasion of the passing of the new Constitution of South Africa.  Its a speech that talks to me and my being.  South Africa Tourism did a promotional video for the country a little while back and used the speech as base for it.  Now it speaks to me even more.