Travels off the Beaten Path Justine Murray

So Africa is a wrap after 50 odd episodes. This episode sums up my epic journey overland across Africa by car, truck, bus, boat, train, bicycle, horse, camel, donkey and on foot. I travelled from the top to the bottom of Africa. Over that journey, I had the most incredible experiences with wildlife, immersed myself in amazing cultures and viewed stunning terrain. This journey changed my life in so many ways including: i) to take every opportunity to come my way, ii) to be so grateful for what I was experiencing and yet somehow always remaining safe, iii) to open my mind to the diversity everywhere in this world, iv) to seek a new career pathway through my discoveries and interests that arose in my travels, and v) to stop searching for my place in this world but find it is inside me all along. To celebrate competing my African stories, I created this episode as a video to listen and/or watch - including some of the photos and videos I took on my journey.



Has this journey aroused your interests to travel? I am also a travel coach. If you planning on a trip to Africa and are on the fence, just do it. If you need help planning, get in contact with me and we can plan that African experience you dream about. Safe travels!!



Videos in order:

1. Moholoholo Animal Rehabilitation Centre, Kampersus, South Africa

2. Nungwi, Zanzibar

3. Mountain gorillas, Mikeno Volcano, Buhumba, Democratic Republic of Congo.

4. Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo

5. Congo River, Zaire

6. Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

7. Nigerian wedding, Kano, Nigeria

8. Samburu ceremony, Timau, Kenya.



Music played in order;

Solitude, Sand Take me to the Lake, Punch Deck - Magheda, Ambient Bongos by Alexander Nakarada, Bumbumchack by Alwin Brauns, Tribal joy by Alexander Nakarada.


https://www.serpentsoundstudios.comMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/




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In this episode I recount my period I spent volunteering at a game reserve in the Limpopo Province in eastern South Africa. It was at the Enkosini Eco Experience (https://www.enkosini.org/) at Makalali Game Reserve, near Hoedspruit. Here I was involved in monitoring studies of predators and herbivore numbers, movements and behaviours. I also took part in the elephant contraception program, where elephant herds are monitored and females are given contraceptives to slow the density of elephants in the reserve. While I was there, we were lucky to be involved in removing radio collars off three bull elephants. This required watching the vet dart the elephants from a helicopter and being part of the ground crew. The experience was an amazing experience of morning and night game drives, walking safaris and bush camps. One particular encounter with lions was especially memorable.



I was also able to visit the Moholoholo Animal Rehabilitation Centre and Jessica the hippo. While these have become tourist attractions, they do play a vital role in educating the public and rehabilitating wildlife back to the wild. In light of this, I discuss the merits of zoos with animals restricted in their movements.



Lastly, I dwell on the lessons I picked up volunteering, including the gratitude I felt in being able to enjoy this experience and being immersed in this African landscape teeming with wildlife. I finish with my telling of my respect for the wildlife I encountered and suggest we should consider showing respect to the animals through keeping noise to a minimum when we experience these wildlife encounters.


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In this episode, I describe my last trip to South Africa to Port Elizabeth (now called Gqeberha) in 2007.  I describe my mixed feelings as I board the plane from J'burg to Port Elizabeth alongside people handing in their rifles in a permanently-designated gun lane. I was attending an international conservation biology conference while finishing my Ph.D. However, at the same time there was a hunting competition and a large game auction happening at the same time in the region. Such conflicting agendas  - conservation, hunting and game farming - all big money earners in their own right. 



While I was within the district, I visited Addo Elephant National Park. The third largest park in RSA is famous for >600 elephants, 400 Cape buffalo and nearly 50 black rhino. The park has the title of being the only park to host the Big 7 after it has picked up neighbouring marine reserves that also have whales and great white sharks and two islands of St Croix Island and Bird Island that houses penguins, seals and many Cape gannets and crowned cormorants. It is also famous for the largest population of wingless dung beetle (Circellium bachuss) that has an important ecological relationship between itself and the elephants - moving the incredible amounts of elephant dung deposited by over 600 individuals back into the soil along with accompanied seeds that have survived an elephant's intestinal tract. The dung beetles have a right of way in this park. 



I found the region very pleasant with a the level of safety being much better than the bigger cities of Johannesburg and cape Town. Besides the conflicting areas of interest, this area is a definite place to visit on a trip to South Africa.  


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In this latest episode of my podcast, I discuss my journey back to Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa. It was five years since apartheid ended and four years since my last visit, and South Africa had completely changed as the sanctions had been lifted and now the big commercial chains had moved into the country. I stayed with a Zulu friend, visiting the infamous Soweto township in J’burg and then went to Empangani near Richards Bay in Natal. We visited the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park and Thanda Safari – Big 5 Game Reserve, where I enjoyed showing my daughter the African wildlife.

I also visited the Islandlwana and Rorke’s Drift battlefields which were major events in the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879. Islandlwana is famous for the first major loss the British suffered by an Indigenous tribe. Around 20,000 fighting warriors were able to sneak up close to the British camp and wipe out the camp even though the British had superior weaponry and the Zulu mostly only had their assegai (short stabbing spears) and a cowhide shield. Rorke’s Drift is famous for a handful of men holding off a Zulu attack. Eleven Victoria Cross medals were awarded for this one battle. Between 3000 and 4000 Zulu attacked 150 soldiers and injured left at the hospital and barracks.  While there is a museum at Rorke’s Drift celebrating that British win, there is little evidence of a major battle was held at Islandlwana except a small memorial and some stone cairns.

When visiting places, it is always good to ensure you hear and understand the history from all perspectives so you receive a balanced view of events, and not be coloured by any inherent bias.


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In this episode, I travel to Vic Falls in Zimbabwe and explore the gorge on the ground and in the air. It was an awe-inspiring example of the power of nature watching the sheer volume of water dropping off from the Zambezi River into the gorge. I enjoyed the 15-min helicopter ride over the falls to view the ‘smoke that thunders’. It was short but it gave me an idea of the sheer scale of the falls through this crack in the plateau. It made me consider what the explorer Livingstone thought when he came across the falls.

We then travelled south to Hwange National Park to observe large herds of elephants and then continued to Bulawayo, where we saw some great tribal dancing along with artistic examples of traditional costumes and masks. We also visited Matobo National Park to marvel at the unique rock formations, view the 2000-yeat-old rock paintings and visit the famous colonist Cecil Rhodes gravesite. I finish the episode discussing the ramifications of colonialism including my thoughts on its recent bearings of global issues and dealing with discrimination.


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Today is International Women’s Day so I thought I would celebrate it by publishing this episode on ‘Travelling solo as a woman’. If you have been following my podcast, you would know I have done a lot of travelling as a sole traveller, including in areas off the regular tourist path through many countries and across continents. Travelling solo as a woman exposed me to some extraordinary experiences with different cultures and situations. However, being on my own also meant I had to take extra precautions and always be aware of my surroundings. In this episode, I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of travelling solo. I also give you 15 tips to help make your first or next solo travel journey be a wonderful experience. I focus on women with it being International Women's Day. However, these tips are just as relevant to men travelling alone although potentially the risk is lower. Provided you take some care and do your prior research and follow these tips, the world is yours to explore. Enjoy the journey, and if you want to hear some of the stories I mention, go back to the relevant episodes.



Photo: Author on a camel near the pyramids at Giza, Egypt (Episode 2). 


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