Category Archives: Travel
Unforgettable Facts About the Animal Who Never Forgets
During our stay at Addo, we learned so much about elephants as we interacted with them and spoke with our incredible guides. Ellie facts are so crazy cool that they deserve their very own post! Here they are: Elephants require around 16 hours of grazing time a day. Their digestive systems are very inefficient, and […]
Tagged Africa, animals, elephant, SaS, Semester at Sea, South Africa
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Taba, Mukwa, and Duma: Ellies Extraordinaire
Since South Africa is at least 20 hours of flight/travel time from the U.S., we decided that we had better live it up a little while there, so we splurged on a 4-day safari that started with a couple nights at the Addo Elephant Back Safari Lodge in Addo Elephant National Park. The Elephant Back […]
Tagged Addo, Africa, animals, elephant, safari, Semester at Sea, South Africa
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Think Twice
After our hiking Table Mountain, we decided to visit the Greenpoint Market, a local goods market available only on Sundays. While there, we spoke with several stall owners, met some really fun folks, and even bought a very cool oil painting on canvas that we can roll up in our suitcase to easily transport home. […]
Tagged Africa, Cape Town, music, SaS, Semester at Sea, South Africa
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Dancing on the Table
The port in Capetown is one of the most beautiful that we’ve ever seen. We cruised into the harbor just before sunrise and got to watch the sun come up over the water and shine its splendid rainbow of colors onto the waking city with its picturesque backdrop of Table Mountain and Lion’s Head. That […]
Tagged Africa, hiking, SaS, Semester at Sea
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I Am Because We Are
As many of you already know, an honored and revered shipmate on our voyage around the world with Semester at Sea is none other than Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Even a five second interaction with this man is enough to brighten your week. We and our shipmates have enjoyed a wonderful amount of extra time with […]
Tagged Africa, Desmond Tutu, SaS, Semester at Sea, South Africa, Ubuntu
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Heartfelt Goodbye
As the ship pulled away from Ghana the group of street vendors whose booths were set up right next to the ship, many of whom were drum-makers, ran and grabbed a bunch of drums and kettle bells and Ghana flags and started an impromptu drum and dance send-off on the edge of the port terminal. […]
Tagged Africa, Ghana, SaS, Semester at Sea
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A Bright Future for Ghana
For our last day in Ghana we visited Father’s Home Care Ministries. It was founded 10 years ago by a Ghanaian man named Frances who felt God was calling him to become a father. At first he wasn’t sure what that call to fatherhood really meant, but after a couple years of prayerful consideration he […]
Tagged Africa, Ghana, orphanage, SaS, Semester at Sea
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Carry On, Ghana!
Ghanaians are incredibly skilled at carrying things on their heads. We learned that they start doing this at a young age because it allows them to carry much heavier objects for longer distances than children can support with their arms. We saw children of all ages and sizes carrying everything–wood-framed glass boxes full of bread, […]
Tagged Africa, culture, Ghana, SaS, Semester at Sea
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P90 Botwaeku
Another part of our village stay included a performance by a professional troupe of Cape Coast drummers/dancers/fire-eaters/acrobats called Botwaeku Dance Ensemble. Drumming for a living creates some pretty impressive arm muscles. Dancing/acrobatics for a living produces some pretty impressive muscles all over your body. As with any performance art, sometimes still images do not convey […]
Kofi Baako and Esi Dadzie Come to Visit
On our second day in Ghana, Shannon led an overnight SaS trip to the village of Atonkwe for a Cultural Immersion experience. We arrived in the village early in the morning and were immediately greeted by Chief Na Na and his council of village elders. We all received Ghanaian Fante names in a traditional naming […]