LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk | Epic Journey For the first time in years, a lion gazes at the coming rain I think of the native peoples standing on the shore line, looking out into the vastness of the ocean and seeing white sails on the horizon. We are explorers. When I had a lay over in Johannesburg, I bought a National Geographic with a feature piece about a man retracing the migration of humans out of Africa. The journey will take him seven years to complete. Even in a world with all edges of the map outlined, we continue to strive to discover new places. Day 10: Torra Communal Conservancy After an eventful day, we finally arrived at Torra Wildlife Conservancy. This is the Africa I've envisioned and dreamed of: open savannah with jagged mountains in the distance and specks of zebras and kudos making their journeys across them. We left the coast at 8 a.m. and set up our tents around 9 p.m. Our bus had mechanical problems, so we stopped for an hour to have it repaired. Then, two hours after it was fixed, the wheels blew off our trailer. The next few hours were highly entertaining: looking for tires, flagging down trucks, and reloading luggage. The back roads of Africa are notorious for chewing up cars. Anyone who drives here knows how to fix a flat with the speed and efficiency of a NASCAR pit crew. By the time we got to camp, it was dark. Our tents are quite durable, made of army canvas and metal poles. Over a meal of black beans and rice, my classmates and I sat around a fire and admired the night sky. Singh asked our guide, Marthin Kandjii, if we could sleep out under the stars. He laughed. "Stay in your tents. The lions live nearby."

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