John's enjoying all the things he can afford to do

As we were driving along route 62 and I was on my way to having one of the best weekends I’ve had this semester, I realized how fortunate I was to experience some of the wonderful things South Africa has to offer. This weekend I went on the Garden Route tour and had some amazing encounters with both wildlife and locals. We rode elephants, fed lemurs, heard the story of a 70-year-old store owner, walked with lions and even petted a cheetah. After I came back home I remembered a conversation I had with people in my activist project about the numerous attractions in Cape Town. He told me how many of the people that live in Cape Town haven’t even seen half of it and probably never would. They haven’t hiked Table Mountain, been to Robben Island or even taken the drive out to Cape Point. For us, it is easy to come to places like these and do all of the touristy things simply because that’s our goal is the see and get to know the place and we have the means to do so. People whom are born in townships and don’t have sufficient funds can go their whole life without doing the things Cape Town is known for.  It saddens me to think people can life around such beauty but are not able to experience it because they don’t have enough money for transportation or entrance to some places. At the same time it makes me feel 10x more fortunate to experience Cape Town and I feel like I have to enjoy it for myself and for those who can’t.