An African Adventure
Imagine trekking through an African Safari feeding a wild giraffe, watching wild cheetahs sprint through the plains and playing with lion cubs. Candice Kippen, a Manukau Institute of Technology student studying for a Bachelor in Applied Communications this has got to relate to your first sentence as it is it just sits there by itself
Candice returned to her homeland the ‘Rainbow Nation’ for a six week visit to see her family and friends in Johannesburg and Cape Town. She holidayed in South Africa in summer, their rainy season. She said it rained for a short period nearly every afternoon and there were two thunder storms “which were extremely scary”.
Candice moved from her birthplace to New Zealand in 2006. After living in New Zealand for five years she said she would not move back to South Africa to live she would only visit. She said “it is more dangerous than New Zealand.”
She says “the windows and doors on the houses have metal bars across them, with high concrete walls and padlocks on the gates and when driving around you have to lock your car doors”.
One scary experience she encountered on her trip was coming home from a night out in the city at 4am. The car pulled up to the gate and Candice was told to jump out of the car quickly, because as people’s cars often get hijacked as soon as they stop, everyone needs to get out quickly just in case.
Johannesburg and Cape Town she said was very different to last time she was there and she found them very beautiful. “Johannesburg and Cape Town hosted the 2010 Soccer World Cup so the city has really developed now”.
One of the most amusing questions people often ask Candice is, if there are wild lions roaming around in people’s backyards? This is ridiculously funny to her, as she said “the only place you will see a lion these days is in a lion park. The only wild animals you will get in your backyards are monkeys and baboons if you live on the coast.”
While sweating it out in 28 degrees of sweltering humidity she visited a game park where she saw the famous South African rugby symbol, the Springbok. Candice said when she played with the lion cub it was like playing with a pet cat; the cub was not aggressive and was very calm. It was her first time with a lion cub, she said “It was amazing, a once in a life time experience.”
Returning to South Africa, Candice said the culture was very different to New Zealand although the racism these days is not as bad as it used to be, it is still very evident. The people that Candice stayed with were very friendly and spoke Afrikaans; they taught her a few words and found her saying them very funny, with her New Zealander accent “kos is food and leeu is lion”.
Candice returned to her homeland the ‘Rainbow Nation’ for a six week visit to see her family and friends in Johannesburg and Cape Town. She holidayed in South Africa in summer, their rainy season. She said it rained for a short period nearly every afternoon and there were two thunder storms “which were extremely scary”.
Candice moved from her birthplace to New Zealand in 2006. After living in New Zealand for five years she said she would not move back to South Africa to live she would only visit. She said “it is more dangerous than New Zealand.”
She says “the windows and doors on the houses have metal bars across them, with high concrete walls and padlocks on the gates and when driving around you have to lock your car doors”.
One scary experience she encountered on her trip was coming home from a night out in the city at 4am. The car pulled up to the gate and Candice was told to jump out of the car quickly, because as people’s cars often get hijacked as soon as they stop, everyone needs to get out quickly just in case.
Johannesburg and Cape Town she said was very different to last time she was there and she found them very beautiful. “Johannesburg and Cape Town hosted the 2010 Soccer World Cup so the city has really developed now”.
One of the most amusing questions people often ask Candice is, if there are wild lions roaming around in people’s backyards? This is ridiculously funny to her, as she said “the only place you will see a lion these days is in a lion park. The only wild animals you will get in your backyards are monkeys and baboons if you live on the coast.”
While sweating it out in 28 degrees of sweltering humidity she visited a game park where she saw the famous South African rugby symbol, the Springbok. Candice said when she played with the lion cub it was like playing with a pet cat; the cub was not aggressive and was very calm. It was her first time with a lion cub, she said “It was amazing, a once in a life time experience.”
Returning to South Africa, Candice said the culture was very different to New Zealand although the racism these days is not as bad as it used to be, it is still very evident. The people that Candice stayed with were very friendly and spoke Afrikaans; they taught her a few words and found her saying them very funny, with her New Zealander accent “kos is food and leeu is lion”.
