Have you ever taken your kids to the zoo and stared wistfully at the giraffes or elephants, wanting desperately to see them in the wild? In Africa? Then you peruse safari expenses online or through a travel agent and the price tags swirling through your head are enough to make you break out into a cold sweat? Africa is a phenomenal continent with such a variety of people, cultures, environments and yes, game parks.
In June of 2013, our family made the radical decision to sell everything we owned and jet around the world for one year. I, along with my husband and two boys (ages five and eight at the time), explored twenty countries over five continents! One glorious month was spent in Africa. We felt the powerful spray of Victoria Falls in both Zambia and Zimbabwe. We cruised on the Chobe River in Botswana where we witnessed a magical stampede of elephants as they charged into the water to drink, cool off and of course, spray each other from their massive trunks! We were also able to humbly occupy a small place in history being in Johannesburg when Nelson Mandela passed away.