South Africa Travel Grant

I will be traveling to Cape Town and Hoedspruit, South Africa to explore the themes of environmental stewardship, responsible tourism, and wildlife conservation. Cape Town and California both have a Mediterranean climate with similar benefits and challenges, such as warm weather and droughts. Cape Town has been named one of the greenest cities in Africa by the World Economic Forum due to its efforts to combat climate change. Given that California and Cape Town are “climate cousins,” I wanted to learn more about Cape Town’s efforts to move to a greener future and see how it might relate to similar efforts in California. I will also be visiting two schools that focus on teaching environmental stewardship to their students-one in Cape Town and one in Hoedspruit.

South Africa has also adopted a Responsible Tourism Charter, which aims to

• Minimize negative economic, environmental, and social impacts on communities
• Help connect tourists with local people and encourages them to understand local cultural, social, and environmental issues
• Be culturally sensitive and instill a sense of pride in local people
• Create economic benefits for local people and helps communities develop
• Make facilities accessible for people with disabilities
• Involve local people in decisions that affect their lives
• Reduce tourism’s carbon footprint and reduce reliance on non-renewable sources of energy
• Assess the environmental impact of tourism operations and take steps to minimize any negative impact
• Ensure that companies in the tourism sector actively work to minimize all forms of pollution.
• Make sure that biodiversity, ecosystems and landscapes are protected and restored where necessary
• Increase awareness and provide education around sustainable tourism
• Make sure that the tourism sector uses resources sustainably, and reduces waste and energy, water, and raw materials usage wherever possible. Companies in the sector should aim to recycle as much as possible.

Keeping these goals in mind, I aimed to support sustainable businesses and local businesses on my trip. I will also be using the Cape Town Green Map which highlights sustainable businesses to guide my choices for restaurants and other activities while in town.

In our third-grade social studies curriculum, we learn about California’s different regions, and how the climates and natural resources impacted the lives of the Indigenous Peoples of California. While in Cape Town, I will be visiting a San heritage center to learn about how the San use natural resources from the local environment.

In our third-grade anti-bias curriculum, we learn about non-violent activists who fought against discrimination, including Nelson Mandela. I will be visiting Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned during apartheid to learn more about his inspiring story.

Finally, I will have an opportunity to learn about wildlife conservation during a trip to Kruger National Park with Honeyguide. Paraphrased slightly from their website: “The nature reserve shares an unfenced boundary with Kruger National park. The island was carved out of Kruger in 1967 because of apartheid policies and was isolated from the rest of the national park. This area became a Kruger for the native African population, until 1994, when the fences were removed, and the area was open to the free movement of wildlife. The area has never been as developed, and there are still no wide, paved roads, light poles, or private vehicles. Only the wildlife can move freely. Today the land has been restored to the Tsonga people, and the area is managed in collaboration with Honeyguide.”