South Africa - 2020

I never even dreamed of going to South Africa when I decided to take the time to travel in 2020. But after leaving a hot yoga class in the beginning of December, I checked my phone to see a Facebook message from an old friend inviting me to assist with a financial group’s CSR initiative on a Habitat for Humanity Global Village trip in Umgababa, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. A few hours later, I was looking up plane tickets.

Even though the Habitat build was only one week, I ended up spending almost two months backpacking South Africa solo afterward until the reality of COVID-19 called me home. The magnitude, charisma, and deeply rooted history of South Africa and its people can’t be put into words. Instead, I offer some photos from across the country — Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Kwazulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Limpopo — that attempt to do it justice.