How the African sunrise infected me with the travel bug

Afraid of traveling to Africa?

This post is for everyone that is afraid of taking that step to travel somewhere far away. I used to travel through Europe with my parents, but Africa was unknown territory. I was 14 and really excited to go to South-Africa with my mom. That was until I started hearing peoples reactions. My grandma couldn’t believe she was taking me to such a dangerous place. Almost everyone told us to be careful. Fear started slowly creeping up on me. By the time we were leaving I was really nervous.

Scared of the dark

When we arrived in South-Africa it was already dusk. We had rented a car and while we were driving through the dark my mind was not at ease. The roads were bumpy and isolated and all I could here were the strange sounds of the bush. There were no street lights and it was pitch black outside. We had to cross the border into Swaziland and the border crossing didn’t look very welcoming either. After what seemed like a long time we were finally on our way to our accommodation for the night. When we arrived we couldn’t see any of the surroundings, because it was too dark already. All we could hear was the sounds of the bush. We went straight to bed, but I lay awake worrying for a while.

the clarity of morning

I remember waking up and being disoriented for a moment. When I realized where I was I walked over to the window to take in the surroundings. In that moment I was in complete awe of what I saw. The cabin we were staying in was overlooking the mountains and the view was magical. The sun was coming up and all I could feel my worries fading away. The trip ended up being one of the best experiences of my life.  It was the trip that sparked my wanderlust.  So I guess what I’m saying is: Don’t be afraid to explore and make up your own mind about a place!

African sunrise

So maybe I should have called my blog Brunette at sunrise as that is where it all started. But it just wasn’t as catchy;)