10/30/2009 2:55:03 PM

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By April Horne
Post-Bulletin, Austin MN 

From the big city lights of Johannesburg, South Africa, to starry nights in the far, remote village of Mwanza, Zambia. From whitewater rafting on the Zambezi River to a sunset dinner cruise on the Chobe River. From a lunar rainbow at Victoria Falls to cage diving with great white sharks off the coast of Cape Town.

	About the writer April Horne is the head of Technology Development in the Division of Engineering at Mayo Clinic. Sonny Komaniecki is a world traveler and a sophomore at Dover-Eyota High School. Getting there: Delta Airlines from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Atlanta to Johannesburg. British Airways-Comair for flights within the continent. Bus from Livingstone to Monze, Zambia. Where you stayed: Falstaff Hotel in Johannesburg; Waterfront Hotel in Livingstone, Zambia; Chobe Safari Lodge in Kasane, Botswana; tent in Mwanza, Zambia; Jambo Guest House in Cape Town, South Africa. Where to eat: Probably the best food was free-range, freshly butchered chicken and nshima (cornmeal product) served in the village. Commercially available, the best food was at Chobe Safari Lodge. Side trips: Victoria Falls, Zambezi whitewater rafting, Lion Encounter, Chobe River Fishing, Shark Cage Diving, Mwanza Village School, False Bay and Seal Island, Chobe National Park (safari), sunset cruise on Chobe River. Travel tip: Be flexible! Appreciate the adventure, mishaps make for better stories. Have an open mind. More information: www.zambezi.com, www.safpar.com, www.unrealdive.com.

A trip to southern Africa gives plenty of opportunities for discovery.

What started out as an effort to figure out how to get donated supplies to a remote village in Zambia turned into a multicountry adventure for April Horne and her son, Sonny Komaniecki. They began their journey in South Africa, stopping over for two nights in Johannesburg.

A visit to the Apartheid Museum and the adjacent Nelson Mandela exhibit gave them an understanding of recent history of the country.

Then they stepped back in time at the Lesedi Cultural Village for a glimpse of the traditions of five native cultures. They saw model villages, traditional costume, music, dance and art.

They traveled south to Cape Town, where they rode a cable car to the top of Table Top Mountain.

A drive to Gansbaai and a boat ride out to Geyer's Island put them in the heart of "Shark Alley." This time of year finds great white sharks feasting on seal pups, just beginning to venture into the water after several months of fattening up on mother's milk. Seven-millimeter wetsuits and a shark cage protected the adventurers from the cold water and the hungry sharks.

In addition to the sharks, seals and numerous water birds, they also saw humpback whales.

The next day was calmer, with a visit to world-renowned Kirstenbosch Gardens, a trip to False Bay and Boulders to see African Penguins, and a climb to the Cape of Good Hope lighthouse for a view of both the Indian and Atlantic oceans.

On to Livingstone, Zambia, where the Zambezi River provided the awe-inspiring scene of Victoria Falls, and also the panic-inducing thrill of a whitewater rafting trip, complete with an unplanned swim with the crocodiles when their raft flipped over in the aptly named rapids, "The Terminator."

From Livingstone, it was a short drive and a small boat ride to get to Botswana, where they would explore the Chobe National Wildlife Refuge, home to 65,000 elephants, along with hippos, crocodiles, various breeds of antelope, giraffe, lions, zebras, baboons and many beautiful and unique birds, including the Lilac-Breasted Roller, the national bird of Botswana.

Highlights of their time at Chobe included a fishing trip and witnessing two lionesses stalking a herd of water buffalo.

A sunset cruise provided ample photo opportunities as herds of animals came to the river for an evening drink.

Then it was back to Livingstone to catch a bus to Monze. They took advantage of their lay-over to visit a lion sanctuary, where they learned about the lion breeding programs and got to walk with and pet young lions.

From Monze, it was a rough two-hour drive to Mwanza over roads that were so rutted that they had to occasionally get out and walk alongside the car. They unloaded the donated supplies and then settled into the village for the night.

The welcoming feast included freshly-butchered chickens, freshly-ground corn nshima and boiled cabbage, all cooked over an open flame.

The after-dinner conversation covered challenges in the local school, where typical classroom sizes are 100 and students go to school in shifts to allow them to do the needed work at home, to the local impacts of the slumping African economy.

After a night under the savannah stars, they got a better look at the village, with the one-room, thatch-covered huts made from hand-formed mud bricks, the stick-framed, grass-covered food storage areas and stick corrals for the livestock. They were entertained by a drum concert and soccer game, played with a ball made of plastic bags and twine.

It was time to return to Monze to catch the bus to Livingstone and, from there, the plane home. The long journey home left plenty of time for reflection -- reflection on the variety of the natural world, on the peaceful satisfaction that can come from a simple life, on the impacts that Americans have on the rest of the world, and on the joy of discovery shared with family.

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