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10 Things You’ve Fantasized About Doing In Africa That Are Real

10 Things You’ve Fantasized About Doing In Africa That Are Real

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If all you know about Africa is what you’ve seen in adventure films, you might have a pretty wild idea about some of the things you can do there. But your ideas might be doable. Here are 10 things you’ve fantasized about doing in Africa that are real.

huffingtonpost.com
huffingtonpost.com

Hang with a leopard on a beach

At the ISimangaliso Wetland Park in South Africa’s St. Lucia area of KwaZulu-Natal, you can witness eight different ecosystems. You can drive through dramatic mangrove forests and see rhinoceros and elephants interacting, but the most surreal thing you might spot is a leopard just relaxing on the sands of the wild beaches, according to HuffingtonPost.com.

highgate.co.za
highgate.co.za

 

Ride an Ostrich

Move aside camels — there’s a new large critter offering its back for transportation. At the Safari Ostrich Park in South Africa you can watch around 150 ostriches roam around and interact, but the coolest part according to HuffingtonPost.com, is that you can take a ride on an adult bird.

rontravel.com
rontravel.com

Swim with Penguins

Even though they have their own designated area of the beach at Boulders Beach, the penguins rarely follow the rules. Here, near one of the biggest penguin colonies in South Africa, you can find penguins sitting on your towel and rummaging through your snacks when you return from a dip in the ocean, says GoAfrica.about.com. And you can certainly swim next to them.

trekity.com
trekity.com

 

Ride a seriously luxurious train

These are the types of trains you’ve only heard of from your grandparents, or seen in “The Polar Express.” But according to GoAfrica.About.com, such luxurious trains still exist — like the Rovos Rail that runs through South Africa and up to Victoria Falls, serving passengers five-course meals and setting up overnight guests with full-sized bathtubs.

expertvagabond.com
expertvagabond.com

 

Kayak among crocodiles

If you’re feeling really brave, ThePlanetD.com tells us you can go kayaking just a few meters away from crocodiles by way of St. Lucia Kayak Safaris.

new24.com
new24.com

 

Crawl through caves

The Cango Caves in South Africa offer relaxed walking tours, but for the daring (and NOT claustrophobic!) you can go on the adventure tour, says ThePlanetd.com. This tour will seriously test your comfort with small spaces, having you crawl through extremely narrow passages.

weekendnotes.com
weekendnotes.com

 

Sandboard on old gold-mining sites

Johannesburg was once a major site for gold mining, and what’s left today are giant heaps of sand that you can sandboard down. Sandboarding is basically like snowboarding, but on sand, says Peregrineadventures.com.

toursift.com
toursift.com

Gorilla Trekking

At Bwindi Impenetrable Park in Uganda, you can do expert-level gorilla trekking. It might take hours, says Acacia-Africa.com, but it’s so worth it to watch these gorgeous creatures up close.

telegraph.co.uk
telegraph.co.uk

 

Watch sardines turn the ocean silver

Each year, thousands of people gather on the beaches of South Africa’s East Coast to see the annual sardine mass migration, says News.NationalGeographic.com. It may not sound glamorous, but the migration is so enormous, you can scoop up a handful of the tiny silver fish almost anywhere you stick your hand in the water.

sancara.org
sancara.org

 

Witness tribal life

At the Shakaland Zulu Cultural Village you can sit in on reenactments of traditional Zulu life that are so colorful and interesting, they look like movie sets! According to News.NationalGeographic.com, you can drink traditional Zulu wine, visit huts and listen to folklore.