Help Others as You Travel

edited by Nan Frient

As TV viewers saw on Oprah's Big Give, it does not take a lot to make a difference in someone's life. The Cultural Explorer, a San Francisco-based cultural and philanthropic tour company, shows travelers how to help others as they travel. The Cultural Explorer staff has designed a trip and identified several areas in South Africa where travelers can make an impact in just two short weeks.

Called Making a Difference - South Africa, this trip offers travelers the opportunity to work with Zulu country schools to establish computer centers and much-needed libraries. Travelers meet the principals, teachers and students and their parents while they explore the scenic beauty of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Several small villages in Didima Valley are still without electricity, even though electrical power lines are up along the road. Travelers will team up and brainstorm to help these Zulu people brighten their homes and communities. Travelers will meet with the chief, the counselor and the mayor of these villages.

Making a Difference - South Africa travelers will also meet with a Sangoma (traditional healer) along the Garden Route in the Knysna Township, visit projects helping disadvantaged women develop much-needed work skills, experience life in the townships and take a group of township students out to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was once imprisoned.

Cultural Explorer travelers will hike or walk the majestic Drakensberg Mountains, experience the vast Karoo, stay on a sheep farm, relax on Indian Ocean beaches, shop Cape Town, visit the African jackass penguins and marvel at the beauty of Cape Point at the southern tip of South Africa.

Upcoming tours will take place from September 6 to September 20, 2008; February 14 to February 28, 2009; and October 3 to October 17, 2009.