From New York City to Johannesburg South Africa. Well, we finally made it to Johannesburg, South Africa. Our flight was very long. We had a 3-hour delay at the airport in Senegal. Senegal is a country in West Africa. By the time we arrived, it was more than a full day later because of the time change.

Once we got off the plane in South Africa, we had to show our passports to an immigration officer. We had visas placed in our passports, and this will allow us to stay in the country for up to 90 days.

We collected our luggage and met our driver Don. He was waiting for us with a sign that said ‘Project Explorer.’ Don drove us to the Southern Sun Grayston hotel. The hotel has a pool, a gym, and even a steam room. It is a nice place to relax after our long journey.

My roommate on this adventure is Meredith. She is our photographer. My job on this trip is to be your on-camera tour guide. I am joined by two other guides: Christopher and Ilana. Our team is led by Jenny, who is the director. The director makes sure the video looks and sounds good.

Before we begin exploring South Africa, we are all trying to learn to speak some of the local languages. South Africa is a very diverse country. There are 11 official languages in South Africa. So, we decided to learn the most spoken ones: Xhosa, Zulu, and Afrikaans.

isiXhosa and isiZulu have several ‘click’ sounds that are made when speaking them.

I am very proud that I know how to say ‘Hello’ and ‘Thank You’ in all three languages.

Be sure to try speaking these languages aloud, and you’ll see why we all had some trouble at first!

Tomorrow, we begin our journey!

Keep going: Begin exploring Johannesburg!

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