Scenic Route Travels 
Chasing Lions, Sunsets, and Employment (in South Africa)
Last month, I touched down on the African continent for the first time ever for a family trip around South Africa. We were meeting my parents a short flight away from their new home in Angola for the chance to see the big five on safari, drink our way through world-renowned vineyards, climb mountains, and enjoy Cape Town all in one trip. And it definitely didn’t disappoint. Over the weeks we spent there, we clambered through the bush in our safari rover in pursuit of leopards, chased sunsets on the coastal highways, and ate like every meal was our last. And while there will be posts on all of those adventures in the next few weeks, for now I thought I’d share some photos and an update on what I’m looking forward to this fall.
After two weeks of roaming and eating our way around South Africa, it took me just about as long to recover and finally get around to the stuff on my to-do list, like finish unpacking and sort out the impressively blurry wildlife pictures from the keepers. That’s partially because its hard to take the time to look back when there is so much keeping your mind on the future- like, say, and a ticket to Alaska in a month with your name on it. Aside from staring a pride of lions in the eyes and being heckled by daredevil monkeys with serious pastry addictions, some equally terrifying and exciting things happened on our trip: I accepted a job in Seward, Alaska for three months with the National Park Service. And despite having to wrangle interviews to the northernmost American state from the southernmost tip of the African continent, it was perfect timing. It seems like less of an odd choice to move to a small, remote Alaskan town in the off-season of everything when you consider my inexplicable love of dramatic and challenging places (from tiny Bhutanese towns in the Himalayas to erratic Icelandic summers). If you need me in the next few weeks, I’ll be buying fleece-lined everything and saying goodbye to the pleasures of seeing the sun on a regular basis. In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite South African moments!
“The world’s big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.”
— John Muir
Scenic Route Travels 
Amazing, beautiful, majestic! Thanks for sharing your travels. John Muir has it right, for sure!
Gorgeous photos! Looking forward to reading more about your trip and also your new journey in Alaska
nat // dignifiable