Four Years in Paradise

It's been four years since we started the process of moving to South Africa. Almost Four Years in Paradise. And now our Great Migration to Africa is coming to an end.

But we're not returning to the USA quite yet. We are off to our next adventure in ...

Singapore!

Yep, we are on the move again. A new city and a new continent! I have mixed feelings about it actually. I have really enjoyed our time here in Africa. As a matter of fact I've loved it! And I haven't seen or done nearly everything I wanted to do while we were living here. There are still some 550 wine estates alone that we haven't visited! And I never made it to Ethiopia or Madagascar as I'd hoped. (But guess what? They will still be here for a return visit.)

But we have had some incredible experiences and exciting adventures. We have seen many natural wonders and marvelous forces of nature and we've had up-close and personal moments with rhinos, penguins, meerkats, nesting turtles, gorillas and sharks. We have explored the heavens above and crawled deep below the earth. We have challenged ourselves in the sky, on the land and in the sea. We have scaled a few hills and high mountains, but we still know our limits!

This has been a unique time to be living in South Africa too. In Johannesburg, we have seen first-hand the amazing renaissance happening right now in the Joburg CBD and while living in Cape Town, we have seen it bloom as a world class design and tourist destination. We have been here for so many important historical events like the passing of Nelson Mandela and the discovery of Homo naledi as well as historic cultural events such as Trevor Noah taking over the Daily Show in the USA and the first ever performances in South Africa by Bruce Springsteen and Dave Matthews.

We have really tried to "dig" into the diverse cultural landscape here, whether it be Ndebele, Zulu, Akrikaner, Cape Malay, Indian, English, Khomani San, or even the lost culture of Mapungubwe. We have met so many inspirational, amazing and  lovely people along the way and even made dear friends. It will be sad to say goodbye but saying au revoir is still better than if we hadn't made their acquaintances altogether, n'est-ce pas?  (I think so.) We have expanded our pan-African palate and shown some South Africans how it's done where we hail from. We have tried to fit in ... but we know who we are! And there was just enough art, music, theatre and dance to keep this self-professed culture whore relatively satisfied.

kangaroos!

wombat!

I will especially miss having the African bush at our doorstop. We will be trading in our beloved safaris to see the African Big Five - Rhinos, Lions, Cape Buffalo, Elephants and Leopards - for new safaris to see what I am calling the Asian Big Five plus Orangutans - Sumatran Rhinos, Tigers, Water Buffalo, Asian Elephants, Snow Leopards plus Orangutans. Living in Africa has certainly changed me and I hope I've changed Africa a little for the better with my conservation volunteering.

Vince in Phuket

But the good news is there is still much of Asia left for us to explore. Vince's beat will stretch from India in the west to Japan in the east, China in the north to New Zealand in the south. We will get a deeper understanding of the cultures in the parts of Asia we have already visited and there are plenty of new destinations to explore. (For instance, I have always wanted to go to Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Borneo - all a stone's throw from Singapore.)

Not to mention some of the best scuba diving in the world! (Good thing Vince got all his paperwork in order for the Sardine Run in June and Zanzibar in September.) For me, Asia has whales! And Singapore is only a Pacific Ocean away from our sons on the west coast of the United States with plenty of islands in between for us to meet up for holidays. Christmas in Hawaii next year?


Blogging has been a great experience and the results will serve as a comprehensive journal of our time here in Africa. But I will definitely not be blogging from my new digs in Singapore. For one thing, just about the time I am settled in Singapore I am committed to embark on a new blog where I will chronicle my Antarctica adventure as part of the 2041 Foundation's International Antarctic Expedition in March.

And secondly, I won't need it. I started The Great Wildebeest Migration blog to help me manage my own feelings about pulling up stakes and moving to the other side of the world far away from family, friends and the familiar. I am not in the same place moving from South Africa to Singapore, both literally and figuratively. So I will wind this blog down over the next couple of months and say good-bye to blogging about my expat adventures as well as living in South Africa!

We're off on our next adventure on the "Road to Singapore."