University of California - Davis: Cape Town and Edeni Game Reserve - From City to Safari

This program introduces students to the literature, history, cinema and ecology of South Africa. We will study the phases of the country’s past: its pre-European history, colonial settlement, the apartheid and post-apartheid eras. The literature examines the themes of place, dislocation and change and includes works by Nobel prize winners Nadine Gordimer, J. M. Coetzee and Nelson Mandela. The last decade has witnessed a flowering of South African cinema, and we’ll watch a selection of films that address recent political and cultural changes. The course includes field trips to museums, places of historical interest, and botanical parks and nature reserves around Cape Town. The last week takes place at Edeni Bush Lodge, a private game reserve bordering Kruger National Park, where we will observe plants, birds and mammals in their natural habitats, including South Africa’s Big Five—lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, and buffalo.