Excursions

Your Global PACT program would not be complete without the unique experiences of our expert speakers and excursions. Here is a sampling of the people and places you'll see while you're in South Africa!

National Arts Festival

During Global PACT, the National Arts Festival brings tens of thousands of people to Grahamstown for a great cultural experience. A mosaic of people will resemble the colorful art around you, creating an opportunity to experience art as it reflects life. Dance to Nigerian drummers, watch demonstrations of Ghanaian stool carving, hear readings by internationally renowned South African poets, or sit under the stars and listen to African jazz. All of Africa comes to Grahamstown for the festival. During the ten days of the festival, the night scene really comes alive. The bars and clubs are crawling with students who look forward to the event and the parties it inspires each year. With all of this excitement, it’s almost certain you won’t make it to sleep!

Nongovernmental Organization Visits

During the program, we will visit nongovernmental organizations.  One we have visited in the past is Umthathi, an education and training organisation whose mission is to improve household health through increasing access to food, making effective and sustainable use of available resources and developing the skills necessary for improved livelihoods and self sufficiency in rural and peri-urban areas in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

Robben Island

During apartheid, Robben Island became internationally known for its institutional brutality. The duty of those who ran the Island and its prison was to isolate opponents of apartheid and to crush their morale. Some freedom fighters spent more than a quarter of a century in prison for their beliefs.

Those imprisoned on the Island succeeded on a psychological and political level in turning a prison 'hell-hole' into a symbol of freedom and personal liberation. Robben Island came to symbolize, not only for South Africa and the African continent, but also for the entire world, the triumph of the human spirit over enormous hardship and adversity.

Cape Point

Where do the two oceans meet? And why is it called "the Cape of Good Hope"? Join us on a journey of discovery as we explore the splendour of the Cape Peninsula. We follow the Atlantic Seaboard, past Clifton & Camps Bay to the fishing hamlet of Hout Bay for an optional boat cruise to Duiker Island to see thousands of Cape Fur Seals in their natural habitat. We continue along the scenic Chapman's Peak Drive to Simon's Town to meet up with a colony of rare Jackass Penguins at Boulders Beach.

You would have noticed the bicycles behind the bus by now! Once inside the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, we swap four wheels for two to get some fresh air into our lungs and to build up a healthy appetite.

Our legendary scrumptious picnic lunch will then be served somewhere in the reserve... maybe at one of the stunning beaches! Are you brave enough to challenge the Atlantic?

After lunch we hike to the top lighthouse at Cape Point and then to the Cape of Good Hope. Both hikes offer breathtaking vistas and real fresh air!