Out of Africa

The first “walk” I took was in Africa. I thought it would be interesting to view this part of the world because like many other places in the world, I don’t know much about it. In this tour I learned more about the culture of the area. I learned many things about the clothing, lifestyle, the animals and much more. There is one section of the tour that I found upsetting. One section was children walking with a tourist in Ethiopia. Some of the children which could not have been older than 13 were walking around with weapons. The caption stated that this is due to the fact that many areas are in danger from others. I also learned that having weapons is normal for the people in Ethiopia for survival. I find this to be sad because many of these traveling groups may harm others for no specific reason. Stepping away from the disturbing images I found other aspects of Africa to be very interesting. Towards the end of the milestones there were images of the boats traveling the Red Sea with one boat carrying 8,000 sheep, 855 camels and 24 humans. This was a very interesting trip to me because I learned the hardships of the people in Africa’s lifestyle along with the geography and wildlife that inhabits it.

The Middle Kingdom

Next I chose to explore the Middle Kingdom. This chapter is still in progress however, it seemed really interesting to visit. This walk takes place in China and one area I really enjoyed was the Gaoligong Mountains in Yunnan, China. This was a really beautiful place to visit as this area is home to a variety of wildlife. This region contains almost 700 species of animals and 1700 different insects. It is even said that scientists find new species of plant life every year in this location. This was very fascinating to me because I always thought China was too overpopulated and had no room for forests to exists. This was likely due to the fact that I have only seen large cities in China with efficiency housing.

The Holy Lands

The last place I decided to tour was the Holy Lands. The Holy Lands refer to the area in between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River. These lands are home to many religions like Judaism, Christianity, Islam. I assumed I would see lots of fighting over the region and one article taught me something about all the chaos. There is a wall built Bethlehem often called the “Separation Barrier”. This wall is to keep the violence to a minimum and stands at a tall 26 feet. Apparently it is large enough to be seen from a satellite. I also viewed a section named “Aftertaste” that was about the culture of the women in Nablus. Bait al Karama is where dozens of women gather in a certain structure and participate in activities. These activities include cooking and teaching others how to cook. I thought this was a very neat change of pace and taught me something new about an unfamiliar group of people.