"Can you please sign your passport?" the TSA official asked, handing it back to me with a pen. I chuckled, thinking that it was an appropriate start to this trip – I had not even left New York before I'd made it very clear that I was a newbie to international travel. Yes, I've been to all the lower 48 states and parts of southern Canada; yes, I have hiked more than 20,000 miles in, around, and across these regions; and, yes, I was named "Adventurer" of the Year by National Geographic Adventure in 2007 – but this trip to South Africa was indeed going to be a new experience for me.

I boarded the daily 17-hour South African Airways flight from JFK to Johannesburg. It departs in the evening, stops in Senegal, and arrives in Johannesburg around 5pm local time (11am East Coast time), which may make it difficult to fall asleep the first night. [Hint: Fall asleep as soon as you can on the plane, and then stay awake until you reach Jo-burg.]

Most flights are uneventful, and besides one passenger suffering a medical emergency immediately prior to take-off, this one was too. (The fate of the passenger is unknown; a stroke was suspected. The plane returned to the gate, emergency crews removed the passenger, and then we took off.) Must say, I thoroughly enjoyed the guilty pleasures of business class travel, including the bottomless glass of wine, the post-dinner and post-lunch cheese plate, and the seat that leaned completely flat. On domestic flights I usually stare out the window and dream up new trips, but the view during an overseas flight is sadly monotonous – even if there were some exciting 50-foot swells on the Atlantic, you can't see them from 40,000 feet up.

In this first blog I'd like to address the question "What drew me to South Africa for my first international trip?" First off, I know very little about the country – my history classes virtually ignored it, and so too does the American media – and I strongly feel that there's no better way to learn than through personal experience. Second, I was drawn to both the romance and the risk of traveling through Africa – while I hoped to see lions on a hunt and to interact with locals in remote bush villages, I was also cognizant of the crime, poverty, and political instability that seems to be the only news from that continent. This is definitely not Europe or Down Under; however, it's also not Zimbabwe or the Ivory Coast – it is one of the wealthiest, most advanced, and most stable countries in Africa, and I was about to see it for myself.

It is difficult – actually, I'd say impossible – to understand modern-day South Africa without understanding apartheid. And so today I spent the day learning about it: In addition to the Museum of Africa, I visited the Apartheid Museum, and the Hector Pieterson Memorial, and took a tour of Soweto, the Jo-burg township where violent uprisings against apartheid occurred in the 1970's and 1980's.

For extensive information about apartheid, visit the Wikipedia page. Apartheid was a legalized system of racial segregation that was formally implemented in 1948 by the Afrikaner-dominated National Party. (An Afrikaner is a white South African, usually of Dutch or British descent.) Apartheid seems to have been motivated by the desire to retain power – ten percent of the population wanted control of all the wealth and the entire government.

Apartheid was very restrictive for non-white populations (i.e. blacks, Indians, and "colored" or mixed race): they were limited in where they could live, travel, work, receive medical care, and be educated; no inter-racial marriage was permitted and no large groups could gather. Liberation movements and civil uprisings were forcefully suppressed. It was an unacceptable system by Western standards. Apartheid was phased out starting in 1990 after a combination of civil violence and international political pressure. Nelson Mandela became the first democratically elected president, in 1994, after having spent 27 years in prison. Mandela was succeeded by current President Thabo Mbeki in 1999.

The South Africans in my tour group seemed pleased with the amount of progress that has been made since 1990 – they readily acknowledge past wrongdoings and seem very willing and able to look beyond racial differences. However, like in most instances of past wrongdoing against certain groups, it will take many generations to offset the effects of a half-century of sub-standard education and health care, underdeveloped energy and transportation infrastructure, uninspired ambitions and dreams, and a great deal of other baggage.

It was a heavy day indeed, but a great introduction into this country.

A 60-minute drive from our hotel (the Melrose Arch, a swanky place with the feel of a nightclub and with creative touches like rubber ducks in the bathtub) took us out of Jo-burg, beyond its sprawling townships and dilapidated shanty towns, past enormous mine dumps, and into a landscape that looked more National Geographic-like than anything I had seen so far: vast, uninhabited, harvest-yellow grasslands pocketed by an occasional tree or bush. We had arrived at the Cradle of Humankind, one of South Africa's eight(!) World Heritage Sites.

Our first destination was the Sterkfontein Caves, followed by Maropeng. Sterkfontein was made famous by the discovery of Mrs. Ples and Little Foot, the latter of which is still being excavated. The tour began with an excellent interpretive room and then proceeded into the limestone cave, which is a neat place even outside of its anthropological significance. Maropeng was more interpretive, less hands-on; but the theme park-like rides and offerings (including a 3-minute raft ride through an iridescent blue tunnel and past steam vents that is supposed to give the impression of descending through time to the beginning of the earth) made it among the more fun museums I have been to.

Earlier in the evening I squeezed in my first run since I arrived. (I usually run every day for 1-2 hours for fitness and mental health.) Perception is that personal safety is a near-constant concern in South Africa and I've been frustrated by restrictions on my independence and mobility. As anywhere, common sense prevails: use metered taxis only; do not venture into questionable areas alone; etc. The lack of physical activity combined with a continuous string of excellent meals could spell trouble after being here for 3 weeks…

Durban is South Africa's version of Miami Beach (beautiful beach, towering ocean-front hotels, and nighttime techno beats), minus some of the bling, most of the plastic, and all of the Latin food (here you will be amazed by the exceptional Indian food!). The city sits on the bath-water-warm Indian Ocean, and unless you are from the Southeast or unless you visit during the South African winter you may find Durban's heat and humidity moderately uncomfortable. If that's the case, you can always help the local economy by taking up residence in the air-conditioned Suncoast Casino – an art deco style hotel very reminiscent of Miami.

The demographics in Durban are notably different than in Jo-burg – it houses the largest Indian population outside of India. Indians were brought over by the British in the latter 19th century to man the sugarcane fields, and their influence is visible in the city's architecture (lots of mosques), skin colors, and cuisine. (Side note: You know that scene from "Along Came Polly" when Ben Stiller agrees to go the Moroccan restaurant and reacts horribly to the spicy food? Yeah, that's me.)

The combination of warm shark-infested waters and throngs of scantily clad beach-goers prompted the installation of shark nets off the coastline in the 1940's. The nets are checked on a daily basis to ensure the safety of the bathers, and a tour of the nets is available through the Natal Sharks Board. It was interesting to learn more about this aspect of daily life in Durban, but the trip is more enjoyable for its views of an orange sun rising above the Indian Ocean and of the city panorama. But perhaps the most remarkable observation of the morning was the thick blanket of brown smog that quickly engulfed the city and the surrounding hillsides once the daily polluting rituals began: people driving to work, tankers preparing to leave port, smelters cranking up, etc. It was a gloomy reminder of the scale of the world's challenge to transition to environmentally sustainable development.

Today was the day I was cut loose and sent north to Drakensberg National Park, which borders the eastern boundary with the inland kingdom of Lesotho and which was designated as another World Heritage Site because of its unique ecology. The 250-kilometer 3-hour drive to the Cathedral Peak Hotel was long but remarkable – Durban's dirty sprawl slowly faded into pristine savannah, small farms (selling 10 avocados for $1.50), and bush villages. During the last 15 miles through the Umlambonja Valley we passed rural villages: huts with thatched roofs and no running water, and women washing blankets in the river. Even the driver described this place as "remote," and suggested that we were now in "the real Africa," away from the West-like cities.

Now just 1.5 months from the shortest day of the year (June 21st), daylight is at a premium in the Southern Hemisphere – it's possible to see without artificial light from about 6am to 6pm, depending on where you are in the country. I headed out for a run at 2:45pm, wearing shorts and a t-shirt and carrying just a 20-oz bottle, thinking that I had ample time for a 15-mile loop on the park's trail system. The run quickly got exciting, as I jumped over a puff adder snake within the first 10 minutes. (Puff adders are one of South Africa's three deadly snakes, along with the black mamba and the spitting cobra. Its venom is necrotic, meaning that it attacks body tissue. An internet search for "puff adder bite" images reveals some terrifying shots. I was making good time when I reached the Contour Trail but the trail conditions deteriorated thereafter and my pace slowed significantly due to brushy gullies and razor-edged grass that hindered forward movement and ripped at my skin. (Later I would be told that the Drakensberg is managed as a wilderness park and thus there is only light trail maintenance.) I reached the last trail junction with 30 minutes of daylight left and 4 miles to go, quite convinced that I would need to wait until a quarter-moon arose after midnight in order to make it back to the hotel. Thankfully I made better progress than I thought I would – there was a half-mile-long tunnel of 8-foot-high riparian grass early on, but the trail improved as I got closer to the hotel, which offset the fact I couldn't see any detail in the trail by the end. I stumbled into the hotel lobby to sign back in at the hiker's log. The receptionist, slightly stunned by my bloodied legs, quill-covered shirt (from some tree that I ran into), and sweat-encrusted face, smugly asked, "And where have you been?"

The breakfast buffet spread at the Cathedral Peak Hotel was a perfect pre-day-hike meal: eggs, sausage, home fries and hash browns, yogurt and granola, and a better selection of fresh fruit than you'll find at a Whole Foods: kiwi, guava, mango, pineapple, honeydew melon, apricots, litchi, etc. – I found myself passing over the grapes, bananas, and apples because it almost seemed like peasant food. Maybe it's South Africa, or maybe it's the hotels I've been staying at, but fantastic breakfasts seem standard here.

My objective for the day was Cathedral Peak, a beautiful 9,856-foot spire that involves a 5,000-foot climb and some Class 3 scrambling near the summit that becomes frightful when wet, as it was today. The Hotel has two guided climbs per week up Cathedral, which would help to eliminate route-finding issues and to minimize scrambling concerns (since the guides rope the difficult sections.). On the ascent I took a more roundabout route, up past Baboon Rock, in order to get better views along the grassy trail-less ridgeline; and then descended via the standard Orange Peel Trail to arrive back at the hotel about 7.5 hours later. (The recommended time is 10-12 hours.)

The Drakensberg is among the most amazing places I've even seen in all of my travels, and is unquestionably my favorite place in South Africa so far. The 'Berg is the remnant of an ancient African plateau that has been slowly eroded away. Its lower half, or the Little Bergs, are a series of sandstone layers that form gradual steps to the bottom of the Upper Berg, which is one thick layer of basalt that was deposited after an ancient volcanic eruption. The 'Berg is not comparable to anything in the US – the Grand Canyon's sedimentary layers and impassable cliff bands are similar, but the Bergs are cloaked in thick green grasses, have more perennial water sources, and have baboons instead of gawking tourists. What an impressive place!

Last night over dinner I planned today's outing, with help from Craig, the General Manager of Cathedral Peak Hotel who has been hiking in the 'Berg for at least 20 years. He highly recommended that I stay out overnight and camp at Twins Cave, one of many caves in the area that is popular with backpackers (with "popular" being relative – more likely than not, you'll have it to yourself). Paintings by Zulu tribesmen are found in many of these caves; some date back thousands of years while others depict more recent events, like the arrival in 1835 of Captain Allen Francis Gardiner, who was the first white man to explore the area.

My route followed the Umlambonja River to its headwaters, which originate in a deep canyon below Umlambonja Pass. There are only a handful of trekking passes in the 'Berg – like the Grand Canyon's Red Wall, the basaltic Upper Berg is impassable except for via a few steep and deep canyons. The trail started easily enough: day-hike traffic from the hotel has created an obvious path. I picked up the Contour Trail again for a few miles in order to bypass a boulder-hopping section in the river bed, and once I returned to the river the real hiking began. The trail deteriorated into a glorified game trail: it often faded, became braided, or led to dead ends; there were wash-outs and landslides; the brush was so thick that even I wore pants, which never happens in temperatures <40 degrees F; and the section just below the pass was so steep that I had to wonder whether I was in fact following a game trail, since hikers would never intentionally subject themselves to such grades.

The hard work was over once I reached the pass. Atop the escarpment are broad, grassy, rolling hills and gentle drainages that reminded me of the alpine plateaus in the South San Juan Wilderness of Colorado. I had another 2 hours of daylight to spare, so I hiked along the edge of the escarpment and watched the shadows grow and eventually disappear.

Twins Cave was a very cool experience. It is not really a "cave", but more of an under-cut in the rock just below the escarpment rim. It would offer excellent protection in the event of a rain or thunderstorm, which apparently is common during the summer months; but it's open enough to not trigger claustrophobia. It was dark by 6pm, and after some dinner of biscuits and biltong (South Africa's version of beef jerky, and man, is it good!) I busted out my Paul Theroux book to read by headlamp, but put it down after a few pages and passed out. My dreams that night often incorporated the 'drip, drip, drip' of the nearby seep spring – I was pleasantly surprised to find in the morning that I had not wet my sleeping bag.