Behind The Photo | Unusual Inspiration

There I was in a dimly lit sports bar in Cape Town sipping a beer and watching a cricket match on tv.

It was March 2016, and I could hardly believe that this trip, inspired two years earlier while wandering the faux-African streets of Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom, had come to fruition.

But it had, and the sun was setting on day one of a 13-day African adventure that would take me around the Cape of Good Hope, into a Swaziland classroom, and over Victoria Falls in a helicopter -- all triggered by the most mundane of curiosities – a new beer.

Having spent formative years in Florida, I visited Disney World countless times. And while I was enchanted by Epcot’s World Showcase, it didn’t motivate me to travel the world. I concluded each visit satisfied with the artificial streetscapes and the attempt-at-authentic cuisine.

Fast forward nearly 20 years and I was on my first visit to the Animal Kingdom. After the 90-minute wait and the 15-minute Disney-fied safari, we were wandering the faux-African streets headed for our next 90-minute line, when I spotted a vendor selling African beer.

You don’t have to twist my arm to try a new beer, and this seemed like a golden opportunity. After all I’d never seen an African beer on tap at any of my usual watering holes. But before I got in line for a sure-to-be-overpriced brew, I stopped, thought, and decided - if I am going to drink an African beer it would be in Africa.

That liquid motivation led me to that dimly lit Cape Town sports bar in 2016 to finally try an African beer.