OVER TWO DECADES OF POLITICAL CHANGE AND A BURGEONING LGBT SCENE MAKE SOUTH AFRICA A MUST FOR THE ADVENTUROUS QUEER TRAVELER. PHOTOS AND TEXT BY MATTHEW WEXLER It’s been nearly 20 hours in the air since I eft the US. My body is inknots, a dry metallic taste in my mouth from Xanax, Ambien and copious wine. The presidential election and subsequent Trump victory will have taken place dur- ing my absence. If | had known the results in advance, | might have packed enough underwear for ... well, the rest of my life. But ‘we are not the only ones to splin- ter in the face of freedom. South Africa's democratic government is a mere 24 years old ~ millen- nials, in other words. With that youthful, political ex- uberance comes centuries-old beauty. The sweeping topogra- phy provides a backdrop for the “big five" (leopard, buffalo, elephant, lion and rhinoceros), rolling hills dotted with award-winning vineyards and dramatic landscapes that rise from the Cape of Good Hope to the top of Table Mountain. Then there's the legacy of Nelson Mandela, which permeates throughout the country. It is a lens by which all of South Africa seems to be filtered, This fresh idea that humankind ~ an array of skin tones, sexual orientations, gender identities and socio- economic disparities — is just that. Human. —Seed “Tam an African. I owe my being to the Beal Eevee Maat Beell Coie the mountains and the glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the ever- changing seasons thatdéfine the face eer g et i eM uasn eaRobben Island This y F I luding “What happened in South Africa should never happen again.”