In May, a group of 15 to 20 alumni, faculty and retired faculty will travel to Cuba for a week. 

This is the second trip Southern Safari will take, having visited Italy last year. Dr. Chad Stebbins, director of the Institute of International Studies at Southern, calls Southern Safari “a travel club for alumni and community members.”

According to the trip itinerary, the group will take a closer look at “the path Cubans have taken since the Revolution and how that journey has shaped Cuban society and culture.” 

The trip will begin on May 15, and end on May 23. While in Cuba, the group will learn more about present day Cuba through daily trips and discussions in the cities of Havana, Las Terrazas and Matanzas. 

The group will take a walking tour of Havana, receive a history and culture lecture from an expert from the University of Havana, eat Cuban cuisine and explore local markets. 

In only one week, they will visit a school, a medical clinic, a farmer’s market, a community art project, the museum of the City of Havana, the biosphere reserve in Las Terrazas, an old French coffee plantation, Ernest Hemingway’s ranch, a cigar factory, a rum museum, an Afro Cuban cultural center, a scenic valley, the Museum of the Revolution and the modern art museum. 

In order to make the trip to Cuba possible, Southern Safari is working with an organization called Global Educational Facilitation, which creates international education programs like the people-to-people educational tour Southern Safari will be taking. 

To travel in Cuba, you “need to be a part of an organized group or activity and have a license to go,” said Stebbins, and people-to-people programs are one way to obtain a license. 

“Everyone loves to travel, but not everyone loves to travel alone or make their own arrangements, Stebbins said. 

The program costs $2,975. Anyone still interested in joining Southern Safari on this trip must submit an application online along with a $500 deposit by Sat., Jan. 30.