Located in the Kansai area of Honshu, the largest and most populated island in Japan, Kyoto serves as the capital of Kyoto Prefecture. As of 2020, the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it the ninth-most populous city in Japan. The city is home to more over half (56.8%) of the people in Kyoto Prefecture. With a population estimated at 3.8 million according to the census, the city serves as the cultural hub of the much larger Greater Kyoto metropolitan statistical region (MSA). Together with Osaka and Kobe, it is a component of the even larger Keihanshin metropolitan area. Emperor Kanmu selected Kyoto as the new location of Japan's imperial court in 794, making it one of the country's oldest cities. Heian-kyō, the original city, was laid out according to traditional Chinese feng shui, taking inspiration from the ancient Chinese cities of Chang'an and Luoyang. Up until 1869, Japan's emperors governed from Kyoto for the next eleven centuries. Following the Meiji Restoration, Tokyo replaced Kyoto as the capital. In 1889, the present-day city of Kyoto was created. The city's prewar cultural legacy has mostly survived because it was spared from widespread destruction during World War II. Kyoto is a popular tourist destination and is regarded as Japan's cultural center. The city is home to the national government's agency for cultural affairs. Many Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, palaces, and gardens may be found there; some of these have been named UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Kyoto is a popular tourist destination because of its traditional festivals, which have been celebrated for more than a millennium.The Aoi Matsuri on May 15 is the first. The Gion Matsuri, one of Japan's three main festivals, takes place two months later in July and ends with a huge procession on July 17. In order to guide the spirits home, Kyoto celebrates the Bon Festival with the Gozan no Okuribi, which involves setting fires on mountains (August 16). The Festival of the Ages, or Jidai Matsuri, is held on October 22 to honor Kyoto's rich history.

Covering 19,623 km2 (7,576 sq mi), Kruger National Park is located in the northeastern South African provinces of Mpumalanga and Limpopo. It stretches 65 km (40 mi) from east to west and 360 km (220 mi) from north to south. Skukuza is home to the administrative headquarters. The South African Republic's government first protected portions of the park in 1898, and in 1926 it was designated as the country's first national park. It is a part of the biosphere reserve known as the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere. Kruger National Park is home to all five of the big game creatures and boasts 147 species of large mammals, more than any other game reserve in Africa. Webcams have been installed to watch the wildlife. There are believed to be just 400 African wild dog packs in all of South Africa, and Kruger is home to packs of these endangered animals. There is a reasonably consistent group of bird species from the park's southern to central regions, but the mopane-dominated flatlands north of the Olifants show a fall in richness.The larger birds of prey, on the other hand, breed during the dry winter, when their prey is most exposed, whereas the majority of species breed during the summer, when rainfall sustain the majority of vegetable and animal food. In 1918, Kruger National Park was declared, and a commission was formed to oversee its development and planning. A government officer named Johannes Andries (Dries) de Ridder served as the commission's first secretary. After 44 years in charge of the Kruger Park, Warden James Stevenson-Hamilton retired on April 30, 1946. Colonel J. A. B. Sandenbergh of the South African Air Force took his post. The government forcibly removed the Makuleke people from the northern portion of the park in 1969, and approximately 1500 of them were relocated to territory in the south so that their original tribal lands could be incorporated into the larger Kruger National Park. The famed Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, and buffalo) are among the remarkably diverse species that makes Kruger National Park famous. The park, which spans about two million hectares, draws tourists from all around the world with its unmatched wildlife viewing opportunities.