Our Traveling Companions!

It was wonderful we were able to share this adventure with friends from our RV park in Indio, California! We had a great time together! We met up with our friends in Johannesburg for three days and then traveled on to Zulu Nyala for our 6 day photo safari.

Ted and Karen from Greenwood Village, Colorado

Verdi and Hal - full time in their motorhome now (but Fort Worth was their home for awhile!!!)

Pat and Denis from northern California

The guys: Ted, Denis, Hal, and Bob

The girls: Verdi, Pat, Karen, and me

Loaded up in the safari vehicle with Cindy and Shane (from Denver, Colorado) (If you can't see Bob, he is up in the front passenger seat!)

Chris, our ranger, and the girls. Chris was younger than my sons, so we all laughed that this was CHRIS WITH HIS COUGARS!!!

After a fun day on the safari drive, we share lunch and marvel at all we have been blessed to experience (with a beautiful view of the 3,000 acres of Zulu Nyala in the background)!!!

• Our last evening together, we had cocktails at dusk out on the safari drive!!!

What a Difference a Week Makes!

Wow! Last Sunday Bob and I were in Cape Town visiting missionary friends, Mike and Kalyn. Today, a week later, we are back in Dallas worshipping at our home congregation. Last week we saw how many people live in poverty in the townships of South Africa, today we are in the comforts of our own home with so many conveniences and luxuries. It is hard to believe we are bless with so much here in the United States - something we . . . I, take for granted! Until you see what life is like in other parts of the world, you . . . ME, forget how great we have it. Mike and Kalyn were kind enough to pick Bob and me up at our hotel and then drive us out to where they live and work. They drove us through the township where they minister to the people living there. It was a little intimidating being the only four white people among the 40,000 people that live in that small area - we kinda' stuck out like a sore thumb! Mike and Kalyn have made a huge impact on the lives of some of the people they have been able to form relationships with. They are showing some of these people who Jesus is and it is making a difference in their lives. I hope to be more thankful for how blessed we are in this nation, and to be willing to share the love of Jesus more openly with others!

 Bob and me with our friends, Kalyn and Mike.

The township of Masiphumelele - 40,000 people live in this very small area in homes made of sheet metal, cardboard, and other scrap materials.

Tough living conditions - trash piled in the street.

I really hated to take too many pictures in this area, I just took some from inside the car as we drove through the township. It is quite a rough life and existence here, but Mike and Kalyn are serving this area with a heart for Jesus. They are doing a remarkable work here!

The South African people are very musically minded and gifted. Kalyn is teaching music and working with some children's choirs as she works to share the Lord with them

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Bob and I along the shoreline near Mike and Kalyn's home. A beautiful area!!!

Some of the Smaller Creatures!

Everyone wants to see the "big five", but there are so many other interesting critters out there! Our rangers were excellent in showing us all the little things that we would have missed on our own.

One thing I found intriguing was the Dung Beetle!!! One day our ranger, Chris, picked up something and turned to me and said hold out your hand! I held out my hands and he put this black beetle on me!!! Yuckie!!!! I immediately dropped it and Chris picked it back up and made me hold it again! He explained that the male dung beetle rolls some animal poop up in a ball, then the female lays her eggs in the dung and the larvae feeds on the dung while it is growing. It seemed like a very unusual method of reproducing to me, but the funny thing is they are very protective of this little critter! There were road signs around that we found that read: CAUTION: Dung Beetles Have Right of Way. I thought this was almost a joke, but it is not; if you see a dung beetle in the road, you are suppose to avoid running over it!

I am smiling, but I am really freaking out with this dung beetle on me!!! What I won't do for a picture!!! (And yes, I did wash my hands REALLY good when we got back!!!)

The dung beetle starting to roll up some "poop"!!! These balls can get to be as large as a grapefruit!

Thought this was a joke, but it is not!

Look at this beautiful guy!!! Blue-headed Agama Lizard. I saw him running across the parking lot at the lodge. No one else was around, but I had to CREEP up on him slowly to get near him, I felt pretty fortunate to actually see him!

God shows how creative he is in all of nature! Hard to believe there is a lizard that is so blue and yellow!

Dwarf Mongoose. These were the cutest little guys poking their heads up and down out of their holes.

Liam (our ranger at Sabi Sands) finds a chameleon in a tree.

Birds

Our rangers not only knew EVERYTHING about the big animals, they also knew a lot about birds, so whenever they spotted something, they would point them out to us! Bob was not that interested in the birds, but I thought it was quite fascinating! Maybe I should think about bird watching as a new hobby!!!

Vulture - huge wing span - that's why they are usually seen in trees like in the picture below. They need plenty of room to open their wings to get airborne quickly .

Two Fish Eagles

I love my camera!!! Thought this was a great shot of the eagle in flight.

Oops! I can't remember the name of this bird, but it has a yellow (orange ?) eye and the most beautiful iridescent blue feathers! How amazing is that???

Horn bill (?) We had stopped for a morning coffee break and this bird was sitting in a tree and interested in the snacks we were having. Our spotter, Mamps, took a piece of bread up to the tree and offered it to the bird. The bird got the bread, but Mamps tried to touch him, and the bird bit him with his big bill! Mamps jumped and was shocked at the bird's aggression - we all got a big kick out of it!

 

   

Lions and Leopards!!!

The "Big Five" consists of elephants, rhinos, cape buffalo, lions, and leopards! We did not get to see lions and leopards at Zulu Nyala, so we went to a second game preserve near Kruger National Park up by the Mozambique border. We stayed at Simbambili Game Lodge in Sabi Sands for three days. We were able to find lions during our first evening drive. We came upon four female lions (probably all sisters). Our "spotter" had to use his high powered spot light to shine on them, so I did not get the pictures I was wanting, but in some ways, they were a little more interesting this way! Hard to believe we were right out there in the dark WITH LIONS!!!

These lions were on the prowl for dinner -- I was just hoping I was NOT it when this female lion passed right beside our vehicle!!!

This is not a good sign: lion showing its FANGS as it passes by!!!

These two "sisters" were so cute! We saw one of the lions crouch down in the grass like she was hiding, while her sister was walking towards her. The lion walking did not see the one in the grass, even from about 5 feet away. All of a sudden the lion hiding jumped out of the grass and scared the other one! You could just imagine the surprised lion saying "don't ever do that again - you scared me to death"!!! They snuggled and jumped all over each other and it was such a sweet moment and one we were fortunate to witness! I just LOVED this!

We did not dare make a sound, move a toe, or bat an eyelash while we were this close to the lions - we were pretty much frozen in fear for a few minutes!!! What an experience!!!

The Leopard - What a Beautiful Animal!

This mother leopard was a lot of fun to watch! She was teaching her young cub and being very protective of her.

And this baby leopard looked as cute and sweet as a little baby kitty!

This is a video - click on the arrow on the left to play (or in the center of picture). Very cute interaction between the momma leopard and her cub!!! So amazing to see!

Nursery Time in the Wilds of Africa

We were in South Africa at their spring time. A lot of animals give birth year round, but seemed like we  saw so many newborns. It was quite amazing and the sweetest thing to see them with their mommas!

Our female cheetah with her three little cubs again! One of her cub had been killed (probably eaten). We watched this momma hunting for food the whole week we were in Zulu Nyala. We kind of "bonded" with her and we were pulling for her to make a kill, so her little ones would not starve to death.

A very young giraffe (maybe 6 weeks old). Loved seeing this little one laying in the grass.

I really wanted to see a hyena, unfortunately the only one we ever saw was asleep with her baby suckling by her side. The baby hyena is on the right and is the darker color.

My VERY FAVORITE was this newborn elephant. He was so tiny (well . . . comparatively!!!) It was probably just a day or two old and already walking and following the herd. 

This young rhino with its mother hardly qualifies as a newborn, but it was bashful and always stayed on the far side of us under the protection of its humongous mother!!!

This was another awesome sight! A mother leopard and her young cub!!! They were both so beautiful! The young cub would do everything the mother did! She was teaching him well!

Can It Get Any Better Than This???

Day 3! We have had two of the most incredible first two days already!!! I can't imagine anything being MORE fun, or AS exciting, as our day 1 and day 2! We strike off early with everyone watching and looking! By now, we are starting to understand what a GREAT guide we have in Chris! He is amazing in how he locates the wild game and then positions us for the best advantage to get pictures. Today's highlight is finding the large elephants at Zulu Nyala. At the start of the day, Chris told us to remain calm when an elephant approaches as they will throw their ears out to make themselves look big and impressive (ha! that really isn't necessary as we are shocked at their immense size already!!!) He said elephants are capable of pushing a vehicle over with their bodies so DO NOT touch them! (Are you kidding me??? They are going to be THAT close???) Oh yeah, we have the most up close and personal experiences today with the elephants!

Here's the big, bad boy snorting and slinging dirt as he comes around the corner at us!!! Yikes!!!

This is the moment when he throws his ears out to let us know who's boss out here!!! He actually got so close he bumped the front of the vehicle and Chris had to "talk him down". Once again, my heart is pounding and I'm not sure we should be doing this!!!

I hesitated to put this picture in, but he was literally IN OUR FACE!!! He is SO CLOSE to us! I was on the far side of the vehicle and I could not zoom out far enough on my camera.

This big tusked guy had just wet himself down with mud to keep the sun off his hide.

Two large tusked elephants wallering in the mud puddle. It was fascinating seeing them throw this mud up on themselves.

Well, I could show you several DOZEN more amazing pictures of the elephants, but it takes so long to upload the photos, I MUST move on!!!

Here are some other animals that need their time on the blog!!!

We saw some massive size rhinos! They have poor eyesight and usually move pretty slow (however, this one was moving along pretty good right here). They are more interested in their grazing of grass and not us!!! Whew!!!

This male cape buffalo does NOT look like he has his"happy face" on! He has been kicked out of the herd; a younger male has probably taken his place, so this is NO TIME to mess with him! Cape buffalo are the number one most dangerous animals of the wild game in Africa. They give no warning if they are going to charge. Maybe we should move on and just leave him be!

We found lots of hippos in the water. I really wanted to see one out on land, but we never got that chance. They made a lot of loud grunting noises and snorting! Usually when one made a big growl like this, I was not ready with the camera to catch him at his peak!!! :(

The warthogs are shy, they run off pretty quickly when we see them -- and they are quite funny to watch them run! I actually thought they were kinda' cute in their own sort of way!!! They are suppose to be good eating! We did not get to try them, but we did eat impala, kudu, and oxtail - all pretty good if you did not think about what they looked like!!!

I probably should have given this guy a more prominent place on my blog! This is a wild dog. I was not too impressed with seeing "a wild dog" until several people mentioned what a rare sighting they are and they had never seen one. The wild dog is a top predator and their numbers are getting too be very low as to how many still exist today. They usually run in packs, but this one was alone this morning.

Vervet monkeys! Kinda' cute little guys, but pretty annoying! They were outside our room in Sabi Sands. They would run across the deck and sit and watch you! They know how to open door handles, so you had to keep your room locked at all times to keep them out!

The Cheetah makes "A Kill"

It is the second day on our photo safari! How could we "top"what had happened on the first day --photographing the male cheetah was a thrill beyond belief for me! Today, however, is going to be even more amazing in what we experience! Chris, our ranger, locates the male cheetah in tall, thick grass with a fresh "kill"!!! We drive the jeep off the road and into the bush as far as it will go, then we all follow Chris back into the opening where the cheetah is still panting hard from capturing a young nyala. The cheetah is not happy that we are gathering around, but he is more concerned with other predators like hyenas or lions that might challenge him for his meal.

 It is getting close to dusk and we are heading through the tall grass to where the cheetah is located.

We interrupt the cheetah -- he takes time out to see how close we are going to get to his meal! We are only about 20 feet from him!!!

I'm thinking maybe we should NOT be standing 20 feet from him - he doesn't look too happy with us!!!

Amazing video film!