A BIRTHDAY WITH THE WILD THINGS!

Our Elders are all being transferred this next week and they really wanted to see Kruger Game Park before leaving this area.  So several weeks ago we planned a trip to Kruger  on their "P" day.   At the time I didn't realize it was my birthday, but it was neat.  I think I qualify to celebrate with the wild things. I am sure Bob will not want to be categorized with the Wild Things, he is far too nice.
We got up early to leave at 8:00 am and we did not get home until 8:30 pm.  It was a long day.  We love the Elders here.  The KaNyamaze Elders are Elder Parrish from Idaho and Elder Handirade from Zimabwae.  The Nelspruit Elders are Elder Center from Nevada and Elder Macdebe from Zimbabwe.

The Kanyamaze Elders; Elder Handirade, Elder Parrish

The animals were spectacular and many of them are enormous.  It was hard to comprehend driving down the dirt road and next to you is an elephant or giraffe.  It was interesting. 

I had many misconceptions of where the jungle animals would be.  Bob's impression was more accurate.  The animals mostly live in the bush.  It is  dry, bushy, and grassy area.  The park  itself is massive and we covered a small portion of it in 8 hours.

On the drive to the park we past miles and miles of banana trees.

Here are some pictures to help remember this little adventure.

On the way we drove past miles and miles of banana trees.  In the trees you would see white or blue bags hanging from the trees.  When the bananas come on they cover they them with bags.

In Kruger you are not allowed to get out of the automobile.  Periodically you will come across a place that is fenced.  Inside this compound you can find food, drink, and restrooms.  There are also accommodation (places to stay for the professional safaris).  The trucks are typical of most safari vehicles.

This elephant was upset.  His ears were flapping very fast.  The driver of the Mercedes was backing up slowly to avoid getting him more agitated.  We can up behind him in our car.  After a few minutes he turned and went into the bush.  He was enormous.  The largest elephant I have ever seen.   A week after we were there an elephant attacked a car with two Chinese national tourists.  It was 6:30 in the morning.  It flipped the car over and one person had to be air lifted to a hospital.

The crocodiles are nothing to mess with.  They are big!

Baboons Everywhere!

Wildeabeast

Rhinos are becoming very endangered.  Every day there are articles in the news papers about Rhino poaching.  They dehorn them and then use the horns for some potion in the orient.  They get a lot of money for the poachers so it has been hard to deal with them.  There are heafty fines and jail time for poaching and it is a big national news item here.

Warthog...really interesting animal.

South African Fish Eagle

The giraffes are beautiful.  The patterns and coloring vary.  Some of the markings are very intense.

 



This picture was taken as we were leaving the park.  The sunsets here are spectacular.  I have never seen anything like them.  

We feel very blessed to be in this beautiful and intriguing land.  It is very foreign from what we are use to. 

In addition to the beauty of the landscape is the beauty of the African people.  They are warm, appreciative, and generally a very happy people. We love them already.