Last week our friends from home came for a visit. It was so awesome. And it was well...almost like being home. They were on their way home from the yearly service project they do with Mothers Without Boarder in Zambia. We feel so bless that they took the time at the end of their trip to spend a few days with us. They were tired after their hard work. Since living in South Africa I have come to appreciate the nine or ten years they have been doing this work. The conditions they work in are even more primitive than where we do our work. I have great admiration for the work that is done.
We did a whirlwind tour of sight seeing. The first day we went to the Panorama Drive. It is a famous drive through some beautiful country. The next day we did a day in our township. The people they met loved them and keep asking about them. And for the last two days we went to Kruger for a little Safari. Since I posted pictures before these are just the more interesting things we saw on our journeys.
Mac Mac Pools
These are crystal clear pools and beautiful. Could be great for a dip, but we did not try it. I think it would against the rules. It is holiday time here. Kids are out of school for three weeks. So it was a busy time with tourists.
The views all over Africa are amazing. When we first came in March it was late summer and the grasses were so high it was difficult to see beyond the road sides, but it was lush and green. Now it is winter here and the grasses are brown and have died down, this creates a burning a frenzy I will talk about later.
The next stop was Mac Mac Falls and I have included pictures of those in an earlier blog.
Gods Window
God's Window is a famous South African tourist attraction that is known around the world. You can see for ever, as far as your eyes will let you. It is beautiful
Burkes Potholes
Hi Christy and Robert, Standing on the bridge crossing the gorge. This place reminds me of Zions, but not nearly as beautiful as Zions. The Pot Holes are interesting as the water bubbles around them. The water is blue, blue and very clear. This is the dry season. In the summer when the rains come the water is higher. 
Grasshop
Kruger Game Park
This was our second trip to Kruger. It has been a bit different each time. Here are Bob, Robert, and Christy climbing a big rock hill. They are looking out over a river area for animals!
This guy is their personal body guard. Note the gun. He is making sure they are not attacked by a LION! I really don't know what the deal was with him, but he was there with his gun and spy glasses. His clothes looked like he worked for the park, but it looked like he was riding a bike. There are very specific rules about not getting out of your car while in the park except in designated areas that are completely fenced.
This was our first elephant encounter. The last time we went there were tons of giraffes. This time it was elephants. The elephants seemed more aggressive and on three occasions during the trip some large males came toward the car in a not too happy manner. This guy was not going to let us pass. He would start going into the bush, then turn around and start coming toward us. The are known to attack cars and tip them over. We just kept backing up for a while. One of the safari guides mentioned that elephants eat 18 hours out of every day.
We saw a number of baby elephants. Those moms would nudge them right along. We did see one much smaller than this, but there was not a good picture because the baby kept walking in and out of the moms legs.
Warthogs are the ugliest. Noticed the burned area. In the winter all people do is burn grass and bushes. In three months this area with be filled in and you will never know it was burned.
This Rhino was a rarity. It is a white Rhino and we saw two on this little trip. One was in our own car and one was while we were on the early morning safari car. These Rhino are very large. Almost hard to believe. It is the same with the Hippos below. These guys were huge, not like what you see in the zoo!
Note the birds on the Hippo. Most of the larger animals have birds riding on them. I guess it is the chain of life.....but, they are on the necks of giraffes etc. What a free ride in life!
Lots of water buffalo!
A late night safari ride (cold and hard to see animals, not sure it was worth it) But, we did see these hyenas. They were difficult to see but I took the pictures. They are seriously creepy, but I think I have been biased by the "Lion King" play / movie.
We got up at 5:00 am to go on this 3 hour early morning ride. It wasn't my thing. Bob Hunt and Christy snooooooooozed. I froze and we didn't see very many animals. I have decided Safari Bob finds more animals for us driving his little mission car.
We stayed in these little house with thatched roofs. They were an event. These compounds are surrounded by high fences so the animals can get in. We did see another leopard as we walked from the restaurant. It was across the river, but fairly close. It was too dark to get a good picture.
This bird was amazing. It was small and the yellow and blue feathers were iridescent. It was about the size of parakeet.
Blazing Inferno
This picture is typical of how it looks along all the road sides. In winter they burn all the dry weeds down. People here also burn most of their own garbage. The garbage piles up, they will have a big fire. The skies are hazy from all the smoke. I was surprised that even in Kruger they had been burning.
If you drive at night you see these fires at the side of the road where they are burning. It is amazing to me that they do not burn down the world. It is seriously interesting that these fires do not get out control. Anyway, it is pretty smoky here. The Hills are alive with smoke signals!
Then it was off of Johannesburg to the airport. I will say that after dropping them off
I shed a tear or two. All my kids had bets that I would be on the plan with Christy!
"Oh Ye of Little Faith"
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