The Journey Home, Monday, September 15th, 2008

How do you describe a journey home that takes approximately 36 hours from airport to airport?

Well, "long" for starters.

We had heard that the return flight from Johannesburg was much harder than the trip there.

On the flight over, you go to sleep and wake up to the sun and morning.  It's much easier to lose nine hours this way.  Even though I say I had an easy time of it, I did wake up in Cape Town the next morning, promptly put both contact lenses in my right eye and ran to wake Fred, exclaiming that "I can't see in Africa!" 

The biggest difference in the flight home is that we will be flying into the night.  All night, and all the next day-darkness. You look at your watch and see that it is 3:00, but you honestly don't know if it is 3:00 AM or PM.  It all looks the same. I couldn't remember if I had put my watch ahead to Washington, D.C. or Los Angeles.

We had been warned that the hardest part of the flight from Johannesburg was that it is NOT a non-stop back to Washington, D.C.  Due to the tradewinds, it is not possible to fly directly back.  So, we will fly to Dakkar, Africa. That's right, we'll land after 12 hours and we'll still be in Africa. We won't be able to get off of the plane.  But we will be awakened, told to gather our carry on items, and put them on our lap.

At first, I didn't believe the person who told me that.  But it happened exactly that way.  In the middle of the night, we were awakened, and told to put all our carry-on items in our lap. Security then comes aboard and thoroughly goes over every seat of the people who have disembarked here. I mean, thoroughly. They rip out the headrests, and rip up the seat cushions.

Security became concerned when no one claimed a carry-on suitcase in our overhead compartment.  They asked several times, "Whose bag is this?"

Finally, Fred woke up enough to see that it was ours and claimed it.

Crisis averted.

Finally, the crew comes onboard and sprays the plane with insecticide. That's right, we're still on it.  Thankfully, I had brought masks for Fred and myself. This entire time, the loudspeaker on the plane is apologizing for the insecticide and is sorry if it gets into your eyes and burns them.  Ugh, an agonizing hour and a half stop over.

We take off again for another six hours over the Atlantic ocean.  We take something to sleep and we are finally out.

We land about 9am in Washington, D.C., and it's time for serious security. There's a young girl sitting behind us on the plane from South Africa. She's on her way to San Francisco, and isn't feeling too well, and she's not sure which tram to take.  We tell her to stay with us.

As usual, we have to pick up our luggage at baggage claim, and then immediately check it again. W.D.C. has this down to a science, and soon we are on our way to security.  The young South African woman becomes concerned when she sees us Americans starting to disrobe.  "I'm not taking anything off!" she declares.

We told her that she'll take off whatever security asks her to take off and do it with a smile on her face.

Ahhh, it's good to be home!

I have a small piece of Bonine travel medication in some tinfoil in my cargo pocket by my knee, which is setting off the alarm. I'm pretty much down to my underwear before we figure this out.

In the customs line, we hear the woman in front of us say she had been on a luxury safari in Tanzania. She loved it but they never saw any elephants. No elephants!  We stopped taking their picture, we saw so many elephants.  The customs officer tells us, "Welcome Home" and it sounds so good, I could cry.  One more six hour flight to go.

No first class for Fred. Now Fred, who will tell you he is a terrific traveler, can't continue sitting by the window.  He squirms, he adjusts, he fidgets, he "CAN'T SIT IN THESE SEATS!"

So he makes me switch with him.  I know, the urge to watch him suffer was pretty great, but six hours of non-stop whining will wear down anyone.

I take the window seat and happily watch as we fly over the Grand Canyon. It's so gorgeous, and I'm so tired, but feeling so grateful and happy.  To those people who criticize the United States, I recommend that you leave it for awhile. I could have led the plane in singing "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

Soon, we're home, hugging family and dogs.

Jet lag will claim a lot of our waking hours the next week, but we're excited to tell everyone about our amazing adventures.

I am in awe of people like the Reverend Orma, who sees a need and fills it.

We are indebted to our family, friends and co-workers who helped to sponsor our trip, the building fund and the children at the Care Points.  One of the Care Points will be getting a new refrigerator/freezer thanks to your generous donations. 

We are also forever changed.

Yesterday, the King of Swaziland made the gathering of civil rights groups illegal. Apparently, tired of the protesters who criticize him; he has silenced them.

The people of Swaziland cannot speak, but the numbers about Swaziland speak for themselves.

39% have HIV or AIDS. 40% are unemployed. 70% live on one dollar a day. The life expectancy is now 31.  By 2010, it is expected to be 27 years of age. 56,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS. Last year, AIDS claimed the lives of 10,000 adults and children.

We see Reverend Orma making a huge difference in the children's lives.

Someday, we hope these children will make a big difference in their country.

I hope this blog helps to give a small feeling of what we experienced.

To all who are reading this, thank you.  It was written with a grateful heart.

Jeri

TO BE CONTINUED...perhaps another day...hopefully another trip

Leaving Kruger National Park-Sunday, September 14th, 2008

We awaken early.  We want to get on the road so we can take our time through the park on our way out to the airport.

On the board posted at check out, I see that lions and leopards have been spotted along the loop road.  It's in the other direction, but we set out anyway, hopeful that we can do it in enough time. We quickly realize, however, that it is not to be.  There is a long line of cars and RVs also heading out and we don't know how long it will take us to get to the other gate so sadly, we turn around and go the other way.

It's another beautiful day and we meander along.  There is a look out point at the top of a mountain bluff and Fred is excited to get up there because it means we can get out of the car. Yesterday, we came upon another lookout but when we arrived, it was so deserted that we decided to stay in the car. You really have to be respectful of these animals and where you are. They will eat you. Well, maybe not eat you, but kill you just the same.

This lookout, unlike the other one, is so high up that we can see a great distance.  Nothing can sneak up on us here so we park and get out, and take some pictures.  Another car comes up and the driver tells us that 10 minutes down the road, there are two male lions drinking at a waterhole.  It's on our way, so we jump into our car and head down the road.

On the turn off, we see several cars and they are all coming towards us.  I have a bad feeling about this.  Why would you leave if there were lions around?  Sure enough, when we come to the waterhole, the lions have just left. Curses!  Foiled again!

We get back on the road, continuing our way out of the park. About ten minutes before we reached the gate, we see a car stopped by the side of the road.  We look but see nothing.

They tell us that there is a leopard standing to the side of an old termite mound.  Sure enough, we can see him, but just as we turn the car around, he stands up and lies on the top of the mound.  He's much harder to see this way, and we try to take some pictures.  We're really excited, though, as this is number five of the Big Five!

We're indebted to the other car, because I don't think we ever would have seen him ourselves. Fred is positive that we have missed as many animals as we've seen.  I'm sure he's right about that.  We spot some more eagles, though, and they are gorgeous.

We reach the gate and Fred wants to stop in and get a map for our drive to the airport. He pulls the car over and what is in front of us? Two bull elephants. Once again, a little close for me!  But this time, even Fred can see the sense of not parking and exiting the car right in front of them, so he moves. I asked the gate keeper if he was ever afraid of the animals.  He answered, "All the time."

Now, less than ten feet away from the elephants, another staff member is sitting at a picnic table with his head in his arms, trying to sleep. How you could sleep with elephants munching away feet away from you, I'll never know.

We hate to leave Kruger National Park but we need to begin our long journey home. It's interesting seeing the towns we drive through.  We were told that poaching is a big problem in Kruger. But as our guide explained it, "When you have 70% of the population unemployed right outside the gates, what's one zebra compared to feeding your family?"

We reach our little airport, Nelspruit. We wrap our luggage in saran wrap. It was advised for us to do so due to theft. So, having done this, we waltz through security, as usual.

We meet up with Paul and Cindy, who have their own adventures to tell.  They were with Frances, the lodge owner from Swaziland.  They also saw all the Big Five and had a great time, too. Paul is flying to Cape Town for some more travel research there. Cindy and Fred and I are flying to Johannesburg.

This plane is so small, we have had to check our carry ons.  I only have a bag containing all the gifts. If your carry-on doesn't fit when you go to board the plane, no problem.  They simply chuck it under the plane.

We land in Johannesburg and collect our luggage for our international flight to Washington, D.C. We're in the new terminal, built for the World Cup happening in 2010. It's really nice. We have a moment when Fred mistakenly exchanged bags with another customer at the book store, but he quickly returns and they swap back.

We get to our gate and wait to board.  But before we can, we are all told to stand up, form a line and we are searched.  It's easy to tell we are flying to the United States.

Next: 30 hours of traveling, or "are we there yet?"

Kruger National Park-Lions!-Saturday, September 13th, 2008

We were supposed to go on a sunrise game drive this morning, which meant getting up at 4:30am.  But the cold and rainy night drive has left us pretty stuffed up, and Fred has taken a cold medication to sleep.

So we sleep in to awaken to a beautiful day-blue skies, warm and sunny.  It's the first really nice day we've had here.  We get a slow start as Fred needs to go the bank onsite and Skukuza is PACKED!  You can tell it's a Saturday.  There are monkeys everywhere. Don't tell me these little guys don't know the days of the week.  They were nowhere to be found earlier in the week and now they are acting as busboys. I chat with a man and his wife who have come up from Lower Sabie. The woman tells me that there were lions just down the road S-21.

When Fred comes back, I am anxious to eat our breakfast and get on the road.  Each morning, we get breakfast at the cafeteria and find a table near the river.  It's so crowded today that we grab a table in the little seating area, under a native hut roof.  I see a woman with her camera taking pictures of the inside of the roof, which I think is odd.

Until I look up.

Hundreds of fruit bats are hanging right above our heads.

For a moment I'm shocked.  Then for a moment I'm scared.  But then, this one  little fruit bat puts out her itty bitty pink tongue and begins to lick her furry little wing.  Little pink tongue, licking her wing, over and over.  OK, I thought that hyenas were adorable.  This tiny bat is edging out kittens and puppies on the cute factor.

But Fred is stuck in grossed-out mode. He grabs his plate and says, "We're leaving!" Which, ok, maybe eating directly underneath bats is not a smart thing, but they were so cute! Unfortunately, I'm so busy grabbing plates and condiments that I miss getting their picture. You'll just have to my word for it-cute!

We keep our eyes peeled on the route S-21, but there are no lions to be seen. It's as if they know our car make and model.  "Quick, it's the Americans. Hide!"

In Kruger, the main animals are known as The Big Five: Lions, Water Buffalos, Elephants, Rhinos, and Leopards. We have lions and leopards to go.  Leopards are the most elusive so I'm hoping to see some lions today. It's really starting to get frustrating.  It seems as if everyone else we pass has seen them. "Lions? Oh, sure, tons of them.  What? You haven't seen any?!" 

GRRRR! (That's me, not a lion.)

We stop for lunch again at Lower Sabie restcamp and watch the hippos for a while. In the parking lot, I see a private safari game driver.  Has he seen any lions? 

"What?! You mean, you missed them?!  Go back up the road, no more than 1 mile, they've just killed an antelope and are eating right by the side of the road."

Impossible! We passed that way not more than 30 minutes ago.  We race down the road and there we see them.  Not lions, but cars everywhere!  This must be the place.

The lion are there, eating by the side of the road, but it's on the other side.  We get a peek at them while passing but we need a longer look and some pictures, so we drive a half mile down and turn around and get in line.  Now, there are people who have lined their cars up right in front in both directions and they are not leaving. It takes us about 90 minutes of inching forward.  Other cars come up and make three lanes and zip in right in front of the line. 

Finally, I can see we are close, about four cars away.  Then, the woman two cars in front of us either doesn't know what's up ahead or she's a total moron because she GETS OUT OF HER CAR! She walks up to the car in front of her who promptly told her what a moron she was.  She walks back to her car and then stands there with her door open on the footrest.

Lionesses are about 20 feet away.  Unbelievable.

It's finally our turn!  We're next, so I get the video camera ready, and I'm all set because the lions are on my side.  Now, maybe Fred was feeling antsy at having waited so long, or maybe he felt we should only take a nanosecond and give everyone behind us a longer turn.

I swear, this is the actual narrative from our lion video:

Jeri: "Here are the lions. Honey, stop driving."

Fred: (While inching forward) "I'm not driving."

Jeri: "You can see the lions...honey, stop driving, I'm not getting it."

Fred: (Still driving forward) "You are getting it."

Video camera: ( Turning around and around in circles) "WHEEE!"

Jeri: "STOP DRIVING!"

Fred: "I DON'T HAVE TO STOP DRIVING!"

Lion: "Look! A talking lunchbox!"

We do end up seeing three lionesses lying in the grass and the male lion and the cubs eating.

Finally, lions!  We're so excited that we soon forget our argument and we drive on.

That's what 29 years of marriage and a lion will do for you.

We turn onto a road which is part of the "Magic Triangle." It's supposed to be a great route for all kinds of animals so we are hopeful for more sightings.  The drive is lovely, and the day is beautiful.  About ten minutes on this road, a van coming the other directions pulls us to the side. "Lion-just up the road."

We drive a few minutes and sure enough, there is a big male lion underneath a tree, with his lionesses and cubs nearby.  It's fantastic!  We are all alone on this deserted road.  The cubs are playing and they rub against mom and then they  begin to nurse. We get great video footage.  You can hardly hear me narrating but it's because we are so close! I don't want to disturb a lioness with cubs.

The drive on this route is great.  We see wildebeasts crossing the road in front and behind us. We see wild ostriches. There are more giraffes, zebras and warthogs. At a waterhole, we see two rhinos across the way. Now, most of the animals we've seen are very used to cars.  But as soon as Fred rolls down his window, these two rhinos turn and run.  We believe they are the rare black rhinos, smaller than the white.

We then take a great picture of another black rhino hiding behind a tree. It's pretty much twelve feet of rhino behind one foot of tree.

But who's going to tell him?

It's getting towards late afternoon.  Due to the circus of cars at our first lion sighting, we will not be getting back to camp in time for our last night drive.  At this point, we need to think about making it back to camp before the gates close. We speed up a little but then a bull elephant crosses the road and stops to eat a tree right in the road in front of us. There's nothing to do but stop.  I think.

Here is our actual conversation:

Jeri: "Stop the car.  You're getting too close!"

Fred (Inching forward) "I'm not getting too close."

Jeri: "Seriously, stop the car!"

Fred: "I don't have to stop the car!"

Elephant: "And they call me Dumbo."

Are you sensing a theme to our arguments?  As pre-marital counselors, we've found it's so much faster to argue when you stick to one topic over and over again! 

The bull elephant finally moves on and we need to really get going.

But a full moon is rising and the sun is setting and it's truly magical.

We take pictures of the full moon over the treetops and Fred gets some of the sunset over the river.  It's getting darker now but lastly, we see a hyena in the twilight, loping down the road.

We reach the gate to camp just as the gate keeper is closing it.  Seriously, he sees us coming and continues to close the gate.  We cry out, "Wait!"  He stands there and points to his watch, shaking his head.  He finally relents and opens it for us.  We shrug our shoulders. "Bull elephant. What could we do?"

We decide to go to the train restaurant further down into the camp.  It's built around the actual train that used to go through this area.  The story goes that one night, the conductor didn't see the people waiting for the train and drove on past.  The people had a terrible night, trying to stave off a group of lions.  From then on, there was a station built here, and now a restaurant.

Back at our hut, we begin to pack for our long journey home tomorrow.  But the gorgeous night and full moon pull us outside.  We wander over to the river and then we hear it. "CRUNCH, MUNCH, THRASH."

Elephants across the river, making their way, pulling branches off of trees. We're content to listen to them and due to the full moon we can just see them making their way.

And then we hear the scariest sound of all.

SPLASH!

The elephants are in the river, crossing over to us.

Another man joins us with a big flashlight.  He shines it on the group.  They land on shore about 20 feet down from us.  Now, we are on a wooden walkway and the electric fence is about four feet away from us.  There are two big elephants and a junior and a baby.  We can clearly see the one large elephant slowly begin to walk towards the electric fence, which, of course, she can easily crush. She stands still, though, and doesn't come any further forward.  The baby and junior are trying to literally climb this tree to get to the branches.  It was something else to see an elephant get up on its hind legs.

But now we can't see the other large elephant.  The man with the flashlight shines it back on and there she is, directly in front of us. At this moment, a hyena runs past, moaning and crying.

We could hardly break away. It was one of our best experiences.  Fred spends some time trying to locate the Southern Cross in the clear night sky.

Then, sadly, we have to go in and finish packing.

One of our favorite days ever.

Kruger National Park-Friday, September 12th, 2008

We wake up early.  Fred runs outside-our bungelow is on the river's edge.  He comes back and says he sees deer and water buffalo.  After breakfast, we start our drive south from Skukuza to Lower Sabie.

It's another amazing day. We come upon a large waterhole and see quite a lot of hippos in and across the water.  Crocodiles are sunning themselves just a few feet away from the hippos.  A few giraffes are munching on trees over to the right of them.

We stay there for about 45 minutes, just marveling at the sight of these animals.  Then we notice that the giraffes are slowly making their way around the waterhole, towards where we are parked.  Fred slowly moves our car to leave the little dirt parking area and we find one of the giraffes standing right in front of us.  They are really incredible up close.  She crosses in front of us and so do the others. 

We finally pull ourselves away for lunch at the restcamp  in Lower Sabie.  The patio sits overlooking the river.  There are even more hippos with their babies.  More crocodiles, as well.

I should mention that Kruger National Park is not only known for its big animals but also for its birds.  I am not a huge bird fan but they are gorgeous! Lots of beautiful yellow birds with black heads hop around our table as we eat. We have also seen big Kingfisher birds standing by the road as we pass.

After lunch, we drive on one of the dirt roads.  It's so nice on these back roads.  They are almost totally deserted and you never know what you'll find.  About five minutes onto this road, we pass by two Cape water buffalos.

Another herd of elephants crosses the road in front of us.  We see a lot more zebras as well.  Zebras are so interesting to me.  They resemble horses so closely, but at the same time, are so exotic. To see them in the wild is wonderful.

Next we see a warthog by the side of the road.  Fred decides the best way to get its attention is to make kissing, smacking noises. The warthog doesn't like it one bit. He sits down on his haunches and has the most puzzled look on his face. Like he can't believe Fred didn't read the manual on animal harassment. Fred gamely continues with the kissing sounds, and the warthog takes off.  Truly, I feel for this warthog.

We finally see monkeys in the trees, and Fred spots a turtle right on the side of the road.  He is terribly upset that this turtle is in the road and he wants desperately to get out of the car, pick it up and put it off the road. I manage to talk sense into him, but he remained upset about the poor turtle for quite a while.

We see several eagles and learn that they are African Fisher Eagles.  They have white heads and closely resemble our bald eagle.

We get back in time for our second night game drive.  We are really hoping that we will have better luck this night than last.

We put on even more layers for tonight's drive as it is already chilly. We've only brought so much clothing and I'm pretty much wearing most of it.  I say a silent prayer for no little old English ladies on our bus.

Our driver is a local young man, named Nicholas.  He tells us that he will be getting quite close to the animals because they will not take much notice of this big truck.  We're to make sure to tell him if we are uncomfortable with being so close.

I like this young man already.

Indeed, about 5 minutes into the drive, we come upon a large herd of elephants standing in the road, crossing to a waterhole. Across the road is a very upset white rhinoceros.  It is being kept from crossing by the elephants. They hold it at bay for about 10 minutes.  Then, as the elephants are all finally across the road, some fool driver puts his small car directly in the way of the rhino and the waterhole.  Well, the rhino is really thirsty and has had about enough of this.  It charges the small car, which hastily takes off.  The rhino is then able to cross the road but it still cannot get close to the waterhole.

Nicholas drives our truck right up the the waterhole so we have a terrific view.  The rhino arrives and the elephants are not happy about it.  They post a very large elephant to keep it away from the water and the others.  This goes on for a few more minutes.  Eventually, the rhino and the elephant get into a dust up, with the rhino charging and retreating.

It's interesting as they are both vegetarians.  But the elephants are taking no chances as they have their babies with them.  The rhino is being careful as an elephant can crush a rhino.

The rhino is now able to get right up to the water, and then it stands still for about another five minutes, eyeing all the elephants close to it. It finally goes to drink and it drinks for a very long time.

The matriarch elephant then gives the signal that they're going.  When that signal happens, it doesn't matter if you're still thirsty or not. Two elephants have been fooling around down in the lower bushes and they come trumpeting up, anxious at being left.

The elephants have left the waterhole but not the area.  They're still standing next to the road and there are a few cars that need to pass to get back to camp.  It's after 6pm and they'll be fined.  So Nicholas puts our truck right next to the elephants blocking their view of the small cars inching past us to get on their way. He was totally risking our lives but as I was sitting on the other side of the truck I didn't mind.

After this exciting waterhole exchange, we don't see many more animals.  

And it starts to rain.

So now it's dark, and cold, and raining.

Our head colds are in full bloom so we're blowing, and sneezing and sniffling.

Then, near the end of the drive, we see a hyena five feet from the road, nursing her baby.  There are two more little cubs, curled up in balls, sleeping a few feet away. Nicholas shines his flashlight on her and many of us are taking flash pictures.  This doesn't seem to bother the hyena at all. Finally, the little black hyena cub raises its head to see what all the commotion is about. I was never a fan of hyena but they...are...adorable.

We return to camp, wet, tired, hungry and chilled to the bone.

Another amazing day.

Kruger National Park-First Night Game Drive-Thursday, September 11th, 2008

We ran over to the Land Rovers and were quickly split between the two vehicles.

Our driver was Yavolt, a nice young man from Germany. The trucks leave camp at 5:15, and return at 8pm. It's nice to take the game vehicles because the gates to the restcamp close at 6pm, so you must be on a camp drive in order to see the animals at night.

We are excited as we take off.  We saw so many animals on our own during the day, we can't imagine how many we'll see with an experienced safari guide at night.

Uh...pretty much, nothing.  We hardly see any new animals and not much we hadn't seen that afternoon. We did see a few zebras so that was exciting for a moment, but they left quickly. 

Yavolt begins to point out different vegetation.  Now, it's cold on this open vehicle. We've got shirts and sweatshirts on and I have a windbreaker on over that, and I am REALLY cold.

Apparently, they offered blankets the weekend before when it was 108 degrees but they are not on the truck now. I have a head cold and Fred is getting one so we are sniffling and looking out desperately trying to see anything.

And still nothing.

So about two hours in, Yavolt pulls the truck over to point out a Marula tree.  

Yup, some tree in the dark in the cold. 

And then we begin to notice that most of the other passengers in this truck are little old English ladies. They LOVE looking at trees and they love this Marula tree most of all.

"I say, isn't this a Mar-uuu-la tree?"

"I must say, I love the jam from the Mar-uuu-la tree."

"Now, Dottie, you love the liquor from the Mar-uuu-la tree."

"HaHaHaHa."

"HaHaHaHaHa."

Fred and I try to mentally signal the driver to kill us now.  Perhaps it's our head colds that are blocking our determined mental signals but it's no use.  Yavolt is thrilled that there are passengers on board who aren't ticked off at not seeing any animals. He is happy to discuss the Marula tree for as long as these women want to.

"Please," we mentally plead with him.  "Just drop us off anywhere."  "If we get eaten, at least it will be a quick death and we'll finally see an animal."

No luck with Yavolt so we try mentally pleading with the animals. 

"Hey, here we are in this open vehicle." 

"It'd be so easy to eat us." 

"We're not even wearing seatbelts."

 "Here, kitty, kitty."

Yavolt finally feels uncomfortable with the death stares directed at the back of his head and drives back to camp.

In the camp restaurant, we meet up with some passengers from the other truck.  They tell us the sad story of how they only saw cape buffalos, and hippos and hyenas, and about a million other animals.  No wonder we didn't see any.  This other truck was hogging them all.

Then they say, "We laughed when you got on the truck with all the old ladies."

Now, they didn't need to say that.

And I probably didn't need to have a pretend coughing fit all over their dessert.

But they did.

So I did.

All in all, it was still a ridiculous, unbelievable, crazy wonderful day.

Kruger National Park-Thursday, September 11th, 2008

On Wednesday, Fred went to the building site with the architect, Dennis Horn.  Cindy needed to show Paul the local tourist sights that we had already been to: Gone Rural, the Candle Factory and the Glass Factory.  They also needed to visit some other accommodations as Brakenhill Lodge cannot host over 16 people.

They met up with Fred at the Rev Gooday's farm after lunch.  There weren't enough cars so there wasn't enough room for all of us to go.  Naturally, not being able to help the architect and having already visited the tourist shops, I needed to stay behind.

When everyone returned, they had had a good day.  There were about 70 children at the Eukuphelani Care Point. Fred met up with a 17 year old young man named Thebo.  He is living with his cousin, and lost both of his parents five years earlier to Aids.  He hopes to go to med school so one day he can cure this disease.

We all spent a nice evening together for our last dinner in Swaziland.

Thursday morning Fred and I got up early and packed our things. Cindy and Paul were not leaving for Kruger National Park until the next day so Fred and I were picking up a rental car and driving ourselves.

Rental place-ugh-is it ever quick to rent a car? "What price were you quoted?"  "Yea, we don't have that price anymore." Blah blah blah.  We finally get on on our way.  It is drizzling slightly. First rain of the season. It is welcomed as they have been waiting for the rains to begin. Hopefully, it will help to clear the air of all the smoke.

We drive through countryside.  Swaziland is very pretty.

After about two hours, we reach the gate of Kruger National Park. Kruger is different from other safari parks because there are tarred roads and you do not need a game driver; you can drive yourself through the park.

It will take us about two more hours to reach our restcamp,  Skukuza. The speed limit is 40 kilometers.  We prepare ourselves to look out and try to see any animals if we can. I have my binoculars ready. Five minutes into the gate, a herd of elephants crosses the road in front of us. Then we pass a family of giraffes eating the trees by the road. I put my binoculars away.

About ten minutes later, Fred pulls the car off to the left side of the road-my side.  I am fumbling with the camera.  I mean, we just got here, and I am still not used to having the animals  come so close to the road and being so used to the cars.  Foolishly, my window is rolled up.  Fred tells me to look out my window, and when I do, I am staring at a white rhino about 10 feet away staring back at me.

Now, Fred says I was paralyzed with fear.  I most definitely was NOT paralyzed with fear.  I was in slow motion from fear.  I am afraid to turn on the camera because the rhino will hear it.  I am afraid to roll down my window because, well, a white rhino is ten feet away from me.

My gut reaction to being this close to wild animals is to "Back up! We're too close!"

Fred's gut reaction is, "Let's wait and see if it kills you."

By the time I have the camera on and the window rolled down, I have taken an excellent shot of some tree foliage. The rhino has clearly tired of posing and I get a terrific picture of his butt, walking away from me. He becomes "the one that got away."

About fifteen minutes later, again on my side of the road, we see a mother elephant and her baby and a junior elephant munching on trees about 15 feet from the road. Now we haven't bothered to read the pamphlet we received at the gate, so we do not know we should give elephants a wide berth, about 50 meters or so and never get the car in the way of their crossing the road. I get some great pictures of them eating, and then the mother elephant turns her head and looks directly at me.  You can see this clearly in the picture I took.  

It's the next picture that you cannot see as clearly.  This is where the mother elephant is not only looking right at me but starts to walk directly towards me. I managed to take the shot, but couldn't manage to do it without shaking like a leaf.  I'm telling Fred to back the car up. Fred's telling me, well, I don't know what Fred was telling me because my life was passing before my eyes and my ears were filled with my head telling them that we were going to DIE!

About five feet away from me, she stopped and began munching on a tree right next to the road.

I had to take the zoom lens off the camera in order to keep taking her picture. It was an incredible experience but one that will repeat itself several times over the next three days. Wild animals get too close to us. I want us to back up. Fred wants to wrestle the camera from my wrist so he can continue taking pictures during my "unfortunate encounter."

We continue on the road and see more rhinos in the distance sleeping, and some wildebeasts, or gnus.  Lots of impala and kudus.

We arrive at Skukuza and check in only to find out our safari game drive was leaving in ten minutes. We hurriedly throw on sweatshirts and run to the vehicle-an open Land Rover type of vehicle.

Our first night game drive.  We've already seen elephants, giraffes, rhinos and deer. We can hardly wait!

Swaziland-Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Big day today.  Paul, a travel agent, arrives at the airport this morning.  He will be visiting Swaziland in order to gather information to host trips called Voluntourism.  This is where adults come to Swaziland to help work at the Care Points, but then want a safari experience for the second week.  He is also thinking of trips called Travel with a Purpose.  These trips would not require as much hands on work in the Care Points; more along the lines of simply meeting with the women and children.

Cindy has an appointment at the mall with a woman who has a lot of contacts in the tourist shop industry. She might be able to find local shops to sell the Swazi Bears the women sew.  

Orma's assistant, Poomsala, will be getting Paul, as there is not enough room in one car for all of us.  They go directly to the Care Point at St. Mathius, so we join them there.

There are about 15 women making Swazi Bears when we arrive.  These bears are sold for approximately $7.00.  This money goes back into a fund to help all the women. They are all involved in micro lending.  We hear from several of the women.  Sophie gives us a report on the group and how we can help.  Togo teaches at a local high school; she describes how she was able to institute a "kitchen" at her school to feed the students lunch. They tell us they welcome all local women; not just the women in their parish.

Nurse Alice stands and tells us a moving story of her battle with both malaria and diabetes.  On her sickbed, she prayed to God to heal her and was told that He would lift her up by her hands.

Upon her recovery, she decided that she would forever use her hands to help.  She is the nurse for all of the Care Points.  

Cindy tells them at her meeting that morning, the owner of the Swazi Glass factory says she will begin carrying the Swazi Bears to sell in her shop.  Another company also wants to help local women, and she ends with the good news of Heifer International coming alongside the Care Points to help with chickens and goats.

Then they offer us biscuits and juice.  This is so generous of them that we make sure to take some of each.  Cindy picks out 50 Bears to take back to the United States to sell.  I pick out three that I especially like. Then we see the children have gathered outside.  They are eating lunch.  It's still a school holiday so there are only about 15 of them.

Cindy gives us candy and small toys to hand out.  The children here are all well behaved and range in age from two year olds to a 16 year old boy who tells us he wants to be an architect.

After lunch they sing for us.  It is amazing.  One child begins and the others join in.  It is African Idol-they are all terrific singers.

Next door is the house where the local pastor, Andrew, lives with his wife, Rosemary. Andrew is not at home but Rosemary welcomes us and we sit with her and visit for awhile.  She tells us they will be going back to the England for the holidays.  They have not been home for over three years. They will leave in November and be gone for six weeks.

Orma's car key had broken off in her car door so she had been driven home to replace it.  She returns to tell us that the children at Orma's Kitchen Care Point have been waiting for us for over two hours to eat lunch.  We had no idea and feel terrible as it is now 2:30pm.

We leave immediately for that Care Point.  When we arrive, I see that it is not exactly a Care Point called Orma's Kitchen.  It's actually Orma's kitchen, in her house, where the children gather every day.  There are almost 100 children gathered around.  They are finally eating their lunch of "maizy maize" ( a combo type of rice and corn)  and beans.

I am immediately a big hit with the digital camera.  The children learn that I will show them their picture instantly.  I take tons of pictures.  There are many more older children here. One little girl in a red dress learns that whenever I raise the camera up to my face, she can run in front of me and get in the picture.  After a while I learn to take some pictures with the camera down by my waist.

After lunch, we pass out the small toys and we are MOBBED. We are standing on the back porch and the children are pressing against us and the little ones are getting lost in the crowd.

When we go to pass out the candy, it gets even worse.  Orma finally has to take control to get all the children to get in a line with the little ones first. My heart breaks when I see a little two year old half-carrying and half-dragging his one year old brother across the yard to get his share. Then the children sing for us. They dance and wave their arms.  Their voices are wonderful.

We then go into Orma's house for some juice.  It is SCORCHING  hot outside.  Orma needs to get ready for dinner.  She and Cindy are having dinner with their bishop.  Fred and I will have dinner back at the lodge with Paul, who is beginning to doze in his chair as jet lag hits.

We return to the lodge at about 5pm. We have dinner and I speak with some of the other lodge guests. One of the women asks how I can stand to visit the Care points.  She said she didn't think she could handle it.  I tell her that I can go and be with the children because we are doing something to help them. It's not a feeling of helplessness; it's a feeling of hope.

It's a good feeling to have.

Swaziland-Monday, September 8th, 2008

Rev Orma came for breakfast.  Late Friday afternoon, at 4:40pm, the King decided that today would be a holiday.  So all of our plans have been changed.

We decide that this would be the perfect time to interview Orma.  Cindy sets up the video camera and I record she and Orma talking about the four Care points and the children.

It's a wonderful video where Orma can explain how the Care points work and how the children depend on this one meal.

Afterwards, Fred decides to stay at the lodge to work on the plans for the building site for the day.

Cindy and I decide to take Orma out-a real "girls" day. As we are leaving, Frances calls out to us.  She and Leon have donated a lot of frozen chicken for the Care points.  We have to take it to St. Mathius-the only Care point which has a freezer. It is the nicest of the four Care points. When we arrive there, a few boys come up and unlock the gate for us. The boys carried the chicken inside-even the smallest youngster.

Cindy and Orma work on fitting all the chicken into the freezer while I take some pictures. There was a small boy, maybe four years old, with two others who looked to be around six or eight. The older boy was about twelve. The three little ones were very excited to have their picture taken.  Everywhere I pointed the camera, there they were.

Orma then drives us to St. Margaret's, but there was no one there-again due to the holiday.

Orma offered to drive me to the Swazi cultural center, but Cindy and I decide to take her to lunch instead. We went to a nearby shopping center and ate on a patio.  We noticed when we arrived all of the patrons were white and some were openly staring at us, or more likely, at Orma. Happily though, the servers were very nice and helpful.

As we were leaving, we went to use the restroom on the other side of the shopping center. While there, we met a woman coming out of the Community Health office.  We started talking and she opened up her office and gave us brochures on Aids and alcohol abuse to give to the children.  Her name was Fortunate and she offered to Orma to come and speak to the children at all the Care points.  She would show a film on Aids and discuss it with the children.  It was a terrific chance meeting.

That's the wonderful thing about Swaziland.  Sometimes it is difficult to get things planned here, but often, things have a way of working out.

We return to the lodge and it is very hot so I decide to go swimming.  Besides, I have to justify bringing my swimsuit all the way from home. I take one step into the swimming pool and it is ICE COLD!  I manage to go in up to my waist.  I stay in until I can no longer feel my feet.

Later, after I have sent a few emails from the office, Cindy asks if I would like to go with she and Frances to drive the maids home.  They live on the other side of the granite mountain.  I say, "Sure." It's getting to be late afternoon. We go around the mountain and up a dirt road. We climb up and up.  Surely, at times, I do not think Frances will be able to get up this dirt road, but she always does. It was a great opportunity to see the different types of houses and everyone waves to us that we pass.  We see several boys down below us playing soccer.  Up above them are some cows wandering-typical for the cows here.

The sun is setting and it is absolutely stunning.  I am so glad I was asked to go.  I take some pictures and just enjoy the drive.

Another fabulous dinner back at the lodge.  Our cook is P-. For privacy, I have not included his name.  His manner is very soft spoken and gracious.  He always calls me "Miss." Often, we are in the dining room well after dinner.  I have taken to fixing up our table for breakfast the next morning so he doesn't have to stay and wait for us.  He has four children.  I am told it is believed that he has Aids.  I don't even know how to respond to that.  He is such a lovely man.

He has become such a fixture for us at the lodge.  We see him first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening. If this is true, such sadness.

After dinner, Cindy and I go back to her room and we discuss our children and our lives, and basically solve all the problems of the world.

And with that, we all sleep soundly.

Swaziland-Sunday, September 7th, 2008

Rev. Cindy was up early for the Anglican church service.  Then she will be attending a BBQ at the Rev Gooday's farm this afternoon.  American Embassy people will be attending, so it is important that she be there.

This leaves Fred and I with a day to ourselves.  Frances, the lodge owner, has graciously offered to drive us downtown for the day. She drops us off at the Mall.  Since the big celebration was yesterday, it is much quieter. The African Fantasy gift store is open and we are able to buy a few things for our family.  We walk to the other set of stores across the bridge.  Then, afterwards, we walk the downtown streets to go to the local handicraft market. 

I am a little nervous and some men call out to us, but nothing comes of it.  We pass behind the fruit and vegetable stands to see a tiny building.  We walk in and it's a cluster of craft stalls. They all call out to us.  We tell them we have to look at everything before deciding.

We settle on a few more gift items.  We feel sad for an old woman who is selling fabric.  We just don't need anything else and we are already pushing the luggage weight restrictions, so we go.

Back at the Mall, we eat at a restaurant called the Phoenix Spurs.  Seriously...the Phoenix Spurs. It is decorated in a Native American Indian theme, with cowboys and indians on the walls.  It feels funny to eat at an Western themed restaurant here in Africa.  They had hamburgers with different sauces.  One of the sauces is "monkey gland" sauce.  Our server tells us that is just a name-no real monkeys were harmed in the making of this sauce!  

Back at the lodge, we meet up with Cindy and we have a meeting with Moosie, a local contractor. He has been the general contractor for our lodge owners. He will drop off a contract in the morning.

I have either bites or some kind of rash on both of my arms and chest and have been basically scratching my skin off. I have heard opinions from bed bugs to heat rash. Frances gave me an antibiotic ointment which didn't stop the itching at all.  Cindy gave me something toxic called "No Itch" which helped but the smell alone is poisonous. She told me, "I hope something hasn't burrowed under your skin and is living there." 

"Gosh. Me, too."

We have tea until dark, then dinner.

Another beautiful day.