Animal Kingdom

Monday, July 5, 2010

Elsa’s Parent’s Home, Pretoria, South Africa

Wow what a weekend!  I’m in Pretoria now, after an extremely exciting weekend spent in the Kruger National Park. First let me explain that around the world there’s a group of animals called “The Big Five,” consisting of the leopard, lion, rhinoceros, buffalo, and elephant (respectively listed in order of scarcity).  The Kruger contains all five, so people always try to find them (I’ll count for us).  On Friday we drove (you must be in a car at all times) into the Kruger Park around 11am.  We didn’t expect to see much since the best time is in the early morning and before sunset.  But, man were we lucky!  Within 10 minutes, we saw a buffalo (1/5; picture 1 below)!  It was pretty far off, but we could still see the huge horns rocking as it ate grass.  As we started to leave, Lourens stopped.  Leopard (2/5; picture 2 below)!  The cat came walking right out onto the road.  Lourens said he has been visiting the Kruger his whole life and never saw a leopard on the road before.  Then someone told us where we might see some lions.  On our way there, we saw a bunch of elephants (3/5; picture 3 below)!  There was a mom with a fairly small (still taller than me) elephant.  We came around a turn to a wide-open area, surrounded on one side by cars.  They were all stopped, looking at three male lions (4/5; picture 4 below)!  We had only been in the park for an hour and seen four out of the five “Big Five.”  Lourens and his whole family said they have never experienced this.  Someone must have told the wild kingdom I was coming!  Now we were determined to see a rhino before the day was over.  We spent the next two hours searching, driving past warthogs, giraffes, elephants, and wildebeests.  While we were looking at the wildebeests, Lourens, with his amazing eyes, saw something in the bushes.  It looked like another leopard!  We realized it was headed for the road and drove towards it.  Then three cheetahs popped out (picture 5 below)!  They were on the hunt and it was so cool to watch.  We headed back to camp and on the way we finally saw the rhino (5/5; picture 6 below)!  In three hours we had seen all five plus more- so cool!

The rest of the day and weekend we relaxed, eating way more food than I needed to!  They have been treating me so well here.  I really am extremely blessed.  And it’s fun too!  I got to experience a true South African braai (right).  It’s basically grilling but is held at a much higher place in the SA culture.  We had huge steaks and salad and potatoes- making me feel a bit closer to home.  I also got to drive around the park a bit (picture 1 below).  Man was that weird!  If you didn’t know already, South Africa drives on the wrong- I mean left- side of the road (it’s been really hard to try to get used to; I’ve freaked out a couple times, thinking the driver was crazy).  The rest of our drives were not as fruitful as the first, but we still saw a lot of wildlife and some really cool birds (picture 2 below).

On Sunday, we drove back to our friend, Nikita’s, house in Nelspruit, where I continued to feel even closer to home.  The family was loving, the house was warm with memories, and the food was delicious- all the things I love about my own home.  It definitely made me miss my parents and brothers but at the same time made me a lot more relaxed.  This morning, Nikita made us a delicious breakfast and sent us on our way.  And as a background for those who don’t know: Nikita was one of the people I met in Brussels last year when I met Lourens, so this was a very cool and exciting experience to meet up a year later in her home country (left).  I am always amazed when I look back on the past year and see how God has brought me to this point.  It’s awesome.