Pilanesberg National Park

This past weekend we went on an adventure to Pilanesberg National Park. Pilanesberg is a game reserve just three hours from Johannesburg.  Bruce and Melinda Kinghorn organized the trip for us.  Dan and Ruth Ann Stokes, another senior couple who are Family History Specialists, also joined us.  We left Johannesburg on Thursday afternoon and drove to the Marjaniek Guest House, a bed and breakfast, near the town of Rustenburg.  We had hoped to use one of the vans from the Area Office but it didn't work out and so we had to drive two cars.

 

 

After breakfast on Friday morning, we drove to the Pilanesberg Game Park. We did a self-drive around the park for a couple of hours, looking for animals.  It was kind of late in the morning when we got there and there weren't very many animals out.  We did see some elephants a ways off, plus several zebras and giraffes, also not really too close.  We saw a pretty good size herd of wildebeest just laying around eating.  Also some warthogs and impalas.

For lunch we drove to the resort 'Sun City', which is just outside of the park.  We were surprised to see such a huge, beautiful resort out in the middle of nowhere.  Because we weren't staying at the hotel, we couldn't walk everywhere but we stopped and watched all the people playing on the man-made beach.




Sun City walkway with Palace Hotel in background



Beach and wave pool at Sun City

Large Giraffe statues Sun City interior

At 5 o'clock we met our guide and driver, Elvis, and boarded our 25 seat game vehicle.  There were about 20 of us, including some small children.  Shortly after we entered the park, we came across a herd of elephants.  There were big ones and baby ones and I counted 18 all together.  They were walking all around us and didn't seem to care that we were there.

We also saw lots of zebras that surrounded us.  They are such beautiful animals, and each has its own distinctive color variation.

The giraffes weren't quite so close but we saw several of them.

 

 

We were really surprised to see a momma and baby rhino right by the side of the road.  They were disgustingly dirty having just taken a mud bath.  We couldn't get them to turn around at all so we couldn't get any good pictures of them.

Our guide explained to us that although these animals are not in the least bit "tame," they have learned that humans are not a threat to them so they just mostly ignore the cars and game vehicles that drive through the park.



On Saturday we drove to the "Adventures with Elephants" in the town of Bela Bela. Here we had a 'hands on' experience with some elephants.  We learned a lot of interesting facts and enjoyed watching some of their tricks.

Passing the hat

 

Two little girls from the audience stood in front of an elephant and the trainer repeated their names two times.  The girls changed places and when the trainer called out a name, the elephant pointed to the right one.  An elephant can remember names and correctly match them for 18 months.  They can also remember the scent from an article of clothing and match it with the owner after that long also.

 

 

 

 

 

Susan also got kissed by an elephant but we missed the picture of that but she said it was wet and very smelly!

DREAM VACATION???

Did you ever think about taking an around-the-world dream vacation?  How about Johannesburg to the Reunion Islands (out in the Indian Ocean, East of Madagascar), then on to Paris, then Singapore, to New Zealand, then Tahiti, Los Angeles, Atlanta and finally back to Johannesburg?  And even better, all expenses paid.

I don't have any pictures to go along with this narrative, so I'll put in a few that have nothing to do with this story. 

So, do you want to see Susan's new haircut?

 

 Well I (Walt), just about got that chance last week.  There are two doctors (senior missionaries) with their wives here at the Area Office.  Elder Barton is an MD and Elder Peterson is a psychologist.  Their jobs are to take care of the physical and mental health of the missionaries in the 11 missions here in the Africa Southeast Area,

Occasionally, a missionary becomes ill or severely depressed and must return home from his/her mission.  When that happens, it is Church policy that someone (usually one of these two doctors) accompany him home.  In the couple of months since we've been here that has already happened 3 times.  The doctors hate it because it means they fly about 20 hours back to the U.S. with the missionary then turn right around and fly back to Johannesburg.  It's a grueling trip for them and they do it without their wives.  Dr. Barton has done it twice and Dr. Peterson once. 

Here's some of the artwork from our apartment décor.

Last week something unusual happened.  One of the missionaries serving in the Reunion Islands, part of the Madagascar mission, became severely depressed and suicidal.  The doctors felt that he needed to return home and get treatment.  This takes many weeks to get the proper medications and dosages, etc. so they don't try to do it here in the mission field. 

The problem was that this missionary speaks only French and no English.  Because they know I speak some French, it was decided that I needed to accompany the missionary because it was more important to have someone with whom he could communicate rather than a medical person with him. So, Thursday, I was asked (told) to go with him.  It meant flying to the island, picking him up, then the stops as described above.  I guess that was the best available route. Overall, it would be 52 hours of flying and 8 days total travel, 5 of those with the missionary.

Friday night I got the expected call from Elder Egan, but instead of finding out my schedule, I was told that Dr. Barton finally decided the missionary needed to be accompanied by a physician so I was off the hook, even though it now meant that Elder Barton was the one who would have to make that trip.  I really feel like I dodged a bullet on that one and I am grateful to Elder Barton.

APARTHEID:

An Afrikaans word meaning "the state of being apart," literally "apart-hood." 

 

South Africa, like most of the rest of the continent, has a rich history when it comes to repression of the native population by white Europeans.  In very recent times, starting in 1968, this racism was codified and institutionalized by the enactment of Apartheid laws.

Last Saturday we had the opportunity to visit the Apartheid Museum here in Johannesburg.  It was really an eye opening experience and in many ways a very sad one.  Africa has a sad history of colonialism, repression, slave trading, discrimination etc. perpetuated on the native black population by those of the white race.  The ruling whites suggested Apartheid was for the benefit of everyone, so all races could live and enjoy life without getting in each others way.  But it was really just a way of getting everything good to the whites while the blacks got virtually nothing.

I'm sure we'll talk more about Apartheid in other posts, but tonight I just wanted to post some photos taken in our own apartment building here.  Apartheid has only been discontinued since about 1990, but our building is older than that.

When we first moved into our flat (apartment), we wondered why there was a bolt lock on the outside of the kitchen door.  It could only be used to lock someone in the kitchen.

 

We soon discovered the reason.  The above photo shows the two doorways inside our security gate.  One, is the door we use, and the other one has been sealed shut.

 

Not all doorways are like ours, however.  There are many doors in the building like the one in the photo above.  If you look closely, you will see a small sign near the top that says SERVICE.  These doorways were to allow the "service people" (blacks), access to the kitchens to do the cooking, while the bolt lock would prevent them from getting into the rest of the flat. 

Even one of the three elevators (the one on the left) is marked service.  We don't know if the "service" elevator even works now (we've never noticed anyone using it), but we do see black cleaning ladies who enter apartments through the separate "service" doors.

SPECIAL VISITORS

The past three weeks have brought some very special visitors to our Area office.  They are invited and escorted by the folks from Public Affairs which is just one of the departments of the Church housed here in the Area office.

Elder and Sister Berg are the senior couple in Public Affairs and Sean Donnelly is the Area Public Affairs manager.  He is a Church employee.

Public affairs is always interested in inviting dignitaries from other countries to visit the Area office.  They like people to learn some about the Church and see and hear about the Church presence here in the Area.  It is always good to build relationships.  People of influence in governments can help with missionary efforts, for example, just by making it easier for missionaries to get visas for the countries.

Three weeks ago two gentlemen from Gabon came to visit.  We didn't get their names or much information, but he was the Minister of Health for Gabon (like a cabinet position). 
The other gentleman was his assistant and translator.
They met with Elder Cook, the Area President and visited the different departments at the Area office.

Elder and Sister Cook with Gabon Health Minister

Up on our floor, there is a display sitting on one of the cabinets.  There is a dummy baby like they take when they do Neonatal Resuscitation (NRT), also some new baby kits, hygiene kits, and pictures of some of the projects that have been done in some of the countries in Africa.

Dignitaries with Sean Donnelly

We also printed a report from CHaS (Church Humanitarian System) which listed all the projects done in Gabon during the past 3 years along with some photos. CHaS is the centralized computer program all the Humanitarian missionaries use when they propose, open, implement and close a project.  It has tons of information in it about projects from all over the world.  As Area missionaries, we have access to everything being done in the Africa Southeast Area, so Sister Kinghorn was able to print the report specifically for Gabon.

Gabon visitors with Sister Kinghorn

She then gave them a brief presentation of what Humanitarian missionaries do and specifically told them about projects done in Gabon.  They seemed interested in the little presentation.  The minister didn't speak any English but Sean Donnelly speaks excellent French and translated right along for Sister Kinghorn.  I spoke a few words with him and introduced ourselves.

Uganda visitors with the Area Presidency and their wives

About a week later 2 ladies came from Uganda.  The first one is Margaret Kabugho Brambale.  She is the Senior Immigration Officer for Uganda in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

With Melinda Kinghorn

The other is Rosemary Nabifo Wamimbi.  She is the Assistant Commissioner for Immigration.  They got pretty much the same presentation from Sister Kinghorn.  They were very interested in the projects that we've been doing there in Uganda and asked lots of questions about them.  I've heard the presentation twice now.  She told me that next time it would be my turn to do the talking.

Johannesburg Temple

They also take the guests to see the Johannesburg Temple which is right next to us here.