Whenever one of our children's families has come to visit us, the time goes by so slowly until they finally get here. But when JR, Tonya and the kids came it was really a very different situation for us. We had just been asked to change our mission assignment and move to Harare, Zimbabwe for the final 3+ months of our mission. President Mkhabela's previous senior office couple, the Hermansens' had gone home in January and the president was getting desperate to replace them.
When we agreed to come, we didn't have much time to prepare, get visas, training, packing and get out of our apartment. Things were so hectic those weeks that we didn't know if we were coming or going (and literally that for about 10 days).
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| Savannah was first through the doors to give us a hug. |
When we did get here to Zimbabwe, we knew we would only be here for 3 weeks before heading back to Johannesburg to welcome JR's family. We flew back to Johannesburg March 31 and welcomed JR, Tonya and the kids on April 1. Like some before them, they had laid-over in Paris for about 12 hours. Unfortunately, the weather in Paris was miserably cold and rainy and they had a hard time enjoying much about the city.
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| Those extra arms around Walt belong to Chase |
When they did arrive in Johannesburg Friday morning, they were very late coming through the doors and we were beginning to worry about them. It turns out that Air France had lost their luggage somewhere and they waited a long while and then had to fill out paper work. They did get some vouchers from the airline to buy some replacement clothing while waiting for their bags.
It was a good thing they were able to buy some clothes because their bags still had not come by the time we left Saturday morning for Bela Bela to go see the elephants.
Besides the elephant interaction, they were able to go do a short safari ride on the elephants. They all really enjoyed that. Grandma and grandpa as usual, just watched and waited while sitting on the patio drinking a nice cold Diet Coke.
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| Please don't fall off; it's a long ways down |
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| This little guy was the hit of the show. |
After that, we headed out to Madikwe Game Reserve for 3 days of game drives and lots of fun together.
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| The sunrise every morning was beautiful |
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| Mosetlha Bush Camp for anyone wanting a magical place to stay |
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| Taking a break with our fun guide, Justice |
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| This is our lounging area between drives |
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| JR and Tonya (Tonya's the cute one with the hat) |
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| Grandma played Monopoly with the kids and they bankrupted her |
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| Getting hot water from the Donkey Boiler for a shower |
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| The canvas doors and curtains offer excellent protection from wild animals |
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| The sunsets were as beautiful as the sunrises |
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| This guy has got some seriously large teeth |
When a male lion roars, he makes an unbelievably loud noise which can be heard for several kilometers. This guy however, was just yawning. He and his girlfriend had just been fooling around here in this open field. Lions have the most unusual love lives.
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| Dog day afternoon |
Wild dogs are vicious predators. They have such ugly coloring that it's actually kind of cool looking. When Maddie and Chad came last May, there were only 4 wild dogs left in the entire park. An outbreak of rabies had killed all the others. One of those dogs however, had a litter of 9 pups. We saw all 9 of them lying here in these bushes. They are pretty much full grown now.
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| We think giraffes are the most beautiful of the animals. |
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| "Do not disturb." This is the girl friend of the lion with the big teeth. |
Most of the predators are nocturnal and if they've made a kill in the past couple of days you'll just find them lying around anywhere, sleeping. Because lions have no natural enemies, we often just see them lying around in the open and they couldn't really care less about who or what is around.
On this particular day we came across the largest herd of elephants we've ever seen. Justice estimated there to be 200-300 elephants. They were headed down to the water to drink and cool off. Because of all the trees and bushes we could only see 20 to 30 at a time, but we stayed in this spot for close to an hour and they just kept coming and coming and coming...
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| Late evening dining appointment |
We had always heard that it was the female lions who did the hunting for the pride, but in 4 visits to Madikwe, we saw lots more male lions out hunting than females. We followed these 2 large males one night back into the bush for quite a while but finally had to let them go.
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| We came across this large herd of over 100 Cape Buffalo. |
On Wednesday we went with them on a tour to SOWETO, the Johannesburg ghetto. There are 2 million people living there and some parts of it are fairly nice. But other areas like Kliptown (200,000 population), in the photo below have incredible poverty and the people live in 10 X 10 shacks made of corrugated metal or scrap wood.
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| This is Kliptown |
One bright spot for Kliptown is the Kliptown Youth Center, started by young local residents to give the children a place to go after school and get some help and encouragement with their schooling.
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| They also serve breakfast and and after school meals to 400 kids |
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| The children may be poor but they are still happy |
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| Anyone for "sweets?" |
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| These are the preschoolers who stay here during the day while parents work. |
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| We opened the door of the van to leave and about 35 kids piled in |
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The family that 'plays' together, stays together
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When we have had family come to visit us in Johannesburg, we have always spent a good part of the days working in the office. But this time because we flew back from Zimbabwe and had no other commitments, we had lots of extra time to spend with JR and the family. Because we had time and also because it was now within our new mission boundaries, we planned a trip to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe for a few days.
JR made most all the plans for the trip and he did a great job. We could have either flown into Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, or the city of Livingstone in Zambia. We chose Victoria Falls because there was less hassle with visas and border crossings.
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| A nice bedroom complete with mosquito netting |
JR found a 5 bedroom home in Victoria Falls to rent. It came with a maid that did our laundry and would have cooked for us but we were never around. The area around Vic Falls is malaria country. We all slept under nets and were taking malaria medication.
Living in Harare, Zimbabwe now, Susan and Walt still take the medication every day.
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| Cruising down the river |
Our first evening in Victoria Falls, we went on a sunset cruise on the Zambesi River. This is the river that flows over Victoria Falls. Those falls are amazing. They're one of the seven wonders of the world
JR booked us a package deal that included a trip to Botswana for a safari and also a helicopter ride for everybody.
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| This crocodile stayed so still, it almost didn't look real |
Early the second morning, we were picked up at our house by a bus which took us 70 km to the Botswana border. There, we got on one of those game vehicles which took us to the Safari Lodge. In the morning we did our safari in a boat on the Chobe River. In the afternoon we got on our safari vehicles and drove into Chobe Nation Park and game reserve.
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| A peaceful moment on the river |
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| Mom and daughter |
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| A pod of hippos |
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| There were lots and lots of elephants down at the river in the afternon |
We saw lots of animals but especially a lot of elephants as they made their way down to the Chobe River in the afternoon. We also saw several lions walking just a few meters from the road
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| We didn't stay around long looking at this bull elephant |
The falls are most spectacular when the water is high as it was this day in April. However the water pounding its way down the falls created so much mist that we could not even see across the narrow gorge to see most of the falls. The picture below was taken just as we were approaching the falls. The falls continue for several hundred more meters to the right. This was the only photo we took of the falls from ground level. At every other viewpoint, the mist and rain was so heavy we couldn't see anything; only could hear the roar of the falls.
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| Victoria Falls |
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| Mom said we couldn't get our backpacks wet |
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| Off they go! |
It was great that JR had booked us all a helicopter ride because from the air we were finally able to really see the falls
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From the helicopter you can spot the falls in the distance because of
all the mist it throws up. |
JR and his family flew together on the helicopter for about a 20 minute view of the river and the falls. Walt and Susan flew later with one other couple who must have paid the extra for an extended 30-40 minute ride. We got to see not only the falls and the river, but also flew over the national park and saw lots of animals.
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| Large heard of elephants |
Our best view of the falls by far, was from up above
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| A view of the Zambesi River as it goes over the falls. Zambia is at the top. |
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| Victoria Falls from above |
The Zambesi River is over a mile wide as it goes over the falls. But once over the falls, it all flows down through this very narrow gorge.
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| The gorge just below the falls |
There was so much mist coming off of the falls, we had to wear raincoats. As we walked along the falls, the mist came back down, creating a very heavy
rainstorm.
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| "Dr. Livingstone, I presume" |
David Livingstone was the first white person to see the falls and named them after Queen Victoria
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| The happy family BEFORE ---- |
The wet family AFTER----
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| Savannah |
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Ashlee and Chase
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JR is trying to take a picture of the falls but all he saw was 'white'
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| JR trying (without much success) to keep his camera and lenses dry |
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Tonya and Ashlee on the bridge just below the falls which connects
Zimbabwe and Zambia. Away from the falls the weather was just great. |
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Savannah bungee-jumped from this bridge
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We didn't get many pictures of Savannah jumping but JR bought the video that this film crew made.
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| Savannah getting her last instructions before jumping |
Savannah was the only one of us that jumped from the bridge but all the rest of us (except Grandma) rode a zip-line across the gorge there by the bridge.
If you look real close at this video, you can see a little 'speck' flying through the air
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We had a dinner and a breakfast here at the Safari Lodge.
It's in a magnificent setting looking out over a watering hole. |
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From the restaurant, we looked out over this watering hole in the evening.
It was amazing to sit on the deck and watch these elephants as they came to drink. |
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| Some thirsty buffalo |
The last evening in Victoria Falls, we went to the famous Boma Restaurant for a huge buffet dinner along with an amazing show.
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| A fish eagle and a lion |
The restaurant hosts dressed everyone as they entered in some kind of African attire.
They also painted a special African picture on everyone's face.
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| We think Savannah got the coolest paint job |
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| A baboon. |
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| JR is wearing a Baobab tree on his face |
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| Some of them were a little nervous when they heard about the menu |
The Boma served a huge buffet meal including many exotic game animals such as Crocodile, Kudu, Warthog and Impala
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| Carson and Chase listening to their instructions for playing their drums |
After dinner they came around and passed out a large African drum to just about everyone in the restaurant.
They put on a very fun program and everyone in the restaurant got to participate in one way or another. They taught us several different African rhythms to play on our drums.
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| Little drummer girl |
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| Our special little African family |
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| The happy family before their long, long plane ride home |
Yes, both of those carts are loaded with their luggage. We also filled a suitcase and sent a large box home with them.
Saying good-bye is hard
It was hard saying goodbye to JR, Tonya, Savannah, Carson, Ashlee and Chase. It was especially hard this time because we don't know if we'll get to have any other visitors before we finish our mission. If anyone wants to come to Zimbabwe and see Victoria Falls, we'll be so glad to host you.
