A Grand Adventure and a Tragic Death

About four hours away from Johannesburg is the 4th largest game reserve in South Africa (about 200,000 acres).  It's called Madikwe and we took Maddie and Chad there and had the adventure of a life time.  We stayed at the Mosetlha Bush Camp and slept among the animals.



Moseetlha Bush Camp, no electricity, no running water



This is called a 'donkey boiler'.  To get warm water, we poured
cold water in the spout on top and warm water came out the end.

.  The camp is fenced, and the only gate is just one coiled strand of electrified wire with 10,000 volts running through it.  The only problem is that the wire is about 7 feet off the ground.  It is only there to keep elephants from wandering into camp.  I guess they could make a real mess of the cabins if they got nervous inside the enclosure.


We did get a visit from a hyena, civet and cape buffalo the very first night.  They just wandered through the camp during the evening before we went to bed.  And the next morning some of us heard the low roar of a lion.


Our cabin was about three feet off the ground.  It has kind of a half door with a fabric panel in it. The front and back of the cabin is open with a canvas flap. Some of us heard foot steps and loud banging the minute we got in bed. Some of us  didn't sleep much because we had one eye open just to make sure the critters didn't visit us.  But we all had a great time though and would certainly go there again.

Our home for 3 days

We got to our camp about 2 pm the first day and went on our first game drive (safari) at about 4 p.m. to 7:30 pm.  We finished the drive in pitch black.  Our driver/guide Kgmotso, shined a spotlight and we were still seeing animals in the dark.

All our meals were provided and were cooked in Dutch ovens and they were really good.


The restroom with shower and VIP toilets (ventilated, improved pit) was just a couple of feet from our door.  There is a fenced path that leads to the restrooms so people don't have to worry about unwelcomed guests.



Our path to the bathroom and the showers had a fence
all around it



When we came back from our first game drive, there were well over 100 kerosene lanterns all over camp, lighting the paths to the cabins and rest rooms.  That was really a pretty sight.




A rare sighting of a leopard

A male Kudu and his sweetie

The next morning our game drive started at 6:30 (in the dark again).  It was pretty cold riding in the open vehicles until the sun came up but they had blankets for each of us to wrap up in.




Form left to right:  Gregg (our host), Chad and Maddie,
 Kgmotso (our guide), and Ming in the jeep

Mike's daughter, Sophie, had sent us Flat Stanley to take with us on our African adventures.  Grandma Susan dressed him up in some authentic African fabric, and we took him along on our Safari.  He was such a good boy while with us and never caused any trouble whatsoever.




Getting ready for the drive with Flat Stanley



Stanley with the Rhinos

We saw so many beautiful animals there.  They always talk about the "big five" when going on safaris.  Those are the 5 most dangerous animals; lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and Cape Buffalo.  By the morning during our second drive, we had seen all 5 of them.  Plus we had seen 4 cheetah brothers sunning themselves and also a pack of wild dogs.  Those are a very rare sight in the park.


Two Cheetahs sun bathing at the dam

The wild dogs

Rhinos

Because Madikwe is a regional and not a national park, the guides can drive "off road" if they need to go follow a special animal through the bush.  Our driver ended up doing that several times during our 4 game drives.

A beautiful animal

During the afternoon of the second day, we spotted a large herd of Cape Buffalo.  They are spectacular looking animals with the most beautiful massive horns.  We watched them for about 15 minutes until they crossed the road right ahead of us and wandered off into the brush again.


Cape Buffalo

All the driver/guides from different companies, keep in touch with each other on CB radios.  When a vehicle spots some great animals, they make a call and several vehicles in the vicinity may converge so everyone gets more chances to see the animals.




We watched this elephant for 10 minutes eating this bush




The bush is almost stripped clean.  Elephants eat for 18 hours a day. 
They consume about 500 pounds a day but only 40% is digested.

STANLEY'S BIGGEST, GRANDEST ADVENTURE

Just after dark, our guide, Kgmotso, spotted 2 male lions lying in the grass near the side of the road.  She put the spotlight on them and they just laid there.  She told us they were brothers and had just been brought to Madikwe from another game reserve in Namibia.  Animals are quite often moved around because it helps keep the gene pool strong.  These 2 males were quite large and she said they were not afraid to attack a large buffalo if they had the chance.

Two male lions waiting for the right time. 

As we were watching them, another vehicle a few hundred yards ahead of us radioed that they had just spotted a herd of buffaloes.  Kgmotso got really excited and told us all to keep quiet.  She said those 2 males by us were very likely stalking that heard.  She didn't want to move up closer to the buffaloes because she said if they stampeded, it would be really dangerous, even in the vehicle. So we waited.

SURE ENOUGH

About 5 minutes later the lions started moving slowly through the brush in the direction of the buffaloes.  Kgmotso didn't want to shine the light on them because it would make them easy to spot by the buffaloes.  We didn't see anything for about 5 minutes, but all of a sudden we heard the
terrified sound of the buffaloes and from a couple of hundred yards away could hear their hooves and bellowing as they stampeded.  Even in the dark we could see a big cloud of dust as they headed towards the road.  Unfortunately the vehicle in front of us was directly in their path.  The driver slammed in into reverse and "got himself out."

Kgmotso then took off into the bush in pursuit of the buffaloes and lions.  Real soon we heard the terrified sounds of a young buffalo that had been taken down by the lions.  We watched as one of the lions dragged the buffalo through the brush.  The buffalo was still kicking as the lions dragged him away.  Kgmotso said the lions move their kill so the buffaloes wouldn't come back on them and disturb their dinner.


Kgmotso followed them for a hundred yards or so, driving over rocks and trees or anything else that was in our way.  Everyone followed us through the dark until we stopped. Then we just parked and watched the lions eating their happy meal.  We shined our spotlights on them and the lions couldn't have cared less.  They just sat there and watched us watching them as they had dinner.  We could hear all sorts of noises, from the tearing of flesh to the crunching of bones.






Happy meal



Cape Buffalo sandwich

Commentary by Madeline Parson

I guess that seeing a kill like that is one of the rarest of sights.  We felt extremely fortunate. 


UNTIL WE MADE A SAD AND TRAGIC DISCOVERY


We wanted to take some pictures of Stanley with the lions. But we couldn't find him anywhere.  At some point during this chase, Stanley must have become dislodged from his seat and thrown from the vehicle.  Poor little fellow.  We'll never forget little Stanley in all his flatness.  He had some of the finest moments of his life here in Africa.  We do believe that he died a hero.




Beautiful Kudu with his two does

Heading to the watering hole




Two brothers snuggling in the afternoon sun



We watched these rhinos fight for their territory.

They pushed and shoved each other back and forth.

Sometimes they will do it for hours.

We all had the adventure of a lifetime and we will never forget our three days at Madikwe Game Reserve.

Visitors from the West

Last week we had our first visitors and we had a wonderful time.  Maddie and Chad flew all the way here to spend some time with grandma and grandpa before they embark on their adventure to West Virginia for medical school.

 They stayed with us in our apartment and slept on an air mattress that was flat every morning. We enjoyed some adventures, good food and played some mean card games of '500'. 

We spent several hours at the Apartheid Museum learning about a dark time in the history of South Africa.

Mike and Tami's Sophie emailed us Flat Stanley which we took with us many places.

South Africa is called the Rainbow Nation because it is blending so many different groups to form one country.  There are 11 official languages in South Africa, and the many different colors on the flag represents this blending of tribes, cultures, etc.

Tragically, Stanley lost his life later in the week

Maddie, Chad and Stanley with statue of Nelson Mandela at Mandela Square

 At the Elephant Sanctuary we spent some time 'up and close' with some very big elephants.

We took turns feeding the elephant

                                         And not only up close, but up close and personal

Maddie got kissed by an elephant

Wet and slimy.   Ugh!!!

 

Walking with an elephant hand in trunk

                                                     Maddie and Chad went for a ride

 

Wednesday, we went on a tour of Soweto (acronym for South Western Townships).  Soweto was originally an area of Johannesburg where blacks were re-settled in the Apartheid days in So. Africa before 1990 when they were forcibly evicted from their homes and taken to resettlement areas. 

Two abandoned, 300' cooling towers, now with a bungee jump between

. 

Garbage sorters go through the garbage cans and haul away their treasure

You can see just the roofs of these "homes" with porta potties nearby

Today there are between 1.3 million and 3.5 million people in Soweto, almost all black.

We visited a particular township of about 40,000 people there called Kliptown.  It is just a collection of tin shacks or shipping containers with unbelievably terrible living conditions. There is no running water or electricity.  They get their water from taps around the town to wash their clothes.

                                            The dirty water then runs down the dirt streets.

                             They cook on kerosene stoves and share an outhouse with 15 other families.

                         We were invited into one of these tiny homes, this one has one bed but sleeps 8

Living area



Bedroom

We visited an organization there called Kliptown Youth Program.  Some remarkably dedicated people working to improve the lives of the kids who live there.  It was started 5 years ago and has 400 children enrolled.  Their goal is to help the children graduate from high school, find jobs and raise themselves out of poverty.  Some youth have been helped with college tuition and so far 21 have gone on to college.  Along with their parents, these kids sign a contract and promise to stay in school and attend a tutoring class twice a week. The program helps provide uniforms for public school (all children wear uniforms to school), books and pay the school fees.  They have to walk a long distance to attend school.  On their way, they stop and get a sandwich for lunch and after school they get a hot meal.

Kitchen at Kliptown Youth Program

The founder and director of the center is Thulani Maldonado.  In 2012 he was chosen by CNN from a group of 45,000 as one of their top ten heroes of the year.  This cash award enabled them to get a computer lab with 20 computers.

A GREAT HUMANITARIAN

As he walked the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, he passed child after child begging for food.  They just wanted something to take the hunger away.  It was then that he decided to take some of them home.  He didn't have much but he could give them hope and something to take the pain away.  For years he kept quiet and never asked for money.  He sold his carvings to buy what he needed.  Now he is taking care of 98 children.

His name is Stephen Kyalo (pronounced 'cello').  He says, "My goal is to help 1,000 children before I die."
There are 1.5 million orphaned children in Nairobi. 90% of them have lost their parents to Aids. As he took in more and more children, he rented a two bedroom house and a tin shack for a school.  The name of his orphanage is 'Nazarene Orphan Center'.

 

ONLY A FEW OF THE THINGS HE MAKES
 

 He only has a few beds and so most of the children sleep on mattresses on the floor.  He has about 12 teachers that are paid. The toilet facilities there are very primitive.
In 2012 he came to Salt Lake to visit church groups and sell his products.  He is familiar to missionaries that have served in Kenya. He was interviewed on KSL and was written up in the Deseret News.  He now has others making his carvings and he sells them by word of mouth and through a website -  'www.africarver.com.'



HE IS KNOWN FOR HIS NOAH'S ARKS
 

When asked how he started carving, he said he learned as a young boy.  He lived with his grandparents and would sit and watch his grandfather carve stools.  As soon as he was alone, he would pick up a knife and start carving.




READING THE SCRIPTURES

 

I met Stephen a few weeks ago here at Dukes Court.  His story  was an inspiration to all of the missionaries that visited with him. He brought many of his carvings and it was hard deciding what to buy.

Security Central

I read a couple of weeks ago that South Africa has the largest Private Security industry in the world.  You don't have to drive or walk far to know that could surely be true.

Our apartment building has at least two security men on duty at all times, one at the front door and one at the garage door.

Our apartment building.  We're second floor (out of 5), center

A lady standing next to security wall beneath the electrified wire

The Area office has two or more on duty also.  One has to drive through two security gates to get to the doors or to the parking garages.

The mall across the street from our flat has probably 6 or 8 on duty.  Johannesburg is supposed to have a high crime rate, but we really feel pretty safe walking or driving around.  They tell us we should always drive with the windows up and doors locked. Also, that we shouldn't have anything in site in the car as we drive.

All of these walls are topped by electrified wires

 

We live in kind of an upscale area of town but certainly not an exclusive type area.  Nearly every property (apartment buildings and houses) have walls surrounding them.  These walls are almost always topped with electrified fences.

Just an old man looking up at an amazing, beautiful and huge tree



Every property has warning signs like this
 

Mom distracting a security guard from his post.  His chair is there on sidewalk. 
Note the other guard shack in the background

On the streets just North of our flat where we go for walks, lots of the houses have security guards in front or in enclosed stations by the gates.

Security station by driveway