March 11, 2006

Pilanesberg

On Tuesday, Mom and Dad watched the kids so that we could go on an early morning game drive. We left at 5:30 am and we had our own jeep and guide. This is the sun rising over the park.

African sunrise

While on the game drive, we saw a herd of elephants, a jackal, a lion next to a watering hole, tsesebe, zebra, wildebeests and a rhino. We barely missed seeing a cheetah cross the road. Another group saw it and called our game driver to tell us. Scott saw the cheetah's ears above the tall grass as it was stalking a group of wildebeest, but unfortunately we didn't see more of it.

We returned to the hotel, ate breakfast and then all went together in the mission van into the park. The first animals we saw were giraffes. Here Tyler is looking at one through his "binoculars." Grandma made Brooke and Tyler binoculars out of toilet paper tubes after they kept asking for the real binoculars.

Tyler watching a giraffe

The giraffes were amazing to watch. They walk slowly from tree to tree eating the best leaves. At one point we saw many giraffes in the same area. We even saw white giraffes.

Giraffe

Mom loves guinea fowl. So we always had to stop and take pictures when we saw one. They are kind of strange birds that seldom fly and are mostly purplish with white polka dots and a blue neck.

Guinea fowl

We stopped at a lookout point near a small lake. There we saw a large elephant getting a drink. There were lots of other animals around also: zebras, wildebeests and hippos. The hippos spent most of their time in the water, but we saw several out of the water.

Hippo entering water

For lunch, we went to Pilanesberg Center, which has a small restaurant and gift shop. There we ate hamburgers on the wood deck and watched animals come to the salt lick. We saw wildebeests, warthogs and zebras with their babies. Tyler's favorite part was his ice cream treat with a blue cone.

Mother and baby

In the afternoon, we returned to the hotel and Mom and Dad rested while we took the kids swimming at the hotel pool. There was a waterslide which both kids loved as long as they were riding down with one of us.

Wednesday was Scott's birthday, which he celebrated by getting sick. Fortunately we were due to leave for Johannesburg anyway, but Scott was pretty miserable on the drive home.

On Thursday, Scott was feeling mostly better but still recovering. Mom and Tiffany went shopping and made surprise cupcakes for Scott's birthday. After dinner Scott was feeling well enough to celebrate and eat his cupcakes.

The next day we went to Lion Park. They had eight month old lions that we could pet. Tyler was a little nervous, but Brooke loved it. Fortunately there was a keeper that kept the lions distracted while Brooke pet them. Dad wasn't so lucky - he was bit by one of the lions because he was petting them too softly! Dad says that some of the missionaries go to another park where they wrestle with bigger lions. Then they brag about their scars from being scratched and bitten.

Kids petting a baby lion

Right next to the lion cages was a platform to feed giraffes. We bought some giraffe feed and stood on the platform shaking the bag of food until a giraffe came by. We discovered that giraffes have long, slobbery tongues!

Feeding a giraffe

Next we drove through the lion camps. Mom was the first one to point out these lions resting in a tree.

Lions in tree

We ate lunch at a seafood restaurant and then shopped at an African market. We bought gifts for people and Scott bought an ebony elephant and Tiffany bought a bowl with carved animals on the rim. Then we returned to the mission home before going out to eat at Carnivore. We were greeted at the door of the restaurant by this Zulu warrior.

Tyler with warrior

For dinner, we ate kudu, zebra, gemsbok, ostrich, crocodile and springbok. Zebra was our favorite meat, but we didn't tell Tyler what we were eating, he would have been heartbroken.

On Saturday we went back to the Organic Market for some more souvenirs and then returned home to pack. After dinner, we went to the airport where Mom and Dad helped us get checked in. Scott bought a polo shirt with an elephant on it and we also bought some biltong, which is like beef jerky. The flight home was uneventful and we returned safely to our apartment in Israel after a wonderful visit to South Africa.

Tyler-isms:

"By its lone" - By itself.
"Have you ever seen a funny 11 with three ones?" - Amazed by the number 111.
"How do they carry things on their head without dropping them? I can't do that." - We saw many African women carrying things on their heads, even grocery sacks full of food.
"Binocules" - Binoculars.
"Now I don't have to do any of those things at Grandma's. I can just play." - After telling Tyler he did a good job eating, sleeping and going potty while we were on the plane.
"We forgot to do jet lag." - Tyler missed getting up in the middle of the night to eat and play.

Brooke-isms:
"Yion" - Lion.
"Pampa" - Either grandma or grandpa, used interchangably.

Posted by sjbowden at March 11, 2006 8:28 PM