Safari

Psalm 19:1-4 "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

Romans 1:20 “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”

<-Nursing Girls

Sawubona Everyone!!!

This weekend I fulfilled a childhood dream of mine-Safari in Africa! It was absolutely incredible; What an adventure!!!

It started off Saturday morning. After a 4-hour drive to the reserve and a picnic lunch, we got into jeeps and drove around until dinner time. It was cold and wet, but that just added to the adventure. That afternoon we came upon a herd of elephants that came up quite close. It was AMAZING!!! I LOVE elephants!!! They are possibly my new favorite animal. They are just such magnificent creatures. God is so creative and intelligent! Also that night, we saw wild dogs eating 2 impala (I would not necessarily call it a highlight for me, but it was for the rest of the group).

After dinner we were driven back to our tents. Whenever we got out of the jeeps the drivers would shine their torch (flashlight) in the bushes as we did the same while we walked to our tent. We had specific orders that we could not leave the tent until we heard the jeep again outside our tent in the morning. Last week a leopard attacked a man outside his tent there around dinner time. Luckily there were people near by who screamed and the leopard dropped the man’s head out from his jaws and ran away. The man had to be airlifted out, but I believe he survived. So- yes, we followed our strict orders. The tents were also an interesting situation or “adventure” in themselves. I am not exaggerating when I say our tent was covered and filled with 100+ beetles. We had bug nets, but I learned that bugs can still get in those nets…did you know beetles bite??? Well- they do. It’s all good though, even with the bugs, and ferocious winds, and intense heat, it was absolutely wonderful and I am very thankful for the experience.

Sunday, we left the camp at a little past 5am and drove around until breakfast time. For breakfast we went to the most amazing restaurant at the top of a mountain in the reserve. It was absolutely GORGEOUS!!! Beautiful panoramic view. As we ate a delicious South African breakfast we watched a herd of elephants cross a road below us. The whole breakfast I could not stop thinking about my parents. I wish they could have been there- They would have LOVED it! It reminded me of a place we went to in Alaska a couple summers ago…minus the elephants and guava.

After breakfast we drove until our picnic lunch, then drove again until dinner. The highlights of the day were the rhinos. We saw a black rhino, which is very rare- One of the guides said it was only the third Black Rhino he has ever seen. We made rhino noises and it stood up and came up a little closer! Super fun. Truth be told, I think we enjoyed making Black Rhino noises more than we actually were excited about the rhino itself. Next was my favorite part of Sunday- We watched white rhinos rolling in the mud-SUPER CUTE!!! Then as we were driving looking for lions our car stopped working right next to a herd of white rhino. We had to get out of the jeep to push it and start it back up. White rhino are generally pretty passive compared to the black rhino, so they did not charge or anything- in fact they ended up running away; But, even though it was for just a short moment, it was still so cool to be standing so close to them!!! Later that afternoon as we were on a huge unsuccessful lion hunt we saw about 30 very endangered wild dogs running and we knew right away they were making a kill so we followed them to a standing viewpoint over a water bend. As we got there we realized that we could see 4 of the “Big 5” all at one time. In the mostly dried up riverbed there was a rhino, a herd of elephants, a lioness (who really looked more like a little white dot in the distance), and a Wildebeest. The only animal we were missing was a leopard, but those are super rare to see. It was so amazing!!!! And, the sunset was beautiful. It was just a wonderful moment and a precious end to a great day.

Monday we drove before and after breakfast, and then left for AE after a picnic lunch. The highlight of the day was the LIONS!!! The whole morning was a very serious lion hunt. We got word that a group saw a pride of lions walking up from the river bend following a buffalo so we drove into the thicket and found the buffalo and we sat and we watched and waited and watched and waited and drove back and forth and repeat…(you get the picture). We were just about to give up and were driving away as we spotted them walking through the thicket. We positioned ourselves and then watched them cross the road right in front of us!!! There were about twice as many lions as we expected (there was about 6). It was INCREDIBLE!!! I don’t have words to explain…It was just SO AMAZING!

Afterwards we searched for cheetah and were unsuccessful, but I did not really care. I was still on a high from everything else, and I had never expected to see any cheetah in the first place. During the search we saw some warthogs rolling in the mud and for some reason I just absolutely loved it! They reminded me of puppies. I don’t know what it is about watching things play in the mud, but I just think it is so cute! Absolutely Adorable!

White Rhino (with little birds) upper left and Warthogs upper right

Impala upper left and Buffalo upper right

Zebra upper left and a Baby Giraffe suckling it's mother upper right

This was such an incredible experience!!! I feel so blessed. Overall we saw several herds of Elephants, White Rhino, a Black Rhino, Impala, Nyala, Wildebeest, Kudu, Buffalo, Giraffe, Zebra, Lions, Wild Dogs, Warthogs, a Mongoose, a variety of birds, Hyenas, Baboons, Monkeys, and then in the insect/reptile realm-Big Beetles, little beetles, Scorpions, Gigantic moths (like bird size-we get them here at AE also), little moths, millipedes and Geckos. However, even if we had not seen any animals at all, I would have loved every minute of this trip. It was just so beautiful- absolutely jaw dropping. I am so in Awe of the Lord.

May you see God in the world around you and delight in Him!

Sala Kahle