Pilanesberg 3

Our second day, January 7, we went on a morning game drive. The most difficult thing about it was getting picked up as they forgot us but another of the company's drivers came by and took us to the meeting point. We saw more animals per hour than the day before but I didn't get as good of photos. We did see lions (they are in the photo with the trees). It was a rainy day so the animals were either in hiding or just standing around.   

Pilanesberg 2

I wanted to write a little about the birds we saw in the park. There were various water birds at the water holes, but the most amazing we saw were the weaver birds and the red bishops. Both were building similar nests near a hippo water hole.    Are they fantastic. I love the nests and as you drive down the highways outside of Jo'burg you see nests in the trees. I think they look like lanterns.

Pilanesberg National Park

On January 6 we drove to Pilanesberg. It is a game park in the northern part of South Africa and only just over a 2 hour drive from Johannesburg. We took Elder & Sister Johnson on our adventure.

The first day we drove our selves around the park seeing lots of animals. There were many kinds of antelope, plus zebra, wildebeest (really another kind of antelope), hippopotamus, rhinoceros, and elephant. The only predator we saw was a jackal. It was great fun to see the animals in their natural environment.

 

     

Lunch at Mike's Kitchen in Rosebank Mall

I wanted to include photos of our lunch. David had lamb chops with a side of what seems to be common veggies- creamed spinach and mashed squash. It's all very tasty. I had chicken schnitzel with mushroom cheese sauce which I've grown to like. Its also a common choice at restaurants. The meal with soft drinks was under $20 . Food is cheap here but many other items are about the same price as home.  

Johannesburg Zoo

We decided to go to the zoo today as we wanted to do something but not travel very far. The zoo is only 5 to 7 minutes from Dukes Court. It covers a lot of space and is better than many zoos. We spent over 3 1/2 hours walking around! I'm including a few photos of some of the animals. Our favorite animal this time was the hippo.    David wanted a photo of the zebra with my matching hat.

Shopping Spree

We drove the Johnson s to several stores on the 31st. First was a fabric store, then Cambanos where we bought some interesting African items including the Zulu baskets in the photo. We also went to Makro which is like a huge Costco.

December 26th

We went with Elder & Sister Johnson to Rosebank Mall to leave their car while we took the Red Bus tour. We rode all over Jo'burg and saw lots of the city. We hopped off at the Apartheid Museum. It was both sad and interesting. I find it difficult to understand people treating others so abominably.

Christmas

Since Christmas was a Sunday we went to Church where only Sacrament Meeting was held. But after the meeting the First Presidency Christmas Devotional was shown while the sisters prepared the lunch. We went home to get ice cream for lunch since there is no refrigerator at the building. We didn't eat as it hadn't been kept hot or cold and we were still recovering from upset stomach. The people had such a good time.

Since none of our Apple products had worked since the electricity was off on the 14 th we called our children's families by Skype. We were glad to be able to talk to them!

Last Day in George

George was named for King George III of England who was king during the American Revolution. Our last day in George we visited both the George Museum and the Railroad Museum. Both were wonderful with interesting displays. The George Museum reminded me of the old Horner Museum under Gull Colleseum in Corvallis with lots of local items. The Railway Museum was huge! Besides lots of trains there were vintage cars and some other vehicles.    Lunch was in the diner.

Dinner was at the Italian Restaurant La Capanini in the middle of town where we could see all the old fashioned electric Christmas lights in the square.

George & Knysna

We started out Wednesday morning with visiting St Marks Anglican Church where Elder Jubber's 3rd great grandparents were buried. It's a beautiful building and had lovely flowers. We then drove east to the town of Knysna where we shopped, visited a gorgeous overlook of the bay and ocean and had lunch of pot pies and dessert at a family owned store called a pizzeria .   

George

On Tuesday the 20 th we decided to take it easy instead of going to the point where the Indian & Atlantic Oceans meet 3 hours away. We were dropped off at the bed and breakfast and had breakfast there since the Ludwigs went in our car. The b & b had a delicious breakfast. The main house was built in the 1800s and is surrounded by beautiful gardens.

We walked to the George Botanical Gardens and the took a long hike through a forest area called "mushroom meander" where we did see a few fungi. The Johnson's & Powells went with us we also saw a lovely lake and some Protea plants. It was a nice garden but not as formal as many gardens which I liked! We had lunch in an adjacent outdoor tea room .

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Canga Caves

Just outside of Oudishoorn are the Canga Caves. We drove into the mountains to visit them and had lunch of ostrich burgers ( okay but not great. Ostrich tastes like lean beef) while waiting for our cave tour. The caves were beautiful and we were glad to be in a cooler pace as it was a hot day.   The formations were amazing!

Highgate Ostrich Farm

Monday morning we drove over the mountains back the way we had come on Friday then turned towards the town of Oudishoorn where we saw signs for many ostrich farms. We visited the Highgate Ostrich Farm where we saw how they make feather dusters, carve eggs and raise baby chicks. We were able to hold cute little ostrich chicks, climb on the back of a full grown ostrich, see a few of our group ride an ostrich, and watch a short race. It was our favorite activity of the week!     We bought some dusters as souvenirs and wished the purses didn't cost so much.

The ostrich on this Farm were fairly docile compared to ones we seen in Ghana. We even fed some.