EXPERIENCING AFRICA

Well on Thursday August 9 it was National Women's Day - I was thinking it was like a Mother's day or just a date on the calendar - I was proven wrong 9 August: National Women's Day On this day in 1956 some 20,000 women marched to the Union [government] Buildings in Pretoria to protest against a law requiring black women to carry passes. This day is celebrated as a reminder of the contribution made by women to society, the achievements that have been made for women's rights, and to acknowledge the difficulties and prejudices many women still face.

So on Thursday we began our day as normal - We took Maddie to school at 7:00am only to find out there was NO SCHOOL - OOPS and it is a big deal here. It is even a bank holiday. So we eventually figured out that Maddie had a long weekend holiday. We took advantage of it and did a few things on Friday to experience Africa.

We started at Tamboti Lodge and we went on a Game Drive on 4 wheelers through a huge area of land. Here is our adventure:

We arrived at Tamboti Lodge after lunch - the kids were very excited!!


The first animal the kids saw was a head of a lion. Alex thought it was the coolest thing and to him the trip was very successful. Maddie was a little scared - I assured her it was not alive.

You can stay in lodges here and one of the options is a tent cottage up on stilts. When you sleep at night you can hear some of the animals walking around below you. When I say animals - I mean warthogs and porcupines and the bushbuck, gazelle and kudu can be grazing around it. They also have a stray leopard that comes around.

Here is maddie and mommy getting read for our drive

Here is Alex and Daddy getting ready with Maddie in the background thinking she is going to drive the 4 wheeler by herself.

The kids are looking down into a huge hole occupied by a family of porcupines. The kids were able to collect a bunch of porcupine quills.

Oh and a nice family picture! Derrik (our guide) wanted to take a picture of us - in what we thought we were standing on top of another hole occupied by a porcupine. After he took the picture he informed us that we were standing on top of a 4.2 meter Rock Python Snake!! Like the one pictured below!!

This python in this picture just ate an impala ewe whole! If your stomach can take it check out this website (http://www.bushveld.co.za/pictures-python.htm) and they have cut open the snake to show you. Makes us feel real great that we were standing on top of his home!!


Here the kids are in the bush observing - if you look closely there are about 20 bushbuck in the background - as we went a little further there was a HUGE Kudu - Scott had the camera and was not able to capture the leap he made over the path right in front of us.



Picture of the bushbuck in the distance.

After the dusty ride and viewing of animals the kids were able to pick oranges, grapefruit and lemons off the trees at the lodge.

Scott juggling - one of the many things I have learned he can do while living in Africa

A take away bag of fruit!!


TSHEPO YA BANA
After the game drive we went down the road to Mark and Chris Hardings orphanage, Tshepo Ya Bana - meaning hope for children. It was formed in 2003 and it aims to provide a loving Christian family environment for unwanted or abandoned children. All children under three years of age are accepted regardless of state of health or background.

This picture was taken in January 2007 - we visited the orphanage back in April and most of the same kids were still there. They had 13 kids when we visited in April and now they have 15 kids. They also have a lot of volunteers. There are 6 girls who have come to help from Holland and Belgium right now.





These are some pictures of the kids - I am not even going to try to spell their names because I am not sure. They are so full of life. Maddie and Alex were excited when we got there - then Maddie was bitten by one of their dogs and then Alex peed his pants and then he "hit a brick wall" so we had to cut our stay there very short. I was not able to visit long or take more pictures. (On a side note - maddie's arm was ok from the bite and Alex settled down after about 30 min - but we had to leave. We will visit them again soon. They are a very nice couple and we obtain a lot of information from them regarding our stay here.

Then on our way home we witness a huge bush fire!! The next day we found out that 1,000 hectares were burned (that is 2500 acres). What an amazing and scary site. You could look out for miles and see the fire burning. There was one time on the road back where it was so smokey it was hard to see driving.


Well that was our fun filled adventure - experiencing Africa day.