Spontaneous

We decided to take a spontaneous trip on Sunday - Tuesday. It was so weird to make a plan on Saturday night to leave in the morning for a trip with some friends of ours - Steven and Robyn Ball. What an amazing trip!! We have had so much opportunity to travel here in South Africa. The countryside is so beautiful.

We drove for about 5 hours and landed at God's Window.

Scott and Maddie looking out God's Window. On a very clear day you can see Mozambique (estimated 30 miles away).

Alex on top of the world!!



Loving the time together - this is school right - Geography?


I loved this sign on a trash bin going back to our car.

We then traveled a small distance to Bourke's Luck.

Grit and stones carried by the swirling water of the Blyde (joyful) and Truer(sad) rivers have carved potholes where early prospectors extracted gold. This was amazing to see.



Burkes Luck Potholes



The Family


Robyn and Steven Ball - fun - fun - fun to be around!


Another view to get the idea how high up we were

NEXT, we went to the Three Rondavels

This represents a traditional cylinder huts of the Xhosa or Zulu tribes. These three hills were shaped by the erosion of soft rock beneath a harder rock "cap"


Maddie and Alex enjoying the trip - (note there are no guard rails to keep you up top - so this is a little scary for me to have them sitting there).



Blyde River


Beautiful

The sun was setting so it was time to call it a day



Great sunset pic!!

Did you notice anything weird about the first sunset pic beginning the blog- It is a real picture, but it has props!! Scott was holding up a wooden giraffe (which is missing some legs) so I could get a true South African Sunset picture. Pretty Fun Huh?!?

We were able to see acres and acres of Banana Farms - Did not know they had them here in South Africa. This farmer exports all of his bananas.




Bananas growing - This was a first for me to see.

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Kruger National Park

Well we could not travel all that way and bypass Kruger National Park - so here are some pictures of that. You are probably sick of seeing animal pictures, but I tell you seeing these animals in the wild is nothing but spectacular and unpredictable!!!


Alex in front of a Kudu statue



Here is the biggest Kudo I have ever seen - look at the horns.


Impala mixed in with the Wart Hogs - I love how the warthogs are always on their knees when they eat!


Herd of Impala

Adult Impala with his son!


Herd of Elephants - this was amazing! I have never seen so many elephants - they just kept coming. Old ones all the way to the youngest babies!! So cute!





This was our entertainment! Seeing a Hyena is not common! He was very agitated! Walking back and forth - obviously a site to see by the site of the cars watching him. They say the reason he was so uneasy was that their was a kill not to far away and he was waiting for his opportunity to swoop in.


Ugly things aren't they?


Almost passed this giraffe by. We did see giraffes running too! That is awesome to see. Just out of National Geographic and I saw it in real life!


We were heading out of the park and were stopped by a herd of Cape Buffalo (which are hard animals to spot when you go to Kruger). We sat parked for about 15-20 min watching over 800 buffalo walk pass. It was amazing to see the old ones with the young ones. Wow God sure did make some amazing animals!

Anyway - I am finishing this blog 5 min before I am heading to the airport. I am flying to Zambia to meet up with others from the states to visit the GEMS clubs there. Please pray for me as I am a little nervous to go by myself. Pray that everything goes well, safety, and for the amazing new and different experiences. I am so excited to see the GEMS there!!!!!

Till next time!! Love you all!!