Hiking up Lions head!

Last day!!

So we are all set to meet Darren downstairs and to go climbing with him today...the weather should be beautiful, and then we come home tonight!!

We cannot wait to see you all! We love you, and miss you, Julie, Brooke, Nathan, and Joey!

Windy, rainy adventure

So, it was really windy and rainy, but we found a place to mountaineer and climb...it was fun, adventurous and we got the chance to get introduced a bit to traditional climbing...it wasn't the climb up table mountain we were hoping for, but we had a good time.

You can see Rachel and Sam at one of our ascend points. You can see the wind is blowing against them pretty hard.

Sam is holding on for dear life....
The wind was angry this day, my friends!!!!! We were on the edge of death, I tell you!

So behind Sam and Rachel is the climb we did...it looks kind of easy, but keep in mind that the wind was totally angry and that we picked all the rock faces to go up...no going around for us!! It was a good time, knowing we were able to return to our hotel to our warm bed and warm meal!

Lions Head

We had a huge adventure today!!! This was our first day of rock climbing. However...the weather was horrible. It was windy, rainy, and really miserable. We made arrangements to climb with Rachel Colesno. We met her at the base of table mountain. The weather was really bad, and table mountain was covered in clouds. We decided instead to climb up Lions head, which was a bit more reasonable...it was really just a hike, but it was really nice. The rain slowed a bit, but the wind was really bad.

This picture below is Sam and I on the top of Lions head. From here, we can see the 12 Apostles and the ocean to the south, and Capetown to the north. The clouds and wind were whipping by really quickly.

So Rachel, who was our guide, is a very experienced and accomplished mountaineer and climber. She has climbed up the face of half dome in Yosemite. It only took her and her husband 2 days to do it! Yikes! They slept on rock shelves during the evening!

During a surprise snowstorm on the European alps, she and her then husband to be stayed alive in a little bivy shelter. Since it was windy on Lionshead, she pulled it out and introduced us to it...it was much more comfortable than being out in the wind!!

Boy!!! We are out to go hiking on table mountain... It is wet and rainy!!

This is out vehicle, and behind us are the tents we  stay in.  Ours is the one furthest back to the left.  We overlook a big open field sloping down to a valley.  We are standing right in front of the lobby area of the hotel, where we eat an warm up by the fire in the evenings.

This is a view from the patio where we eat breakfast and lunch.  There are warthogs and zebras in these pictures.

This big famine came walking by.  We actually blokes their path, so they had to go around us.  They were very close.

A mama warthog with a broken tusk!!

Check out the tusks on this big dude!  He is a transplant from Kruger national park further north.   There are far too many elephants there.

They like to snuggle :)!  They are too young to mate still; they are just comfortable together!!

Three lions were resting together by the raodside.  The female has a brother just outside this photo, and the male we can see is her uncle; they are about the same age.

This big elephant stuck around really close to the truck.

Still more dancing.

More dancing....

These ostriches were in the road, and gave us a funny dance.

Sam wanted to go out and pet the elephant, bit I said no.

This elephant came right up to the house as we had afternoon snacks.

This is the patio where we eat.  In the background, there are animals in this picture.  Can you see them?

This is a cool old fireplace that keeps us warm.

This is the view down toward the hotel from our tent.

This is out vehicle, and behind us are the tents we  stay in.  Ours is the one furthest back to the left.  We overlook a big open field sloping down to a valley.  We are standing right in front of the lobby area of the hotel, where we eat an warm up by the fire in the evenings.

The big one on the left is the big mamma. She didn't like us blocking her path, so she walked right on front of us, flared her ears, and then relieved herself to tell us what she really thought of us.

Can you tell what this lion is doing now?

Male lion with a female and her cubs.  There's another male behind this one, but he is tough to see.

Male red hartebeest

Cool zebras hanging out in the sun...enjoying some grass!

She liked to suck on Sams finger.  Her claws were sharper than her teeth.

Heres another shot of the baby cheetah.  She's on a rugby ball.  She loved to play on that thing; bite it, jump on it...really neat.

This is Olah.  She was enjoying the sun on the top of her shade structure.  She also loves attention from visitors.  As we approached her, she began to purr.  She loved to be pet around her head.  She has thick fur, a bit more coarse than I expected.  She licked the back of my hand, and it was really scratchy.  Very pretty.

Sam and the baby lions.  They were very nice and 6 weeks old.  When they are 4 to 6 weeks old, they will go back to the park to be re introduced in the wild.

One of the adult cheetahs resting in the sun!

Roman trying to be like a caracal...

Here's a photo of the baby cheetah.  He looks rather sad in this picture, by believe me, he was running around, playing, and having a great time.  He just stopped for a moment when I asked him to pose for the camera.

Sam thinks he is a caracal.

Roman and a stuffed Caracal

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Sunday, June 12

Sunday was a super day.  Probably the highlight of the trip for me.  We got up early and packed and said our goodbyes, and then went to Church.  About 60 attended, but it was the flu season, and many did not come because of recent bad weather.  They say normally, they get about 80 or so.  It was a very nice building, much nicer than ours in Lincoln :), but also much smaller.  The chapel was about twice the size of our RS room.

When we showed up, a few people greeted us, and asked if we were the assigned speakers from the stake.  Apparently, they were expecting high council speakers or something.  However, no speakers from the stake arrived.  (The stake is very large...it is the Port Elizabeth Stake, and Uitenhage (where we attended Church) is about 30 minutes from Port Elizabeth.)  So the Branch President invited certain members to bear their testimonies.  It was awesome!  Many of them spoke about a sister who just passed away the previous week, Sylvia.  They spoke very highly of her.  It was super to hear their testimonies and how much they looked up to Sr. Sylvia.  I am most appreciative of the Spirit we felt in the meeting.  Seeing the young men pass the sacrament was a great reminder to me that the Church and priesthood of God are active and at work all over the world.  Wonderful meetings.  I didn't want to go.  In Sacrament meeting, we sat next to a woman who was just baptized 3 months ago.  Her kids still live in Zimbabwe where she is from.  She hopes to be able to afford to bring them to South Africa.

After Church, we changed clothes and went to a Cheetah sanctuary.  It was awesome.  They have 16 cheetahs there, some serval cats and some caracals.  Here are some pictures:

This one below is called "Olah" and she was enjoying the sun.  As we pet her, she purred and purred. She loved the attention.  Way cool.  Her fur is much coarser than you would think.  She even licked the back of my hand...very thick, coarse, rough tongue.  Very affectionate kittie.  She's been known to eat house cats that sneak in.

The baby lions were perhaps the highlight of the sanctuary.  They are 6 weeks old, and will stay there until they are 4-6 months old, weighing about 150 pounds.  Then, they go back to a wild animal park, where they are introduced into the "wild."  The baby cheetah was cool also, but we weren't able to pet him.

After the sanctuary, we drove to the elephant camp.  We are staying in a home built originally in 1820.  They restored it a few years ago, and built 11 tents around.  It is beautiful.  We are the only guests here at the moment, so we are spoiled.  It is really fun.  We miss our family very much and cannot wait to be home.  We drove around last night and saw hartebeest, zebra, kudu, eland, warthog, ostriches, and tons of other little birds.  It was way cold!  Then we got to bed and slept very well!

We miss you and we love you!

After church, we went to a cat breeding place, and saw cheetahs, caracal, serval, and baby lions.  It was great.  I'll be able to upload more pictures tomorrow.  

Tonight, we are at A cool tented game park adjacent to Addo Elephant Park.  We are the only guests at the moment, so we are spoiled.  It's at the 19th century home of a European farmer, and the home has been restored and is really cool....more to follow later.

Sam and I had an awesome day.  After we packed up and said good bye to everyone, Braun dropped us off at Church.  We had a super great block of meetings. The branch members were all so very welcoming, and were so kind to us.  When we walked in, they asked us if we were speakers from the stake.  Apparently the stake speakers had missed their assignment, so the branch president turned it into a testimony meeting, asking certain members to share their testimonies.  It was awesome.  

Hang'n in Joburg

After tracking the zebras for about an hour, Braun and Neville spotted the zebras feeding about 200 yards away from us.  There were also blesbok (the same ones) watching us, so I was still skeptical.  

The zebras were moving to our left, and Braun put out the shooting sticks, predicting where zebra would come out.  First, we saw his head, and Sam lined up.  Slowly, the Zebra stepped out, but his shoulder was still blocked by bushes.  He took one more step, and Braun said, "Shoot, shoot, shoot!!"

After the shot, the zebra turned around and ran the other way.  At the same time, hooves from a dozen or more animals were heard all around us.  Blesbucks, 7 or so waterbucks, and the remaining zebra took off away from us.  Sam said he did not feel good about the shot.  I looked diligently to try to get some sign of an injured zebra, but we only saw one...I thought this was a good sign.

Eventually, Braun did see a flash of zebra as he fell to the ground.  We gave him about 15 minutes, an worked out way forward to find him.  He ran about 100 yards or so after the shot; it was a very good shot.  A very fine Berchell zebra.

More glassing for zebras.