Merry Christmas from Africa

Even though there are no Christmas trees here in SA, and this is officially the first day of Summer here, (81 degrees) we want to let you know that we are observing the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ all the same. Since we needed to get into the season just a bit, we went to an African market last week and bought a hand carved ebony nativity from a carver who was from Zimbabwe. If you are not aware of the sadness in Zimbabwe, you must read up. Anyway, this pretty nativity serves our little flat very well. Throw in a little garland and we are ready for the season. Really and truly, we want you all to know that with or without the usual traditions and trappings of the season, Christ is in our heart and his message truly was the inspiration for our coming to Africa to assist in this great work. (more on the work in our next posting...)

Merry Christmas to you all!

This is an incedible land. For the next few moments we would like to share with you an experience we had yesterday at the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve located on 1400 acres within the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. It is a wonderful way to see nature up close, but in its own habitat. The new Olympus camera with the 18X optical zoom lens helped considerably. You drive slowly through the reserve, but DO NOT get out of your car. I repeat, you DO NOT get out of the car. You are permitted to open the windows of your vehicle 33%, but do so at your own risk. Folks have had tires chewed, bumpers knocked off by Rhino's and last year a Japanese tourist got out of his car for that "perfect shot" and was killed AND eaten by a pride of lions. We played by the rules and had a fantastic day. Please remember that if you want to see enlarged versions of any of the photos, just double click the picture and 'voila!'...big!

Genesis: Chaper One

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth...and God said let the earth bring forth the grasses...and God said let the earth bring forth the living creatures...and God made the beasts of the earth...and every living thing...and God saw that it was good..."

A mother Warthog and her four babies...remember that Spring has just ended and the animal kingdom is alive with offspring! Even the ugliest of animals has cute babies.

A handsome male Sable Antelope keeping a wary eye out. He stood up and was about six feet to his ears, but added another 24" with his horns.

This endangered species is called the Wild Dog. There are only about 4000 left in the world. These three are feasting on the carcass of what probably was a Springbuck. Their sound was nothing like the bark of a dog however, but more of a high pitched squeel and they had very much of the 'pack mentality'.

This is a female Cape Buffalo that was not happy with us as we were being observed as a threat to her young. We were convinced by her size and eyebrows, and we quickly drove on.

Here is a family of Gemsbock catching the cool shade of the Kraal Spike Thorn tree. They are strikingly beautiful and their horns grow up to 4 feet on both the male and female. I have bought 'biltong' at the market, which is like jerky from this animal, and it is very good.

Not much description needed here. A female Ostrich that has laid 15-20 eggs somewhere nearby, each weighing 3lbs and she can really run. You can't help but laugh when you see them take off running.

There are three prides of White Lions on the reserve. They are a very scarce type of lion, although not albino. They are the result of a recessive gene and have blue eyes. They are really a beautiful animal. Here they are tearing into an aged Rhino on the grassy plains of the Krugersdorp area in the Gauteng province of South Africa.

One of my favorite shots of the day. This is a female Cheetah, also quite endangered, and she is catching some shade during the mid day sun.

...and this is one of the juvenile males that is not putting out the welcome mat for us!

This is a shot of a female White Rhinoceros on the move. They have two prominant horns on their face and can weigh up to 2300kg (for you Americans, that's about 6000 lbs). They are very territorial and are not to be treated as big, fat and slow!

This, of course, is a pair of beautiful Hartmann Zebras. Comouflage is not their strength. They are concerned as well, as there were several of their young nearby, but even though they all have stripes, no two are ever exactly the same, so Mom can easily tell her own from the rest. (they could anyway)

This is also one of my favorites. In six hours of shooting 165 photos it's hard to pick one favorite picture since the animals were so plentiful and so very photogenic, however this magestic male Brown Lion was a real 'poser'. He got up from his laying down position, stood as though he were really "the king", gave me a wonderful 5 second side shot, and then he stared us down (see picture below) as if to say..... 'get going!'

"Don't make me chew up your Firestone's!"

Clearly one of the high-lites for Reenie was to go to the baby animal creche and for a small fee, she got to play with the 1-3 month old baby lions and black leopards. Here is Reenie rubbing the nose of this 3 month old female brown lion and she got it so relaxed, I believe it went to sleep. They are already enjoying a diet of red meat, so there is a trained volunteer nearby, should these furry little fuzzballs decide that an afternoon snack of your finger would be tasty.

Here is the happy Reenie with the two identical twin sisters.

Merry Christmas Reenie...

We'll gradually post more of the pictures we took at the game park, but for now we'll just say

Merry Christmas to all. We love you and miss you.