Mozambique Journal, several days combined

May 22 Kruger National Park South Africa

Fog--mountains--monkeys--sugar cane--banana trees

(That's all I wrote that day! We left early that morning, when it was still dark, and got to watch the sunrise as we drove. After we went through customs at the South African border, we saw beautiful mountains all around us, one of which had a blanket of fog that looked like it was pouring off of it. It was just gorgeous. Heath saw the first monkey, at the border crossing, and we passed acres and acres of sugar cane and banana trees. You could smell the sugar--mmmm!)

May 24

We spent all day Friday and Saturday in the truck driving around looking at animals.
(Charlie)
It was amazing. I made a list of all the animals we saw. (We started out giving points to people, but I lost track.) I saw the first giraffe. :)


It felt like Jurassic Park. Mike saw the first impala (of thousands),




baboon,


and rhino.

We drove to Bergen Dal and checked into our bungalows--they were awesome--and ate lunch, then drove again until supper back at Bergen Dal.


I was a little leery of the monkeys overhead in the dark--they gave me the creeps.

We ate at a nice restaurant--Mike and Charlie ate sprinkbok! I will never forget falling asleep listening to the lions, and waking up to the chattering of monkeys. And more lions.

We left again (after an awesome shower) around 7 and went looking for a lion & a leopard so we could complete our "big 5." (lion, leopard, Cape buffalo,

rhino,

and elephant)


(baby!)
And we found a male lion, walking down a hill on the horizon!!! Wow. (I promise he's in there...he's lying down now...the dark spot is his mane...if you zoom in you can see his ears sticking up.)
(Heath saw it, and I have no idea how, we were so far away. So cool.)

We had breakfast at Bergen Dal again, then drove to Lake Panic Hide. That was incredible. There were dozens of hippos, as well as crocodiles, turtles, kingfishers, ground hornbill, and reedbucks.

(In the picture above there are 2 crocodiles and a hippo with a turtle on its back...can you see them?)
(Turtles and hippos)

(reedbuck)

Once a mama hippo came out of the water, followed by her baby, right by a crocodile. The baby kept eyeing him and edging closer to mama, and then eventually went over and nudged the croc--when the croc jerked, the mama came running at him and the water, and all the hippos ran into the water, splashing and snorting and stomping. It was so exciting.







After that we had lunch at Skukuza,

(It was a little disconcerting to look up while eating and see this!!)

and had to hurry like crazy to get out before the gates were locked. We were zooming along, but made good time, so we were able to slow down again when we saw a group of people watching a lioness! They told us there were 5 cheetahs a couple kilometers down the road, which we saw,

and on the way we saw a hyena,



and after that another lioness!

It was so much fun. BUT I was in the middle front seat, over the shift & brake, and it was painfully uncomfortable & I fought claustrophobia at times. But it was worth it. We had supper at KFC in South Africa, then crossed the border & drove back home. We were so tired, but happy, and started showering and getting ready for bed. Carter was in the shower when all of a sudden... (Click to read the rest of the story)

More miscellaneous animal shots:


zebra and wildebeest

kudu, far away and close up
Bee-eaters (the beautiful green bird, bottom left)



hornbill (or Zazu...I think Charlie and Angie laughed at our Lion King references...)

warthog/Pumba :)
Acacia trees, the origin of my name!

Journal!

May 21 Angie's house Later

This morning Mike and Charlie and the students went to Marracuene Bapt. Church (picture above) while I went with Angie to her Bible study. There were more ladies this week. They're so sweet. From there we went to her insurance place to work things out. The guy she hit was very friendly. She's so good at talking to people. We were there an hour and a half, then had to go to another place. We finally got to eat lunch--at Mimmo's, at the mall. It was fun. This afternoon we went to the hospital to visit the oncology patients. It was so sad. Big brown eyes, so friendly and yet so sad. Babies, kids, women, men. We prayed for them and with them, tried to talk to them, colored with them, sang to them, passed out snacks.

(This is the outside of the hospital:)













(The boy above is Sayeed...at one time he wanted to leave the hospital to go see a witch doctor, but changed his mind. He has since been saved! And now wants to be a doctor.)
Alice and Leila met us there and translated. We were there quite a while, then went back to Mimmo's for supper. It was a good day. Except for the insurance part.

(Silly missionaries at the mall. Okay, I made them pose like that!)

More Mozambique Journal

May 21 Angie's house

We had bread with fig jam and butter for breakfast (at the orphanage). Juan and Antonio joined us--Pastor and Charlie read our devotion, & then Pastor thanked us and asked for our input/observations, and then we pretty much packed up and went home.
(views on the ride home)




We went by their house in town first--they live in Mahotas. We met their kids, and he offered to show us the house, but Charlie said Angie was expecting us at 11, and he said, "Then we have 3 minutes!" It was funny.
When we got here the shower felt soo good. I laughed at how filthy I made the water. We had lunch, and worked on our Bible study a little, then went to CAM for youth group.
(Chris--teacher at CAM and long-time good friend of the Lechners, who lived with them last school year)
Mike taught them Jungle Pong, and they seemed to enjoy it. They also played the animal game, and Cat and Mouse.

(Abby was the mouse)
Then we sang


and split up for our talk on purity. Angie came and went because she had a fender bender and they were working on insurance stuff. Lauren led our discussion, with all of us joining in, and it went really well. It really touched my heart. The CAM girls were so sweet, so precious--I pray they stay true. After that we came home & had supper, then played hearts again. I think people are getting tired--drama is trying to creep in--