Kruger National Park

I'm back from the Road Trip! I can honestly say I've seen A LOT of South Africa! Trent and I left the day I wrote, Wednesday December 3rd, and drove to Malelane ("Mah-ley-lahn"), which is a town that nestles up to Kruger National Park. We arrived at night time, and I met up with the rest of my team: 

•  Mark and Celia Houghton, father and son from England. Mark is a doctor and Celia just finished high school and is in her gap year.
• Ashley and Melba Hessell, who minister in Transkei to people in the bush. Ashley pastors and supports pastors in several Xhosa villages (Xhosa, pronounced with a click for the Xh, is one of the major tribes in Africa). Ashley and Melba are both in their 80's but spry as foxes!
• Trevor and Marilyn Eayrs, Trent's parents and founders of Macedonian Ministries. I worked with them while in Rookdale and stayed with them in Pietermaritzburg and Durban a few weeks ago. They are wonderful, godly people with a heart for the lost.

 The Park was amazing! I was truly blessed to see ALL of the "Big Five" - Lion, Rhino, Elephant, Buffalo, and Leopard. To say that I was blessed is an understatement; Trent said he's never seen all of the Big Five in one day like we did, and he's from South Africa.  We went into Kruger two days in a row: the first day we got up at 4:30 A.M. to get to the park by the time it opens at 5 A.M.! I wasn't tired, though, because I was too excited. We all crammed into the 4 x 4 and drove through through the southern part of the park. 

Trent and I found some safari hats and just had to put them on!

We saw some "leftovers" on the side of the road and an SUV with a giant camera sticking out of the driver-side window, so we asked the man inside the car what was going on. He said a male lion had been around the area with his prey and was hiding out in the bush, but he could get him to come out using his animal call. We were all gung-ho, so the man called the lion out by playing lions roaring from his CD player. Out came the lion! We were all excited to see him and didn't know exactly how close we should get or what we should do. Everyone was saying something different, "Get closer!", "Roll up the windows - these things are known to attack!", "Don't listen to him, it's fine. Get closer!" =) It was pretty funny, and nothing happened. Thank You, Lord! 

We saw a lot of elephants. Many times they would be in a herd - mothers and babies. They are some animals to watch! We also had a close encounter with a male who was protecting his herd. He didn't charge, but acted like he was going to - his stood right in front of the vehicle and flared out his ears and flapped them! That was scary! They call it a "mock charge" to scare of predators. It worked!

My favorite of all African animals. I love giraffe! I wasn't sure if we'd be able to see any, and we saw several - mothers, babies, old and young. They are beautiful!

Zebra (they say "Zeh-bra" here) - they are black with white stripes, NOT white with black stripes. =) In this picture you can see the giraffe eating in the background. It's so neat, but all of the animals hang out together; you'll see kudu (a type of deer) with impala, elephant near rhino, etc. 

Kruger was an amazing experience that anyone visiting South Africa should experience. Wow is about all I can say.