21 March 2007
15 March 2007
Hello family & friends. No, we have not fallen off the face of the earth, we just haven’t really had anything exciting to write about lately. But we finally got to do something out of the ordinary last weekend. We took a road trip! Two friends accompanied us to the Kalagadi Transfrontier Park – a big game reserve that lies way to the north, right next to Namibia and straddling the border of Botswana. We camped out for two nights, and had great weather. The park is known for their black-maned lions, but even though we strained our eyes looking for them, we didn’t even get a glimpse. We did see lots of other cool things though – springbok (antelope), wildebeest, lots of hawks and eagles, tortoises, mongooses, ground squirrels, meerkats, huge ground birds (they probably stand about 3.5 feet tall) called kori bustards and secretary birds, and of course ostriches. One of our highlights was seeing gemsbok for the first time. They are huge horse-sized antelope that look a bit horse-y too. They are grey brown on the body with starkly contrasting black and white faces, and the shoulders of a linebacker, complete with a thick neck. They have a long tail that turns hairy and horse-ish halfway down and they have amazing horns – probably 4 feet long that come straight off their heads in a V shape. We’ll include a photo – they’re pretty crazy looking! The other highlight came literally within the last 15 minutes of our time in the park as we were heading back to camp for the night. We almost ran over a snake on the road, and it wasn’t noticed until it reared up next to the car. Our friend who was driving slammed on the brakes and after a short discussion on spitting cobras we cautiously reversed to get a better look. We believe it was a cape cobra (thankfully they don’t spit!) – pale green, about 4 feet long and angry! It was all puffed up around the head, hood spread and everything, but it just moseyed along on its way across the road and into the bushes, where we watched it climb up into a tree. It was quite impressive and I think that was everyone’s first encounter with a cobra – what a beautiful snake! We all wished we would have spotted it a little earlier – then maybe we could have snapped that perfect angry cobra photo! Maybe next time.
Life in the village carries on as always. The weather is slowly starting to change – days are getting shorter and nights are getting cooler although the days are just as hot. Soon winter will be on the way and I don’t think either of us is really looking forward to that! The first term is almost over – only two more weeks - and then we’ll be looking forward to my mom & her friend Matt coming to visit us for 9 days. You’ll all hear about our adventures in a few weeks. I can’t wait! School is going ok. We are working on getting our library project in order and two schools have already started the process that we outlined for them to receive the books. I have stayed home a few days to organize, clean, and fix up the books we have already gotten and am really looking forward to handing them out.
Sadly two more friends left here recently. They both just decided they missed home, weren’t getting what they expected out of their service here anymore, and wanted to go back to the promise land that is America. They both decided this at the same time (I think they just gave each other the courage and support they needed) and so we journeyed to Vryburg a few weeks ago to see them off. It was quite sad – our numbers our here are really dwindling! Darcy & Michelle, I hope home is everything you hoped it would be – happy, productive, welcoming, accommodating and comfortable. We miss you guys out here!
I think that’s about all that has happened in the past month. Like I said, life has been a little ordinary, I guess, which doesn’t leave us with much to write about! I hope you are all well. Take care!!
Andrea
Photos from the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Ground Squirrels
The beautiful Gemsbok
A now angry Wildebeest
Yellow Mongoose
Black Backed Jackal hunting a mouse
Hello family & friends. No, we have not fallen off the face of the earth, we just haven’t really had anything exciting to write about lately. But we finally got to do something out of the ordinary last weekend. We took a road trip! Two friends accompanied us to the Kalagadi Transfrontier Park – a big game reserve that lies way to the north, right next to Namibia and straddling the border of Botswana. We camped out for two nights, and had great weather. The park is known for their black-maned lions, but even though we strained our eyes looking for them, we didn’t even get a glimpse. We did see lots of other cool things though – springbok (antelope), wildebeest, lots of hawks and eagles, tortoises, mongooses, ground squirrels, meerkats, huge ground birds (they probably stand about 3.5 feet tall) called kori bustards and secretary birds, and of course ostriches. One of our highlights was seeing gemsbok for the first time. They are huge horse-sized antelope that look a bit horse-y too. They are grey brown on the body with starkly contrasting black and white faces, and the shoulders of a linebacker, complete with a thick neck. They have a long tail that turns hairy and horse-ish halfway down and they have amazing horns – probably 4 feet long that come straight off their heads in a V shape. We’ll include a photo – they’re pretty crazy looking! The other highlight came literally within the last 15 minutes of our time in the park as we were heading back to camp for the night. We almost ran over a snake on the road, and it wasn’t noticed until it reared up next to the car. Our friend who was driving slammed on the brakes and after a short discussion on spitting cobras we cautiously reversed to get a better look. We believe it was a cape cobra (thankfully they don’t spit!) – pale green, about 4 feet long and angry! It was all puffed up around the head, hood spread and everything, but it just moseyed along on its way across the road and into the bushes, where we watched it climb up into a tree. It was quite impressive and I think that was everyone’s first encounter with a cobra – what a beautiful snake! We all wished we would have spotted it a little earlier – then maybe we could have snapped that perfect angry cobra photo! Maybe next time.
Life in the village carries on as always. The weather is slowly starting to change – days are getting shorter and nights are getting cooler although the days are just as hot. Soon winter will be on the way and I don’t think either of us is really looking forward to that! The first term is almost over – only two more weeks - and then we’ll be looking forward to my mom & her friend Matt coming to visit us for 9 days. You’ll all hear about our adventures in a few weeks. I can’t wait! School is going ok. We are working on getting our library project in order and two schools have already started the process that we outlined for them to receive the books. I have stayed home a few days to organize, clean, and fix up the books we have already gotten and am really looking forward to handing them out.
Sadly two more friends left here recently. They both just decided they missed home, weren’t getting what they expected out of their service here anymore, and wanted to go back to the promise land that is America. They both decided this at the same time (I think they just gave each other the courage and support they needed) and so we journeyed to Vryburg a few weeks ago to see them off. It was quite sad – our numbers our here are really dwindling! Darcy & Michelle, I hope home is everything you hoped it would be – happy, productive, welcoming, accommodating and comfortable. We miss you guys out here!
I think that’s about all that has happened in the past month. Like I said, life has been a little ordinary, I guess, which doesn’t leave us with much to write about! I hope you are all well. Take care!!
Andrea
Photos from the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Ground Squirrels
The beautiful Gemsbok
A now angry Wildebeest
Yellow Mongoose
Black Backed Jackal hunting a mouse
posted by aliberatinsa at 1:10 AM
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