In the Village

Yesterday we went to the local village which was 15 minutes away from where we were staying. Our guide took us to see his family and how everything worked in the village. Each house had an outside toilet and a small hut in the front for talking to their ancestors. Some of the houses were bigger than others and most of them were donated by the government. We visited a preschool of three and four year olds. As we pulled up and walked towards them they lined up and started to sing for us. They sung in English so we could understand. They sung nursery rhymes and songs to help them learn in school. They did one play about HIV and how u can get tested.I thought that it was amazing how they were learning about HIV so early in their lives. Some of their parents had died from HIV, so to them it was very important to know what to do when they got older. After we visited the preschool, we drove around the village just taking pictures of everything and seeing how people lived. It was an experience that made me realize how lucky and blessed I am to have all the resources, education, and everything I need to live.

Kruger National Park and Djuma Game Reserve

We left from Johannesburg on a 20 seated plane and landed in Sabisand to switch for another plane to get to Djuma. The plane ride was about 5 minutes long to Djuma. As we were landing, some warthogs were blocking the runway so we had to go back around and land again. It was incredible to already see animals as we were landing. Our ride was waiting for us as we got there. We took a long drive through the bush to the Reserve and saw a Leopard sitting with it's kill in a tree. The driver explained that we were very lucky to see a Leopard on the first day because they are usually hard to find. After we saw the Leopard we settled into our lodges and went on a safari.

Animals In The Bush

                                          Hippo

                                           Water Buck

                                           Elephants

                                          Nyala

                                           Zebra

                                        

                                          Lion (Male)

                                          Lions eating a baby Buffalo

                                          

                                          Giraffe

                                           Calli and the Tour guides

                                           Leopard

Arrival in the Motherland

We have arrived in South Africa.  It is clearly winter here. Today we took a tour of Johannesburg and Soweto.  We saw both Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu's house and had dinner in their neighborhood.
It was surprising to see that there were nice houses there because the image people have of that area is very poor. Tomorrow we head to Kruger National Park to go on a four day safari.