Family Visit

We have been suggesting to family and friends to come check out South Africa and see what made us fall in love with this beautiful country as we serve our Heavenly Father and Savior in a full time mission.  Finally we had some takers!  Lynn's sisters, Joyce and Nadine, arrived in South Africa on October 22, for a two week visit.  We were so excited to see some family!  We arrived at the airport in Johannesburg at 3:45, thinking that we had plenty of time to find where we needed to be to meet the incoming flights, as they were scheduled to land at 5:00.  When we checked the board, we discovered that the estimated arrival time was 4:15!  Wow!  45 minutes early.  Good thing we didn't get caught in commuter traffic!  We kept a close eye on the board to watch for "landed", and "disembarked".  Finally we saw them come thru the door.  We were holding our "Welcome to South Africa" sign when they came thru the door.  They continued to scan all the waiting people looking for us.  I continued to wave my hot green sign back and forth with one hand, and wave furiously with the other.  Finally I caught their eye!  You can imagine that after spending the last 26 hours in airports or in flight, they looked a bit weary, but happy to see us!  Needless to say, we were happy to see them and grateful for making the effort to come.  Nadine is 81 years old.  That was quite a marathon to even make the trip!

The Airlines were even good enough to provide some wheels to save the miles of walking.

Knowing that they wouldn't be in any mood to begin a five hour ride to Nelspruit, where we stay, we booked some rooms at a Bed & Breakfast, near to the area we were planning to explore the next day.  After getting them settled in, Lynn & I went to pick up some pizza to eat in our rooms so we  could relax and visit.  It was so good to finally see some family after being gone for nearly 14 months.  They were still in awe that they were really in South Africa!

After enjoying a "made to order" breakfast, we headed to the Rhino - Lion Park.  Because Lions are rather hard to see in the vast area of Kruger Park, we thought they would enjoy visiting this park where they would be assured of seeing these things.  And, sure enough, they did!  We were there for the 1:00 feeding.  We were able to watch a truck pull up with a half of an animal in the back.  Immediately, the lions knew it was feeding time.  They started following the truck.  When it stopped, the Alpha Lion proceeded to pull the chunk of meat out of the back.  I expected to see a war begin as each lion fought for some of the meat.  To our surprise, the other lions laid down beside the Alpha lion and watched him enjoy his lunch.

After a bit, the others joined in.  The lionesses still waited their turn.

Cheetahs enjoying a bit of lunch as well!

That's one dirty zebra!

I would not want to connect with that horn of an angry rhino!

Playful white lion cubs!

They had an area where you could pay extra and go in and play with the babies.

These babies were 6 months old, and after talking to a lady that had one bite her arm,

we opted to just "look and not touch!"

There were many Wildebeests in that park also.

This ostrich was sitting on her nest, protecting her eggs. 

First time to see flamingos in real life.  So pretty!

We had to take advantage of having our pictures taken with this huge elephant!

Yes, we were very brave!

And he was so polite to stand nicely while we shot his pic as well.

Lucky for us, he wasn't alive!  :)

 On the drive home, we saw many interesting sights.

These were workers at a construction sight.

Typical sight at the end of the day as the workers board the buses for home.

Salesmen on every corner.

Nothing like having your hands full!

Beautiful Jackaranda trees in full bloom!

View overlooking our beautiful city of Nelspruit.

This was just the start of Joyce and Nadine's African adventure.  

More to follow!