Help out a Friend in Need

The new company that I work for, BD does a great service to medically underserved countries in Africa. They do a great deal of support through the organization called Direct Relief. We have a number of employees from our company over in Ghana right now giving medical aid to people who severely need it. An except from the website reads:

During this trip, a particularly important project is the installation of BioSand Water Filters in the clinics and outlying villages where BD associates are volunteering. These simple, economic and highly effective filters instantly produce clean water. An estimated one billion people around the world do not have access to clean drinking water — including nearly 40% of those living in rural Ghana. Simple solutions
like the BioSand filter are crucial.

I donated $25 for one of these fileters that can provide clean water for a whole community. I wanted to post this here in case anyone else wants to do the same. To read more about this and to donate, you can visit: http://www.directrelief.org/SupportUs/BDGhana2008.aspx

Happy Easter!

We found a new park in San Diego called Kate Sessions and decided to go there for an Easter picnic. It was a GREAT location for a picnic and we had some great company as well - thanks, guys for an awesome Easter day!

 

 

Baby Shower for Shelly and Kevin

Since baby Cole is on the way very soon, Shelly and Kevin had a few people over for a shower. It was nice having the guys there too - it was basically just like any other party to hang out and catch up with friends and so we could all congratulate them on their soon to come bundle of joy! We also got to catch up with Jo, Steve and sweet little Bailie. Congrats Shelly and Kevin - we can't wait to meet Cole!

Take a walk with me!

We've had more rain in San Diego than since I've lived here and everything around shows it. Of course, while the rain comes down, we all complain, but all of the growth that has come from it is amazing. I went for a run a week or so ago and was amazed at all of the growth and wildflowers out. So, I had to go back out a few days later with a camera. Not only were there tons of different color and species of wildflowers, but look at all of the growth in the canyon. It's usually all brown with almost no growth at all! This is all within a couple of miles from my place - awesome! I loved it so much, I had to take Terri and Josh out a few days later so they could see how beautiful everything was. Now, I just need to get out to the desert before all of the wildflowers out there are gone. I LOVE San Diego!!

Class Structures

One of the saddest things I noticed around Cape town were the many, tightly packed shanty-towns where most of the poor black people lived. Apartheid only ended a little over 10 years ago here (in 1995) and there is still MUCH work that needs to be done for these people to have more power and better lifestyles. These shanty-towns had homes made of scrap metal pieces that were tiny, just thrown together and practically attached to their neighbors. I would have loved to have gone in one and talked to the people and seen more inside of these places, but I guess it's not necessarily the safest thing to do. It's so sad to see white people living in huge extravagance like we Americans or even nicer than many Americans with many of the black people living in horrible poverty. Hopefully with time, things get better for them.

Shan's husband, John was reading a book called "The White Man's Dilemma" that sounds really interesting - I'd like to read it. It talks about the problems of what many white men do to try to help these sorts of people in the situations they are in. For example, that giving money can actually be worse off for people who are destitute than maybe going in and doing education or something like that. I don't actually know what the book says, but that's kind of the feeling I got. I have many torn opinions on these matters and on the class structures, etc all over the world, but it really struck me here in South Africa.

Lions and Tigers and.. Crocs?

Probably one of the main highlights of my trip was on this last day in a short trip to the Addo Crocodile Ranch. We wouldn't have thought to come here, but we heard recommendations from a few people that we were on safari with. We heard that there was a lion cub here, but I was also excited to see everything they had! We did, of course see crocodiles, but since I was at the end of my memory card, I had to delete most of these in order to get my last video, which you'll see at the end of this post. In addition to the many crocodiles (of all different sizes), they had these crazy monkeys. I can't remember what they said they were called, but in doing a little research online, I think they may be marmosets. They were tiny and weird looking, but cute in that ugly cute sort of way. I was getting really close to look at them and they positioned themselves like this with their pee holes sticking out. The guide quickly warned me that may people have been peed on by getting close up like this! :D Silly monkeys!










I've never seen tigers up close and they are one of my favorite animals (right up there with monkeys). I just think they have the most beautiful patterns and since I love cats anyway, I love their temperaments as well. We were able to get so close to this tiger and though she was in a cage, we were only separated by a cage - crazy! Look at how cute while she stretches! They even have one cage where a tiger and lion live together and grew up together. I guess they really like each other, but no ligers have been created yet. Sorry Napoleon!

But the real highlight is this next part. We met an ADORABLE 5 month old lion cub named Sissy. We watched her for a while in her cage and then when one of the guys who worked there walked by, she jumped all around very playfully and followed him around. It was so cute - just like a little kitten or puppy who wanted to play. We got to go inside and play with her too! She was super cute and sweet and playful and definitely didn't know her strength. You can see her here with her big mouth coming right at me - all in good fun and play though. I did come back with a few pretty big scratches and holes in my shirt, but what a great story to say that I got them playing (or wrestling as Scott likes to say) with a lion cub! She liked my flipflops a little too much, so we had to throw them over the fence. I then had to sit on my feet so she wouldn't bite them. At one point, she jumped up on my back putting her paws over my shoulders - how cute! She was quite fond of Kristin's jacket and wouldn't let go without force! Nancy romped around with her for a while too and she loved the pink of Nancy's dress. She was probably older than she should've been to let customers play with her... but I loved every minute of it!

Safari!

The safari is of course what everyone wants to see in Africa and it did not disappoint! We stayed at a great place that had to have been the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. The food was amazing and for breakfast, you even got to watch the birds over this great field (see Kristin here). We traveled in style for sure - thanks Fancy Nancy!

Kristin and I went out in the morning for a safari around Addo Elephant Park. We had a really amazing guide and other fun people on our truck. We were in the back and up a bit higher, which made it easier for us to catch everything.











As the name implies, this park is most well-known for all of the elephants. I forget how many they said that they have there, but we probably saw close to 50 just in our morning ride, which was awesome. We first saw them after just about 10 minutes in the park and they walked RIGHT in front of our truck - it was crazy!










We stopped a couple of other places too and saw many more. The babies were super cute and all of them were really fun to watch at their watering holes. I hear a few stories about how aggressive they can be and even more after our visit to the park, but they didn't even seem to notice us while we were there.










The other animal that we saw many of while here were the warthogs (Pumba!) They are so ugly, but kind of cute at the same time. They're hysterical to watch because when they run, their tails stick straight up! You can see a few here at the same watering hole as the elephants.










On your way into the park, there was a sign that said dung beetles have the right away and I found that very funny, especially after seeing one on our walk a couple of days before. I guess the dung beetles really help to keep nutrients in the soil from all of the elephant dung in this park. We had a wonderful lunch with yummy sandwiches and wine at another watering hold that had ostriches all around it. The heat was super intense, but as long as I kept my feet shaded by the picnic basket, I was okay. I can understand why people who evolved from this area had dark skin - you need it!










We also saw zebra and the red hartabeest at this park. The red hartabeest is called that because their horns make a sort of heart shape - kind of cute, eh!?










We got back from one safari, picked up Nancy and then headed out on another one. For the evening safari, we went to a private game reserve, called Schotia. I didn't really know what a private game reserve was, but learned that this land used to be a farm. Our guide actually grew up on this very land and said that all of the different types of antelope would be around wild. However, they had to purchase and bring in the bigger animals, like the lions, giraffes, zebra, etc. I found it odd to do this, but at least it keeps these animals safe and allows them a good environment to live in. We did see a lot more animals here, but no elephants. It was pretty hot at the beginning and so harder to see many animals, but as the sun started going down and it cooled off, we saw a lot. The warthogs are pretty much always out. You can see in this picture that they are down on their knees. This is because their snouts can't reach for food otherwise. Hehe










They had lots of different antelope species here, which was really cool to see. The kudu are these first guys with the white stripes down their sides. I guess the stripes get bolder as they get older.












The gemsbok were really amazing looking with their straight, long horns and the beautiful coloring.











We saw a few wildebeest (also called a gnu, which they pronounce the g in South Africa) around this park as well. You can see here that there are two different types of wildebeest - the blue and black. The black one if the big one in the center picture.











One of my favorites was the impala. They just look so serene and beautiful with their colorings. I'm not sure what the last ones are in this set, but the white guys are not albinos, but are just white due to a recessive gene.











There were a pair of hippos in this park, but they stayed underwater most of the time that we were there. We did catch a few good yawns, but this was the best picture I could catch. They used to have a rhino, but the one they had passed a way a while earlier. He did drive us past the carcass and told us that he died of old age.












We saw many more ostriches here, a beautiful blue bird and even a secretary bird. The secretary bird is named that because of the few feathers sticking out the top of its head. I guess back when the pens had feathers on the end of them and secretaries would keep them in their hair, they looked quite a bit like these large birds. Our guide, who wasn't that great on this safari started driving right towards the bird to make it fly. That didn't seem very nice at all. Plus, I asked to sit in the back thinking that we would get a better view, but the back wasn't higher up in this truck, so we actually had a worse view thanks to me. Sorry guys!












We also got to see giraffes here, which was very cool. They were barely phased by us, even when we drove up almost right next to us. It's amazing how these wild animals can get so used to humans.














Perhaps one of the best things about this park was that we got to see lions. It was a little weird because the lions were in an area that was caged separately from some of the rest of the park we had seen. I guess due to the size of the park not being large enough, they didn't want to have the lions in the same location as the giraffes and some other animals because they wouldn't survive. The lions were still in a big enough area that was a third of the park and had plenty of antelope and zebras for food to hunt. I could not believe how close we could drive up to the lions and just watch them be - it was amazing! They had just made a kill a couple of days earlier so the guides knew exactly where they would be. The big male breathed so heavily, like he was really hot. The guide said that he was hot and tired due to all of the eating he had been doing after the kill. They were just amazingly beautiful - I could have watched them for hours. We also saw a pack of zebras in this same enclosure later and one of them had been attacked by a lion a few days earlier and you could still see the place on his neck where the lion tried to bring him down - he was a lucky one to get away!




















I didn't have enough space on my camera for very long videos, but I caught a couple of the lions, including a big yawn.

We also saw a crocodile in this park, but only the top of his head - maybe you can pick it out in this picture? The sunset in the park was pretty amazing as well.