Nambiti

 

This week of Oct 3 was eclipsed by the anticipation for our couples conference that we felt was so needed.  We are very isolated in seeing other couples.  All of the couples live far from each other except the Durban couples.

   We had another Mexican feed on Monday with Dundee elders.  Took Elder Dehl to eye doctor .We were involved with transfers this week.  We had 12-15 (6 brand new) elders coming through spending the night at the Ladysmith Elder's

boarding at some point.  Bus transfers and pick-ups from other elders coming through made their days busy.  It is a logistical nightmare we don't have to worry about.  We picked Sis Shabalala up at her home on Tues and had her spend the night since her bus stop was outside Ladysmith  and was a 7:30 AM ticket.
  Kent made Herman for the Elders and all their guests at their boarding.  Had to pay their electricity and pay our bills.  It's prepay for electricity time.
   Board checks revealed some plumbing and bath issues.  Some things never change-Elders hate to clean! They still have water turned off from 9:30 PM till 5 PM the next day.  What a pain.
  We went and bought potatoes and fixings for our kickoff for the couples conference on Sunday night.  Sister Zwane showed up to do windows and clean house with the clean windows contract that President Ngcobo has with the mission office.  Did not know about the cleaning house part!  That is the weirdest deal.   This is just how they do business.
  Saturday is our last 2 hour Temple prep class with our missionaries and it went well .  The calls will start to come now and it is so exciting for these kids.  They have never been anywhere and some have no parental support at all or members in their family.
  We have only 10 Senior couples plus the president, wife and daughter, attending our retreat.  We pay our own way even though there was a lot of mission business talked about and questions fielded. Sunday night in Ladysmith was the starting location and we Braaied (BBQ)at the chapel.

 We had great food that people brought from their locations.  All of the group, except us stayed in a local B&B Sunday night, and then we met with more break-out sessions for 2 hours at the Ladysmith chapel.  We could enter the gate at Nambeti which was about 15  minutes from our home, at about 11:00 AM.

  This is a smaller game reserve park that has only been in existence for 10 years. Different resort lodges, 4 or 5, use this park and have built different kinds and qualities of resorts inside the park. They then take their people in their own Toyota land rovers over hilly rough terrain to hopefully see at least as many of the Big 5 animals as they can find.  South Africa used to have a lot of the big animals.  But the cow was the most valued possession for the Zulu, so they chased off or killed the big animals because they threatened the survival of their cattle.  This happened in the 1800's.
 

Two male teens with father close by--notice our tires.

Dad walked straight up to the rovers before he turned for this shot.

Wildebeest are low on the food chain. 

Twenty years ago, after apparteid, many of these huge Afrikaans farms were just abandoned and then purchased by these private groups for reserves.  These last 2 years have been very difficult for reserves because the private ones have had to haul in feed and water to the animals with this terrible drought that is still ongoing. We've had some drenching rains but unless it fills the reservoirs and river beds, then it doesn't count.  Grass gets green-then brown,green-then brown. It needs to be continuous green and lush through the summer months during the rainy season.
How do animals like the Zebra know how to stand next to or by their camouflage?

Nambiti was magical for us! Besides the animals you see pictured here we saw elephants, hippos, rhinos, a variety of antelope including Kudo and Impalas (they were named after the car), wild pigs, jackles, and a lot of strange birds. 

There's no hiding yourself giraffe!  We learned that they can kill a lion by stomping it with their hind legs but they still give way to the lions. When a lion is approaching they stare in that direction, motionless and we think that the other animals take their cue from them. Probably the most amazing thing we witnessed was the birth of a baby Giraffe. We were probably 1/4 mile away (around 400 meters) and she gave birth on the top of a hill. Though we could not see much detail a member of our group had the great camera lens and filmed the whole thing.   Look at the video of this event that happened on Carrie's birthday!   Note mom's gestation was 15.2 months and the "little" Carrie (which we named him or her) was 6 ft tall at birth. Here are the links to the Youtube videos:

       Giraffe Giving Birth   Video 1       https://youtu.be/JWw3Zw75VR8              Beginning of the birthing process

Giraffe Giving Birth.  Video 2       https://youtu.be/Krd5pd4oclk                    Actual birth

Giraffe Giving Birth.  Video 3       https://youtu.be/QAzRIzte7-Y                   Baby trying to stand

Giraffe Giving Birth.  Video 4       https://youtu.be/BhZYsoy7O3c                 Baby successfully standing