Lesotho men

Three Basotho young men sang for us while the young man in the middle played this unusual instrument. It is actually a recycled gas can with strings attached. He both plucked and ran a smooth stick over the strings. They certainly know how to make the most of little!

Lesotho is one of the poorest countries in the world. For those of you who know Terry and Robbie Mason, this was the country in which they were missionaries for many years.

Judy at Sani Pass

Looking down into South Africa from Lesotho at Sani Pass you can see the road we came up on. We rode in a 4-wheel drive tour vehicle with Lucky, our Zulu driver and guide. The pass is the highest in Southern Africa at 2874 meters (9400 feet). The ride was extremely rough with huge rocks and fording streams. Passing other vehicles on a very narrow road with a steep dropoff and no guard rails added to the adventure. The scenery for the entire 45 km trip was outstanding. This is the only entrance to Lesotho from South Africa on the eastern side. Lesotho is a small country surrounded by SA.

Drakensbergs in Royal Natal National Park

The scenery throughout the Drakensberg Mtns. is spectacular. The national park is quite small, but we saw scenes similar to this as we drove for miles down to the southern part of the chain. We took a hike in the park along a cascading stream. The hike was short because it was very sunny with the temperature about 90 F.

We thought you might be interested in some of our favorite foods here in S.A. Of course there is the biltong (like American beef jerky); Judy has eaten lots of calamari--the best was in Cape Town; Phil enjoyed the wild springbok; vetkoek w/mince is a fried roll filled with small bits of beef, carrots, potatoes and seasoning; ginger beer is similiar to root beer; koeksisters is fried doughnuts soaked in syrup--high calorie; the fruits and fresh juices are outstanding.

Baboon in Royal Natal National Park

On Wednesday 7 Jan 09 we drove from Harrismith into the Northern Drakensberg Mtns to the Royal Natal National Park. This sentinel was guarding the road into the park. We were warned not to feed the baboons or open our car windows.

Hartbeespoort Dam

Today, Monday, 5 Jan 09, we went by the dam area on the way to Pretoria.

We visited the Union buildings (Pretoria is legislative capital of SA) and the beautiful surrounding gardens.

Lion Park, Sunday, 1/4/09 & Praise!

Amazing! Phil is holding a 5-mth old lion. These cubs had very sharp teeth and claws, but didn't use them. At about 6 mths they hit puberty and can no longer be handled by us amateurs.

Praise report -- Saturday evening we were on a public road outside of Rustenburg. It was very dark. We were trying to turn right--across traffic--on to a dirt road where our B&B was located. Driving on the left side of the road and shifting with his left hand, it was challenging enough for Phil--w/o being able to see where we were going. He almost stopped on the roadway and one car slowed behind us. Phil thought he could see the road and started to turn--just at that time a car came whizzing down the road and went around both of us. Judy was loudly saying "people" (why not car?) and Phil saw the car coming in time to stop. Our hearts were beating very loudly!!! God certainly did protect us.

Thanks for praying for us!!!

Lighthouse Children's Shelter, Sunday, 1/4/09

We were thrilled to see the beautiful new facilities for the HIV/AIDS shelter for children in Rustenburg. This is where Judy volunteered 2001-2002. Judy's heart almost burst as we saw the babies who are still on the nevaripine program. None of these babies have developed AIDS and so could be adopted. This beautiful lady is Nomhle Mputle, managing director. She was at the shelter when I worked there. We hugged for a long time. Sadly, they now have 5 older children who were not on the program and are HIV positive. These children are hard to place for adoption.

Before the shelter visit, we attended the Bethany Christian Centre in Thlbane. This was the Tswana church that Judy attended when in town. Both Phil and Judy spoke and gave greetings to the congregation. It was thrilling to see folks from 6 years ago.