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| Clockwise from top left: Zebra, Impala, Giraffe & Wildebeest |
With our week of ministry with Hope Baptist coming to a close on Sunday, we spent Monday at the Pilanesberg National Park & Game Reserve, in the
rain for the most part making the roads a bit slippery. It is a huge game park (over 220 sq miles in area)
where people either hire a driving tour or do a driving tour themselves. We
chose to take our van into the park, with our faithful Emmanuel driving yet again, and had a lovely time...for the most part.
We identified 10 different birds and 10 different larger animals including
giraffe, kudu, rhino, zebra, wildebeest, warthog, vervet monkey and our
favorite visitor of the day, hippo. Though we did not find elephant or lion as
we drove, we were in awe of God's beautiful creation! The signs around the park make it clear that you should remain in your vehicle at all times, except in special safe areas that are usually encircled with electric fencing to keep the animals at bay.
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| We are reminded that this "park" can be a dangerous place and the animals should be respected |
Towards the end of our tour we were driving over a small dam which created a small lake or watering hole on one side, when the front tire of our van slid to the side of the road and got stuck on a small log post sticking out of the ground. There were a number of posts in a row for the purpose of helping vehicles not fall off the side of the small embankment. Well, we tested them and they did their job in keeping us safe. But, we were stuck. So, we all unloaded and the 4 women watched (and videotaped) the 6 men as they all had different ideas as to what needed to be done. We were close to having the van free though it was still slippery close to the edge and the front left tire was precariously off the side of the road. After about 10 minutes of struggling with the van the women realized the watering hole was home to a "crush" of hippos. A smaller hippo became
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| Our "friends" in the water gather and keep an eye on the humans... |
At any time during our "imprisonment" in the van we could hear short or long prayers being lifted up. God in his mercy not only kept the hippos in the water but allowed Pastor Julius to realize he had cell service for a brief time and he placed a call to the game park who then sent out "3 blokes" to help us out. 2 were professional hunters who came toting their rifles and one had a winch on his jeep which pulled us out with a bit of grunting and groaning.
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| A Jeep, a winch and men with rifles...all helped us out of a very sticky situation |
So, what do these 3 things have in common? As we reflected
back on the hour and a half long ordeal we think that at one point or another they
all kept us safe. The posts kept the van safe from sliding off the embankment,
the hippos got us back in the vehicle so we would be forced to wait for the
ranger keeping the van safe (as well as from sliding further off) and the winch
finally set us free from our predicament.
This is an example of your prayers' effectiveness. Even before, during
and after you were praying for us, God knew what we would need, and that it would
include 2 posts, 8 hippos and 1 winch!
Today was our last full day in South Africa. Tomorrow will be packing up and beginning our long journey home. We are ready!
Here are a few more pictures from today (click once on each to enlarge):
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| Katie, Antoine, Emmanuel, Julius and Kevin stop and stretch their legs in the "safe" area |
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| This is a Southern Red Bishop - a bird unique to Africa |
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| Keith has a discussion (after we were back to safety) with the game park staff that responded to our need for help |
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| Like these baby warthogs, we will be exiting -- leaving South Africa for home sweet home on Wednesday evening |
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