Cape of Good Hope

We only had 3 days in Capetown, so it was difficult to decide what to see! We stayed in a wonderful modern apartment in the City Centre. Our patio view was Table Mountain! We had pleasant weather for the duration of our stay, which can be a real gamble this time of year. We headed to the most southeastern point of the African continent, the Cape Point. As we hiked to the lookout near the lighthouse, we saw breathtaking views of the ocean and landscape. It was very windy! We were treated to our first encounter with baboons and were impressed with how big they were! Unlike the vervet monkeys we had seen before, baboons are much more dangerous if they feel cornered. Luckily we were in the car, so it was safe.

Another beautiful sunset!

African Penguins in Boulders Bay, Capetown

Ostrich country in Oudsthoorn by Ani

We went to Oudtshoorn and went to an ostrich farm. We went through the Outeniqua Mountains to get to Oudtshoorn. Their eggs are very heavy and they are the largest eggs too.I sat on an ostrich and it felt great. They put a piece of cloth over the ostrich's head so the ostrich would go where they told it to go. Dad fed the ostriches from a bucket. He had to duck. It was really funny. Wyatt sat on the ostrich too. It was only for pictures though, not for riding, because mom said it was too dangerous.

FACTS

When ostriches have eggs the female sits on it in the day, the male in the night because they blend in to the bushes and are black.(The females are brown).

You can race ostriches but it is very uncomfortable. Ostriches are the largest bird. They have the largest eggs too. They can out run their enemies because one stride is 12 feet long. They display their wings and hiss when they want you to go away. In the old days they raced. You can still race but it's very unpopular.

We tried to stamp on the eggs but they wouldn't break even full grown adults couldn't break it.

I sat on a ostrich and wyatt sat on one too! It was soft and comfortable. they covered the ostriches head with a piece of cloth so they had control over its body. There is a saying: if you have control over the head you have control over the whole body.

Wyatt didn't want to stay on very long

It looks like he needs help feeding the ostriches

ostriches are amazing birds aren't they.

Caravel to the Cape by Shiloh

I read the book Caravel to the Cape by Eve Merchant. I rate this book 3 out of 5 because the plot is good, the way the book is told is great and the writer is creative. I decided to read this book because we are studying South African history. The main characters are Luis, his friend Pinto, his brother Jaime, Pero D'Alamquer the pilot and Bartolomeu Dias, the Commandante. The setting of the story was from 1487 to 1488 and they traveled from Portugal around the southern tip of Africa.

The book begins with a boy named Luis in Portugal playing in the river by his school. I liked the character Luis because it was fun reading about him running away on the caravel. It was very unrealistic when Luis grabbed a fish out of the water because fish are very slippery and water makes everything harder to hold. I think my brother is like Luis because they both have an adventurous spirit and both of them would like to be sailors. They are different because my brother would have not trusted a man that he did not know. The most exciting part was when Cacuto kidnapped Luis. The thing I like best is when Luis went in the Monikongo's palace. The thing I did not like was when Dias killed a Khoi-Khoi.

This is the knotted rope that was used for soundings

This is the dinghy that they would row to shore.

This is the tiller they would use to push the rudder.

In 1988, the 500th anniversary of Dias's landing in South Africa was celebrated by making a replica of the caravel that Dias rode and riding it down to South Africa where it was transferred to the Maritime Museum. This is the info on how the caravel "Bartolomeu Dias" got in the Maritime Museum. While we were staying at "The Crags" we went to Mossel Bay to see the Maritime Museum. (to read more about the ship getting into the museum, right click on the picture (above), select open link in new window and wala!)

Nature's Valley Beach - a beautiful end to an amazing day

Look how close the dolphins are!

It was late afternoon as we left the bird sanctuary. We couldn’t imagine anything else making our day more pleasing. We drove down to find the beach before the sun went down. Unfortunately, it was now cooler and we had a limited amount of time. As we discovered the beach over a hill and through a forested walkway, we felt like we had come into an undiscovered treasure! We only saw one other family way up the bay. As we looked out we saw dolphins frolicking in the waves! We couldn’t believe they were right there. The kids had a blast playing in the water even though it was quite frigid.

Once again, we were painted the most amazing sunsets on our drive home. The mountains make such a picturesque backdrop for the setting sun. We arrived home full of bliss and joy to realize that our fridge door had been standing open and all of our food had been spoiled! Cam thought this must be a sign that we should go out and eat, but everyone was tired and wet and ready to stay in. We made the best of it, eating up what we could, sending the rest on to feed the farm animals, and thanking God for a day filled with such beauty, brilliance and blessings.

Monkeying around at Monkeyland

This day started out quite interesting and it would become a day of contrasts. I awoke to realize I had left all of the food that we had grilled for the next few days in the oven overnight. After realizing that disappointment, we ate breakfast and began our lessons. The vervet monkeys came to visit us again, but this time in greater numbers as I had left out the grill rack and they were eating the crumbs off of it. There was a mama with a nursing baby and two older siblings. One of the siblings did jump on the door handle and try to open it. This batch were much more aggressive, especially when Cam came outside to eat his morning toast.

MONKEYLAND

We arrived at Monkeyland, the world's first free roaming, multi species primate sanctuary, only planning to have a cool drink in the restaurant and watch the monkeys from there. We were planning to visit the Bird sanctuary after that and then spend the majority of the warm day at the beach at Natures Valley. We started visiting with an employee named Lara Mostert, who ended up being one of the visionary founders of the monkey and bird sanctuaries. It turns out she had purchased some property in Branson, Missouri, just a few hours from where we’re from in Arkansas. We had a great time discussing this with her, and after a few more minutes of watching the monkeys come right by our feet and into the restaurant, she came to us with a great surprise. She gave us free tour tickets for the whole family, a monkey sanctuary species guide and Monkeyland coloring books for all of the kids! We hurriedly thanked her as our tour was heading out and promised to keep in touch.

As we entered the sanctuary, we were told that all of the monkeys here have either been previously owned as pets or were from zoos, circuses and laboratories.We spent an hour in the forest with the various species of primates. Later we would learn from the guidebook that about 400 apes, monkeys and lemurs live here on a 12 hectare forest. Most of these primates had previously never encountered a tree, let alone an individual of their own species. Here they go through a dehumanisation and rehabilitation process called "Eden Syndrome" which necessitates a no touch policy. During our tour, we crossed the longest suspension bridge in South Africa suspended high above the forest full of yellowwood trees. We were accompanied in our tour group by people from Argentina, Zimbabwe and Israel. Our tour guide was quite hilarious and made the trip even more adventurous.

Here is the the spectacled langur from Thailand who lost its mate, and so , according to the guide, now had to resort to internet dating.

The ringtailed lemur from Madagascar keeps his tail in the air when he walks so that the rest of the group won't get lost.

After we finished the tour, as we were leaving, there was a little 2 year old girl walking out with her sandwich. A capsican monkey leapt down grabbed her sandwich and then took off. She was standing in tears as her parents were laughing! Apparently the monkeys are cleptomaniacs and will take anything they like, even pick pockets! Here's the sign posted at the gift shop.

We headed out to picnic lunch before going over to the bird sanctuary. We had no sooner grabbed our food and closed the van door, then realized we locked the keys in the car! Thanks be to God that our window was down an inch and the rangers were able to help us unlock it.

Birds of Eden, Plettenberg Bay

We headed into the Birds of Eden sanctuary, not imagining that we could be even more impressed and awed. The entrance sign noted that the birds liked shiny objects and to be aware that they might try to peck at them or take them. Ani was concerned about her earrings, so she took them off. No sooner had we stepped in, than a bird flew onto my back. It startled me quite a bit, so Cameron and Shiloh took a turn holding him. The birds seemed to be magnetically drawn to Cameron. So much so, that when he tried to take this one off, he pecked him on his hand and clawed him severely on his head!

We saw incredibly diverse and beautiful birds here. It was amazing to see them flying in flocks. Our identification guide explained that Birds of Eden was created to rehome unwanted birds and is the largest free flight, multi species bird aviary in the world. There are about 2000 birds in the sanctuary and over 160 species. The wire mesh that encloses the sanctuary is massive, and there is enough wire in the mesh to go 1/7th around the earth. It's also interesting to note that the entire 2+ hectare project was built using unskilled labor from the neighboring community of Kurland Village. Workers were trained in all aspects of safety and high wire construction and could boast that after 4 1/2 years of working there was not a single injury on duty during the building process! 70% of the area under the dome is indigeneous forest and there is a river that runs through the park. It was just breathtaking to be there and we stayed for over 3 hours!

The Golden Pheasant from the mountains of Central Asia

The Green Turaco from West Africa

The Dusky Lory from New Guinea

The scarlet ibis from South America

As we headed down the last half of the walk, a Green-naped Lorikeet decided to investigate Cameron's camera up close. He was so sweet and gentle and rode on Cameron's shoulder the rest of the walk, laying his head down and snuggling him. Many of these birds are very affectionate and miss their owners. I can now imagine how Adam and Eve must have felt in those wonderful days they had in the Garden of Eden!

Storms River

We stopped off to see the Storms River Gorge Bridge. As we walked in the narrow walkway next to the highway traffic, Wyatt and I became very nervous at how far down the gorge was below us. We could see the gorge below the rickety metal strips that were screwed into the concrete bridge, well – mostly screwed in. That’s one thing about South Africa, they don’t have all of the safety measures and warning signs in place that you would see in the U.S. Still, it was worth it going out to stand above the gorge

We then drove down to the mouth of the river where it meets the Indian Ocean at Tsitsikamma National Park. On our hike out to the suspension bridge, we enjoyed the coves and found a rock for Charm’s cage and walking sticks for the kids. I sat watching the tide roll in over the smooth river rocks and listened to the sound of the water rushing back out to sea which sounded like thunder.Watching the ocean change the rough rocks into smooth and beautiful stones made me think of the process that we are going through in our lives to become polished stones for the temple of the Lord. It was interesting to think about how this process was very slow and gradual over a long period of time, much like the refining of our faith that occurs over a lifetime.

As we left the park, we were blessed with a sunset to remember.

Pigeon transfers data faster than South Africa's Telkom

Just had to share something my friend Sam sent me. Too funny and too true!

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African information technology company on Wednesday proved it was faster for them to transmit data with a carrier pigeon than to send it using Telkom , the country's leading internet service provider.

Internet speed and connectivity in Africa's largest economy are poor because of a bandwidth shortage. It is also expensive.

Local news agency SAPA reported the 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly the 80 km (50 miles) from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card was strapped to his leg.

Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds -- the time it took for only four percent of the data to be transferred using a Telkom line.

SAPA said Unlimited IT performed the stunt after becoming frustrated with slow internet transmission times.

The company has 11 call-centers around the country and regularly sends data to its other branches.

Telkom could not immediately be reached for comment.

Internet speed is expected to improve once a new 17,000 km underwater fiber optic cable linking southern and East Africa to other networks becomes operational before South Africa hosts the soccer World Cup next year.

Local service providers are currently negotiating deals for more bandwidth.

(Reporting by Peroshni Govender; Editing by Jon Hemming)

TREE FROG LOG HOUSE at MOONSHINE ON WHISKEY CREEK in Plettenberg Bay, Western Cape, SA

As we traveled toward the Western Cape province, we were having no luck finding accommodation for the next 4 days adventures. I was getting a bit nervous, as I like to plan ahead. As Sunday came, we were getting a bit desperate as we had no place to stay that night. I finally found the cabins at Moonshine on Whiskey Creek and called. Sue, the owner, told us that she had a, wonderful cabin called Tree Frog. As we drove through the cool, rainy evening, it was very comforting to know that we would have such a beautiful place to stay. Arriving in the evening, we could only see the beauty of the inside of the cabin. The kids had their own loft with 3 beds which made them happy that no one had to sleep together or on the floor.

Cameron made us a blazing fire and we knew it was going to be a wonderful few days. The next morning we awoke to an enchanting mist over the forest and mountains. As the sun began to rise, it burned off the mist and showed us a view of lush green mountains! Soon after breakfast, we began our homeschool lessons and were quickly interrupted by the vervet monkeys that came to see their new neighbors. It was so fun interacting with them. One of them signed to us that he wanted food by putting his hand to his mouth. They were so intelligent and we wondered if they would be able to get the door open without it being locked. They kept jumping on the kitchen window sill, hoping we would open it, but we were warned not to feed them. The owners had left us a spray bottle of water in case they got in and were too “cheeky.”

Later on that day the kids went to play at the playground area. The owners, Sue and Albert, have put such work into this lovely retreat! We were impressed that they built the cabins themselves. It gave us an idea for a future life some day, to have the kids involved in helping us run a business like this.