Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Would you like to pet a Cheetah?

Yes, oh, yes we have had the opportunity to pet a cheetah!

WE visited a place that takes in animals that have been hurt or abandoned.  It was fascinating  It is called a rehabilitation hospital.  We were hoping none of them were suffering from drinking problems or drugs.  This cheetah has been in the center for quite awhile and it kind of used to people.  They say they let him run and they time him and it is amazing how fast he can run.
Here is a Lynx Cat.  He is very beautiful.  Next we will see some interesting birds.  There are so many beautiful birds here.  Some of the beauties are vultures.  Some are nice and some scary.






They are so interesting.  You will notice that some of them have broken wings.  Heavenly Father had a good time creating animal and birds in South Africa.
The trees here are so interesting.  
Here is the most dangerous animal!  We learned that this animal can take down any other.  We say this with some pride because it is the mighty BADGER!!!  They have a hard time keeping him contained.  He digs and whirls his way out of contained spots.  This is much like our Prescott BADGERS!!!

He kept reaching his arms out of the fence.  We were sure he just wanted to shake our hands, haha.
They were amazing.

The lions had to be in there cages because they were cleaning their park area.  He was okay but she was not.  We could not even go by her, she was so upset.
I used my zoom lense for this one.
The leopard is so beautiful!  Here he wanted to patty-cake with this gentleman.


This is a baby rhino.  His mother fell to poachers.  Poaching is so bad that in Kruger Park is they see poachers the rangers shoot to kill and that is not the rhino.  Apparently the horn of the rhino is in great need.  Some say that it is very healing and so there is a big price on them  An interesting thing is that on this wall you cannot see the two young people sitting on it.  They volunteer to come and sit with the rhino so he does not get lonely.  How would you like that for a job?  Yes, I am a rhino sitter!!!
Hyena!
We thought that clear here in South AFrica we find the Rotary Club doing good work.
As we left Moholololo (say that three times fast) Rehab Hopsital we saw some men cutting up a giraffe that had died and they were using the meat for the animals.  They are huge
We then went on to our first game drive  December is a slow time as so many are gone for the "festive season" so we took a day before Elder and Sister Heyen went home to enjoy this  They are going home to Salem, Oregon.  They are the first ones in the picture.  We will miss our neighbors.
We stayed down by the river.  This elephant towel was on our bed.  We did not have the nerve to mess it up.
We had a small pool but by the time we got there it was really dark and all kinds of animal come around there and we did not know how to turn the lights on so we did not partake!
You will see a lot of trees that look like this or worse.  The elephants rub against these .
Our guide called this a "mother-in-law beater".
A friendly wart hog.
A lizard that lives under a rock with her babies.
A mommy and baby water buffalo.  Sometimes they can be cape buffalo.  We do not know the difference.
Cute giraffe!  They are so fun to watch.  
On our way home we stopped for petro and these women were singing and dancing in the parking lot.  One of the ladies told us that they were dancing for us to give them money.  I hurried and got back in the car.  It was really fun, though.
This was the end of our journey.  The game drive proved to not be as exciting as the animals were all hiding that day but we did enjoy the company of the other missionaries and saw  beautiful nature.
We love you and hope you enjoyed our trip!
Hurrah for Israel,
Elder and Sister Campbell






















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