On to Port Elizabeth

Monday was travel day, and we caught a flight from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth, on the southern coast. We are staying at a flat owned by a couple who now spend most of the year in UK, and who generously let brothers & sisters use their place. Mike and Vanessa Floyd live nearby and look after things--as well as looking after us this week. We met them at the Israel Bible School in 2001, and they are just the latest in a string of wonderful hosts.

Port Elizabeth (called PE by everyone) is a beautiful city with a marvelous climate. We have to keep reminding ourselves that it's getting cold back home. One reminder: a "Summer and Christmas 2008" catalog arrived from a retail chain!

On Tuesday, Jane led a sisters class at Mike & Vanessa's flat, while Mike and Paul tried to get an internet connection arranged. Our suppers, and some of the lunches, have been provided by a succession of brothers and sisters, who have welcomed us very warmly. At the flat we get our own breakfasts and occasionally lunch. On Thursday, we had "Thanksgiving" dinner with a couple from the ecclesia: roast lamb for the main course, and a wonderful pie they call milk tart. In the evening, Paul led the ecclesial Bible study, and there was good discussion following.

Wednesday and Thursday mornings, we went to two more game parks. (This will be it for the game parks, at least for the immediate future.) The animal life in this part of God's creation is indeed awe-inspiring. Wed morning Vanessa took us to the famous Addo Elephant Park. Although not everyone is so fortunate, we saw many, many elephants. We sat and watched for quite awhile as several family groups came to a watering hole. Midway through, we realized a lioness and her two cubs were watching the proceedings from the slope above. They were pretty nonchalant, clearly not hunting. A couple of male kudu came around, but were wary and didn't come to drink. There was a kudu carcass near the water, clear evidence that the lions do sometimes hunt there. A black-backed jackal also came along, drank, took a rest, and moved on. Moving on ourselves, we saw more kudu, ostriches, tortoises (not quite Galapagos size, but pretty big), vervet monkeys, and a number of birds--Vanessa being an avid birder, she knew them all.

Thursday we had a guided tour, which was won in a charity auction by our host for the meal that evening. We toured down the coast to the west of PE, and spent at least half the morning in the Kragga Kamma game park. This is a small park, originally established in the 19th century by British soldiers to provide meat. But small does not mean it's a lesser park! We were privileged to see all 3 of the resident white rhinos (a mom/dad/child family)--something of a rarity. Also many zebra, wildebeest, and ostrich, plus a family of giraffe. We saw a group of springbok (the national emblem), and some bontebok, which have come back from near-extinction because of parks like this. Two types of herons at one watering hole, one called "goliath"--deservedly! And, we got to pet a real live cheetah. Yes, it's a tame one. They have a breeding program, which aims to produce more animals for the wild. To do so, some of the cheetahs are tamed, and then they are exchanged with other parks to mix up the gene pool. This park also had wild cheetahs in an enclosed area; although we tried, we didn't see any of them.

More in the next post about the BEC run by the PE ecclesia. I'll also try to add some photos to this post -- terrible connection at the cafe where I'm working...