Greenway Woods Resort White River

... as a pet. They are wild animals, predators and deadly, just like a Lion. To drive her point home, she showed she was missing the larger part of her right index finger: bitten off and eaten by one the Chimpansees in the enclosures. After some more heartfelt warnings regarding general safety and also towards the parents to keep the little children present safe, the tour started.

First she fed the Chimpansees in the "baby" enclosure. Calling all their names ...

... back down
the tar road there she sat, just on the verge watching the goings on
down the road, so camouflaged that I could only just make out the
distinctive outline of the beautiful feline. Unfortunately as I
struggled to turn the car around I spooked her and she quickly 'leopard
crawled' across the road in front of us before disappearing into the
bush......

We couldn't believe our luck and off we went, before
a most unlikely sighting. Another ...

... fish eagles were flying from tree to tree. As we drove nearer to Berg en Daal we drove along one of the secondary roads which had lovely views over the countryside, and here we spotted the largest herd of elephants we have seen to date, a very impressive sight. Plus another first was seeing a black rhino; we have seen white rhino both last year in Kruger and in Swaziland, but never before black rhino.

Berg en Daal ...

... usually a little lost in the conversation (often about futbol). We eat lots of delicious fresh mangos from the trees in the yard, and I have also gotten a lot of pap, which is a stable in everyone's diet- somewhat of a cross between mashed potatoes and Styrofoam. A young woman, Emerencia, has taken me under her wing and helps me endlessly with getting around and meeting people in the community. Her mother is one of the master weavers at ...

... we saw some Nyalas (which are just like deer but a bit smaller). And then as we looked out onto the savannah we saw a waterbuck and an elephant drinking right out of the watering hole. It was amazing. We knew that since we had seen 3 animals already, we'd see a TON more in the days to come. Not only is the lodge in the middle of the savannah, it's insanely beautiful. Everywhere you look, there's colorful tiles placed into cool designs and patterns. It was almost like ...

... running water. These shack were basically a "Save the Children" commercial. Very sad. They were very happy to see us. I had 2 of them jump into my arms with was surprising. We walked down the street carrying them or swinging them along. They liked practicing there English on us. The older children wanted us to give them money for sweets but the younger ones were just happy to see us. I ...

... Swaziland also has the highest percent of HIV/AIDS infection rate in the world according to some statistics. a lot of these kids i will be working with will be AIDS orphans. they are also suppose to be the friendliest people in sub-saharan africa. i am going to a drum workshop this weekend. i thought it meant i would be making drums, but i guess i will actually be drumming on drums. it is strange to leave a place for forever... but i am looking forward to this next placement.

... copying the answers from the charts on the wall. I'm not sure if I should be marking things wrong if I don't have the time to teach them the right way to do it. I could sit all day with one person and talk about multiplication to them, but there are about 15 people looking for work so I end up just walking in a circle around the table giving them more work. I really enjoy my time there, because the people are always so happy when I come in the door. I think that's because ...

... Dinner was a delicious lamb dish. Afterwards, we were pooped from our long day. As there is no television here, we fired up an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 3, on the computer, before retiring for the night. On Thursday, June 15, we awoke bright and early at 530am for our morning drive! How delightful! [LYNNE: The guides come around to everyone's rock house and knock on the door until you acknowledge that you're awake. Later in the trip I suggested that they should ...

3 We prepared a teaching lesson, Shannon made a cooler box full of soup and we visited a local school. The kids were thrilled to see us but their teacher wasn't a happy camper. Rumor has it that she takes away what we give to the kids and we could see that first hand at the end of our lesson: the kids all had to give her the candy and pencils we'd given them. The kids walk to school every day, 4 kilometers, even the little ones, and some days, the teacher won't even ...