Amazing Africa

So to start where I left off last.....(and get ready this will be long)....we left Jo-burg and flew to Durban where we stayed the weekend in Amanzimtoti with Steph's aunt and uncle, Linda and Willy. They planned a two-day stay at the Hluluwe-Imfolozi Game Park for us where we met up with Euan and Amber. We stayed in a chalet in the middle of the park...so nightly we could hear wild animals and see quite a few out our back porch. Hyenas loved to come up after we had our braai (which is a South African barbecue). During the day, we drove through the 211,000 acre park and saw more than 18 different kinds of wild animals. INCREDIBLE! Below are a few of the hundreds of pictures that we have of the animals that we saw. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced.

We left the game park and drove to The Valley of 1000 Hills to the orphanage where we will be until we return on August 13th. Driving into Makaphutu is beautiful...just a sea of rolling hills and deep green valleys. We were greeted with hugs right away by a couple of kids who were outside their cottage. Steph, Amber, and I are staying in one of the cottages in the middle of the camp. Steph is working at the kresh (pre-primary school) which is on site and Amber and I are working at the junior primary school that some of our kids attend. The kids are wonderful and our eyes have definitely been opened to a whole new world....a level of poverty like we've never seen. The next few posts will be more about our experience and stories from our trip (now that I've gotten all of the details of where we are and what we are doing out of the way). Here are a few pictures from the kresh. They are precious.