Golfing anyone? / April 28

Remember the picture over looking the golf course?  Well we played that course today. 

It was much nicer looking at it from the top of the hill than from the tee blocks.  The greens were really nice & really fast. But those of you who have seen me golf know that I don't get much air.  More a low roll so the 100-150 yards from the tee to the fairway caused a bit of a problem for me since it was a little like the sex grass at View Point.  You know the deep, thick grass that once your in you're screwed!  I'm being polite using the term screwed if you know what I mean.  :(

I think he might be looking right.... again.

Dawn played with us and Paul stayed with Piper.  

I think her form was pretty good considering she has only played one other time with us at home.

I did think their driving range was pretty cool. 

Damn, if I could have just gotten some cart path action!

I'm not telling what our scores are just that I had borrowed clubs that sucked and the sex grass was really bad.   I'm not saying that any of it had to do with the fact that I could not connect with the ball.  Nope, not saying it at all.  End of golfing story.

A quick day trip and the zoo. / April 26-27

We headed out this morning on a weekend trip to a place called Waterval Bovan to a nice little B&B called the Shamrock Arms Guesthouse.  It's about a 3 hour drive east from Pretoria.  We stopped along the way for lunch at a service station / restaurant place along the side of the road.  Of course whats a rest stop along the road in SA without overlooking a waterhole with a few Rhinos, Water Buffalo, Zebras, and some Malibu antelope? Even the urinals and the toilets in the restrooms overlook the animals. 

So we get to the quaint little town and immediately I realize there are not fences around the houses.  There are no electric gates. There are not electric or barbed wires across the top of the non existing fences.  Hmmm.  As we pull into the driveway of the (lets just stick with the term "quaint")  little B&B the owner comes out to greet us with I'm terribly sorry but....we have no electricity or water so you can not stay here.  I have made you a reservation another 10 kilometers down the road.  ( I have to admit I was just a little relieved.)  Now Dawn & Paul had planned to bike ride in the mountains there the next morning so Paul went into the small bike store across the street to get some info.  As the rest of us sat in the car with our windows down we watched some trucks with young men in the back of them racing up & down the very narrow main street.  Then a couple of young men came by the car saying something we did not understand but by his tone you could tell it wasn't anything pleasant.  One of them also had the most blood shot eyes I have ever seen.  When Paul returned to the car he informed us that the electricity had been cut and the water shut down out of protest.  We were not sure if it had to do with the upcoming election or something else but Dawn made the decision to turn the car around & go home.   Needless to say I was thrilled with her decision!  So home we went!   So, we had a nice 7 1/2 hour day trip looking at the countryside.  

Nothing else to do on Sunday so we took Piper to the zoo!  More animals!  This time in cages.  OK.... I think I've seen enough animals for awhile.  But I did like the flamingo exhibit.

Then a couple of Dawn & Paul's friends came for dinner.  We had a BBQ, which they call braai (bry) here, and a poker game!  I know you will all want to know that Donald was the winner & Paul was second.     

Guess what I did today??? / April 25

That's right!  the Emperors Palace!

Just a little smaller version of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Who knew they would have this much fun in SA? :))

Once inside you could be in ANY CASINO USA. Or in the world.

I'm trying to get Piper started in the right direction to be on the World Poker Tour when she gets older.

The best part about this place is there is no smoking on the main floor.  They have smaller rooms for smokers which is just the opposite in Reno or Vegas.  It made it much more tolerable.

It really is designed like Caesars Palace. 

Right down to the statues.  Oh course they have David and Mark Anthony & Cleopatra instead of Caesar.

And everyone should have a family photo in the lobby by the water fountain.

We weren't supposed to take any pictures in the casino but Dawn snapped a couple of me playing blackjack.  It was played a little different here.  Free splits & double downs.  But to make up for it on their end the dealer pushed on 22 instead of busting. 

So Paul & I played blackjack for about an hour.  We both started with 200Rand, ($20) and I walked away with 475R he with 275R then we went and had a buffet dinner (ok.. not so much like Caesars there) and on the way out I put 200R back into one of the slots.  So we both walked with about 75R or $7.50.  Fun!   

Now these are my kind of wild animals!

Apartheid Museum / April 24

I have to admit I have never really been one to keep  up on world news and politics.  I guess I should be ashamed to say that if it did not affect me personally I didn't pay much attention.  I will tell you the 2 things I knew about Apartheid.  1 - It is a bad thing. And 2 - President Carter's daughter was arrested protesting Apartheid in 1986 when she was a college student. I know that because it was on the night time TV news.  Now I know a little more.  Apartheid means total segregation between blacks and whites.   The White South African people voted for this in 1948. They gave everyone an ID card that stated which color you were.  Then they moved all the black people out from the towns into what they called townships. Not unlike reservations that our American Natives were placed on. Their property was confiscated & they had nothing.  For many years the country was in constant struggle. April 27th is the 20th Anniversary of the vote that ended Apartheid.  Coincidentally Donald and I are also celebrating our 41st Anniversary on April 27th.  I use the term celebrate loosely.  :p   OK... that's beside the point.  You can see that all the school children that are here to visit the Apartheid museum are black.  If you remember the picture at the Voortrekkers they were all white students.  I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

When we got our tickets to go into the museum some said 'you are white' on it and others said 'you are non white'.  This took us through 2 different doors just like it would have then depending on your ID card.  It was very interesting to see all the information about their struggles through this time period. 

Some people didn't even get ID cards for who they really were.

It's amazing to me that this was happening in 1985.

I know many people have debated this but scientifically it has been proven that everyones DNA leads back to 2 tribes here. 

The release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison led to the final negotiations for peace.   These are the many names of Nelson Mandela.

We were not supposed to take pictures in the museum but here are a few that we snapped when no one was looking.  It was quite an eye opener of how sheltered a life I have led. 

This tank like vehicle was called a Casspir.  The government fired guns from it at black people that were in places where they were not allowed.  Dawn's nanny, Grace remembers when she was about 14 with her little brother on her back  she was shot at.  They called it Mello Yellow. 

These are a couple of pictures overlooking Johannesburg.

Wouldn't you just love to have the money Coca Cola spends on advertising??

Rietvlei Nature Reserve / April 23

Only 15 minutes from Dawn's house is a small nature reserve.  You can drive your own car thru it.  You just can't get out of your car except at designated bird or animal blinds along the lake.

It certainly is not like the game drives we went on in Madikwe but since we were in our own car and only going about 5 miles an hour with no traffic Piper got to sit in my lap & watch out the window to see the animals.

These are a few of the animals we saw today.

Blesbok 

More Zebras.

Eland, the largest antelope.

White Rhino.

You will notice they do not have a horn.  They have been removed by conservationists to protect the Rhinos from being poached and killed for their horn.  They are worth a lot of money in China and other South East Asian countries.  

This is a baby so it has not had it's horn removed yet.  When we were in Madikwe our guide informed us this was not a good solution to the problem.  The reserves need to hire anti-poaching patrols that live full time in the bush to prevent the killings.

Ostrich.

Wildebeest.

While we were driving thru the reserve we saw some rangers trucks and then we heard a shot.  When we drove out the gate we saw this zebra hanging just inside.  We stopped to ask why it had been shot.  First the Ranger said she didn't know it had & then said it was to feed the lions they had in another area.  We thought this was a little strange since it is supposed to be a nature reserve.  They obviously are skinning it to sell the hide.  Hopefully the money goes to support the reserve. We were quite surprised that this was hung in full view of the parks visitors.

We finished off the day with my favorite swimsuit model!  Her mom's skinny legs always seem to be in the picture too.  :)