Leaving Beautiful Gate behind - Wednesday

I am writing this from back home now but realise that Wednesday was not able to be blogged so as promised i am catching up.

We were  up early on Wednesday to pack up and leave.  Incredibly we were pretty much done by 8 am so we were all able to join the office staff for morning prayer. It was lovely to hear them singing together and very moving to be prayed for by them before we set off on our journey. We got away about 8.40 in the end after lots of hugs and farewells and a few moist eyes!

Our first stop was the border which we crossed painlessly and quickly and we headed to Ladybrand for breakfast at a cafe I had frequented before called 'Living Life'.  As promised by me the breakfasts were good and we relaxed for a while whilst being served beautiful food till abou 11.30. Then began our love drive up to Johannesburg. Fortunately the sun was shining and we were able to see the Free State in sunshine rather than the sleet we had encountered on our journey down.

We stopped for a late lunch which we had made before we left and later realised how important that was as it was to be the last meal we ate that day!   We were dropping Brian and Annette off at an airport hotel as they were heading off on safari to Kruger.  Johannesburg in the rush hour is not a pretty sight and it took us a good 1 1/2 hours to find the hotel that they were staying it. It was 6 pm by that time and we had planned to be at our destination at the Rhino and Lion park which was the other side of Jo'burg. 

I knew the park had closed at 5 and despite many attempts to try and phone them to say we were going to be late, they were not answering their phone..............I was beginning to panic that we would be shut out and I was mentally preparing alternative solutions in my mind.  Thanks to steve's Sat Nav we managed to make our way through the busy streets, via an accident involving a car up on its side in the middle of the road, to the Park where we were staying. It was in the middle of nowhere and completely un lit and we had no idea what was around us as we drove through pitch black. There was NOTHING around to either buy food or have anything to eat so we were glad for the odd bits we had brought with us - a loaf of bread, half container of milk, 2 1/3rd bottles of wine and some crisps, cheese and polony!  we made a buffet of what we had and settled ourselves into our log cabins - they were beautiful!  The highlight for many of us was the bubbling hot tub out on the balcony and Carol Steve and I were quick to get in ours.  Fiona was not feeling too good so she abstained. That made us quite sleepy and an early night was called for as we knew that Thursday would be a busy day.

After a lovely warm day it wasa freezing night and I woke at 5 physically shivering, knowing there were more blankets in the cupboardbut also knowing that it was too cold to get up to get them!  We finally got up about 7.30 to see the most beautiful view spreading out before us!  Amazing.

We met up with our guide at the cafe where we could buy some drinks and chocolate for breakfast (some even had ice cream) and then set off on the back of a bedford truck where we could all have our own double seat for a 2 hour drive round the park.

We saw white rhino, gemsbock, springbock, Elands, Lions, Cheetahs, wild dogs and Buffalo to name a few and learnt a lot about the wildlife of Africa.  We had a lovely lunch sitting in the sun and hen were able to visit the creche were some of us were able to stroke an 8 year old Cheetah who had been hand reared and was domesticated. Some of the group went in to the lions and stroked the baby lions which was very special.  There were lots of other babies - cheetah's and tigers who were so lovely and very well cared for.

We left there and went to visit the hippo pool across the road and ther saw another 4 bangali Tigers and some more lion before piling back on the minibus  to head back to the airport.

Returning the ar was painless , quick and easy and check in was also easy and we managed to get seats all relatively close.  The rest is told in the Airport Blog as I managed to get internet connection briefly.

Now we are home and showered.  It was a good flight, arriving early and everyone got picked up safely from the airport.  We were very grateful to some Church friends who had taken us to the airport and brought us home to save us the problem of parking and the expense of taxi rides.

We have returned to a cloudy day but I guess we will not have the cold of the African nights but neither do we have the warmth of the African sun during the days.

I beleive it has been a successful trip, everyone has enjoyed themselves and got something out of it.  For some it has been their first experience of communal living, for some their first trip to Africa, for many their first experience of a 3rd world community struggling to survive amid the adversity of poverty and HIV.  The group has bonded really well  and eveyone has been very supportive of each other when things have been difficult to deal with.

Our budget and travel plans all worked well and I believe I will be organising further trips in the future.  From everyone saying it was a once in a life time trip, they are all nw saying 'when we go back...............'  I would be more than happy to lead another group back there as I think everyone has now seen what I love about AFrica, about Lesotho and about Beautiful Gate. Hopefully their love for what they have seen will enable them to become ambassadors and fundraisers too.

Now I need to do some washing, get a little bit of sleep and hope that Sainsburys deliver my food order.  Back to the Western way of doing things but my heart is thinking about those who have no washing machines, cannot afford to go to the Supermarket and who queue up for their water from the tap every morning.  These are real people just like you and me and we must never ever take for granted all the privileges that we have that we do not appreciate.

While I am sitting in the comfort ofmy lounge, people I have spent time with are struggling to make ends meet, the children will be at school with their paraffin heaters warming their classrooms, The house mothers will be clearning the houses while the children  are out at playgroup or school and life will be going on just as we left it.

And so this is my last blog for now.  I will be back, I know I will.   I am already hoping i will be able to spend some time out there on my own again next year and then maybe a group trip the year after gain.  If you are interested in joining me on a future group trip or in sponsoring a house or getting involved in any way at all, please contact me.  will of course be willing to show you some pictures if you would like me too although i understand that will be a severe test of our friendship as I have quite a few!

So until next time, Thank you for reading my blog and Hakunah Matata - no stresss...............

Love
Jenny x