CORAL TREE

For many years we have had this tree in our garden, my late Mother loved them, we have it in memory of her, it is such a beautiful flower and in bloom now.
Did we really appreciate our Darling Mothers when we had them, all the family stories they could have caught up on.   We have a chest made by my great grandfather and I did not even know anything about him, or the chest, and she would have known.
The moments we were cross with her, did not feel like going somewhere with her.
The usual silly things people get up too.
Will never forget you Mom  (Vera Elizabeth Williams (Miller)) and always love you,  will see you one day, I hope you know I did not mean to be a cross patch.
One thing I say, I would hate to be starting my life again, and all the trials and tribulations we have, and going to School, hated that.    But then one must remember all the fun and love we have shared with friends and relations, and talking about love our pets who are waiting there for us.  

Bless you all.   

MORE HOLIDAY.

There I am sitting on the Verandah,  before we go out for the day, to visit our friends in Franschoek, up in the mountains the culinary center of  the wine lands.

The view from the Restaurant,  great view all around through huge glass walls.   Of course do not forget the delicious food  I had Ox tail, which is my favorite,  the others had , Ostrich,  Old Dead Legs had sole stuffed with Lemon Herb, the other 3 had Eischbine.  (do not know how to spell it and nor does spell check!!!)
Came home tired and bursting.  It is about  one and a half hours to get home.

WESTERN CAPE - LLANDUDNO.

On the Atlantic side of the Peninsular - The cold water side.  

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SPRING

The first of September is spring, here in the Southern Hemisphere.  So happy spring to all, hope the summer is not toooooooo  hot,  we also need a bit of rain.  Lee, Cassidy and I to spend many happy hour in the swimming pool.  Braais and picnics  here we come.

----------------ooOoo------------------

The Tokoloshe. A MUST READ.

The Tokoloshe

13 November 2011, 15:43

400 years ago Africa might as well been another planet in our solar system.
We were living in peace in our thatch huts. The 10 piece of cattle were grazing under the African sky. The head of the family sat in the shade of a tree drinking beer, the wives were working the land and the kids were making clay oxen to play with.
Every man’s dream, even to this day, no matter where on this planet you might come from. It sounds like the African version of the Playboy mansion. You sit in the shade and your multiple wives work for you.
Then the Europeans arrived and laughed at our people who had no education and thought our way of life was savagery. We had to fight them with spears to survive and ultimately lost the battle. They took our land and made us their slaves. They sold us to America and we became a trading commodity.
That is, what it is. We can’t change the past. So now 400 years later, what now?
We had to learn through bloodshed that we were not a planet of another solar system. We are part of this world and in this world there are certain rules that can’t be broken if you want to have food. Whether we like these rules or not, they are a reality. We can fight them like Mugabe does but it would only result in hunger.
Too many Africans are yearning for life as we knew it back then…but they just love the white man’s BMW and Lear Jet. The donkey cart is way too primitive for their liking and the cow hides that once covered our loins are not as “cool” as a Hugo Boss suit. We are a race that conveniently wants to fall back on our traditions when it suits us.
Not everybody has the ability to be as black and white as I am, and I mean that in more than one sense. I accept and acknowledge that. But I had to ask myself where do I fit in? Do I want to go back to my ancestral land in Dundee and demand this land be given back to me so I can acquire a few wives and create my own Playboy Mansion or do I like it here in Sandton with a Blackberry?
You would be horrified if you read all the messages I get on Facebook of people swearing at me, calling me a traitor, a disgrace to all black people in South Africa and that whites are paying me to blog my views.
What they don’t know is that I have been very blessed to come from a long line of fighters that have fought from the days of the spear right up to the AK47. They fought for my freedom and as sure as this sun is going to come up tomorrow, I am not going to mess up all they have fought for.
I have to address this cultural jail that stands between my people and true freedom.
Let us look at the Tokoloshe first.
You slept with your bed raised up on a few bricks so that when the Tokoloshe comes at night, he could move freely around your room without knocking his head against any object. For those that know this superstition will know it is a small mystical hairy thing that looks like a psychotic angry little bear and catches you at night. But if he knocks his head against your bed, you are going to get this menace all over you and he has a temper like no other on earth. Stop laughing, I’m dead serious!
I haven’t seen him yet. I badly wanted to see him when I was small because while others feared him, I thought he sounded cool and wanted to befriend him. My grandmother would look at me in absolute horror when I wanted to see the Tokoloshe. She would tell my mother “Eish this child scares me”.
When my Grandfather returned from exile, he brought me a Teddy Bear from London. I looked at the Teddy and instantly knew this was the Tokoloshe I always wanted to meet. So my bear got named Tokoloshe. I got smacked a few times because I would jump on my Grandmother when she takes her afternoon nap and scare her with Tokoloshe.
But the modern new reborn Tokoloshes sit in Parliament.
Parliament…hmmmm… let us discuss running this country, being an example to the citizens and our traditions.
In a new African landscape how practical is it having multiple wives? Nice idea, being a man. Come on you guys reading this, admit it!
But 20 children? Not so good because if I see what my university education and all the sundry trimmings are costing my father I would hate to think he had to make 20 of us. He would need to join the bank robbers to keep us at university.
My mother didn’t come cheap either, so he would have had to start stealing cattle from the white farmers if he wanted more wives. She cost him 40 head of cattle back in the 80’s. But wow, was she worth every cow! You should see her today in her Chanel dress …but 5 of them?
That is the humorous side of our tradition, but the more serious side is the following reality. There are only two of us and not twenty. So from my first breath my father has been there every step of my way thus far. We are his life and the reason he works this hard. He has spent every moment available guiding me into manhood (without sending me to a bush so some traditional butcher can slaughter my stuff beyond repair) How, as a father will you possibly find the time to devout this kind of attention to 20 kids? I don’t even want to think what life would have been like without my father. Unthinkable.
But what would I have been, if my father happily cavorted around claiming it is his culture and tradition?
I probably would have been marching with Malema on the road to nowhere and my father would have been dead by now. I would be visiting a graveyard and trying to find life’s answers from a stone. Back in the 80’s when he married my mother us blacks haven’t heard of HIV/Aids and those enlightened ones that did know about it, thought it was a homosexual disease.
So unbeknown to us we were killing ourselves. Merrily living out the principles of our tradition, not knowing we are committing suicide and resulting in 2 Million orphans just in South Africa alone, let alone the rest of Africa.
Wouldn’t this be a far more worthy cause to march about than march to get stuff you deliriously think should be given to you for free?
Imagine what must be going through the mind of a 4 year old kid, who is left all alone tonight, with nobody to take care of him or her? None of these orphaned kids asked to be here, so imagine how a child has to try and make sense of all of this?
So why do I still have my parents? Because my father knew he can’t run around making babies that he can’t provide for. He had to think soberly about life with a new millennium looming. He had us because he wanted us. We were to become his legacy. We weren’t conceived in a moment of uncontrolled lust or in the name of an outdated tradition.
We won’t discuss the merits of the social grant for mothers with kids and absent fathers but alarmingly condoms are still very unpopular accessories amongst the population of Africa. Until recently we had that scary old Bat as a minister of health. Tokolosh personified. Beetroot juice and cabbage leaves will cure the disease, while the Chief would shower after a bit of inyama.
What did my father do 7 years ago when I reached puberty? He sat me down and told me the facts and how it all happens. Every time I leave the house he jokingly says he will draw blood when I return and have me tested. He jokes, but it has sunk in so deep now, I think about the consequences every time I see a gorgeous girl.
What do my people do? Until recently it was better swept under the table than discuss the matter. It became unlawful to state a person has died of AIDS on his death certificate. How big is this denial?
Please don’t make a comment after you have read this and tell me this disease was invented by the Apartheid rulers to wipe us out. I’m not even going to discuss that old stale story! And speaking about Apartheid, get over it. It has no relevance in 2011. Dead, gone, born 31-05-1961 and was executed on 27-04-1994. Our ultimate justification for everything that we do wrong can’t come back so we can stone it.
The most bizarre superstition was invented to “cure” the disease. Rape a girl and it goes away. By girl, I mean little ones that had to helpless have their lives taken from them without their consent. Grown men believing in rubbish like this. How in the name of God can you possibly justify this, no matter what your traditions or beliefs are?
We have now for far too long shrugged our shoulders and hid behind our traditions on the one hand and on the other we want to sit at the UN and pretend we have the wisdom to help decide the fate of other countries. In this world we need to merge with, you have:
1. One wife. You sleep around, you die.
2. You have more kids than you can provide for, they starve and when they grow up they will steal to survive because you didn’t have enough money to send them to a decent school. The government schools are a complete waste of time because the teachers are never in class.
3. You can’t sell or trade with your daughters. They are not consumer goods.
4. You study or qualify as an artisan so you can earn your own keep and build your own house. There isn’t enough money going around building 40 Million free houses. You can wait until the sun burns itself out, it is not going to happen. So live with it.
5. Forget the white man’s wealth. It has long gone been transferred to Sydney. There isn’t any left here. Create your own. Forget about redistribution. Use your logic. The wealth of 5 Million whites was never going to send 45 Million blacks into a blissful retirement. The white wealth Malema cries about daily, was only in the hands of a few whites.
So until we move ourselves forward and merge ourselves with the world, we will remain primitive. 17 Years after independence you don’t dance from Beyers Naude to the stock exchange and have foreign journalists film your insanity in the name of freedom. We were freed 17 years ago, embrace it and use your freedom to trade with the world, not crash your own stock market.
We can march up to the Union Buildings until the cows come home. We are not going to move ourselves forward until we free ourselves from ourselves!

COMRADES MARATHON. SOUTH AFRICA.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN.

Arguably the greatest ultra marathon in the world where athletes come from all over the world to combine muscle and sinew and mental strength to conquer the approx 90 kilometres between the cities of Pietermaritzburg and Durban, the event owes its beginnings to the vision of one man, World War I veteran Vic Clapham.

Vic Clapham was born in London on 16 November 1886 and emigrated as a youth to the Cape Colony in South Africa, with his parents. At the outbreak of the South African War (Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902) he enrolled as an ambulance man into the Cradock Town Guard at the age of 13. He later moved to Natal and worked as an engine driver with the South African Railways.

With the outbreak of the Great War 1914-1918, Vic Clapham signed up with the 8th South African Infantry, and fought and marched 1700 miles of the eastern savannahs of Africa in pursuit of Glen Paul Von Lettow-Vorbecks askari battalions.

The pain, agonies, death and hardships of his comrades which he witnessed during those awful days left a lasting impression on the battle-hardened soldier, especially the camaraderie engendered among the men in overcoming these privations. Thus when peace was declared in 1918, Clapham felt that all those who had fallen in this catastrophic war should be remembered and honoured in a unique way, where an individuals physical frailties could be put to the test and overcome. Remembering the searing heat and thirst of the parched veld through which he had campaigned, he settled on the idea of a marathon and he approached the athletic authorities of the day to sound their views. His enquiry led him to the doors of the League of Comrades of the Great War a corpus of ex-soldiers who had formed an association to foster the interests of their living companions who had survived the War.

Clapham asked for permission to stage a 56 mile race between Pietermaritzburg and Durban under the name of the Comrades Marathon and for it to become a living memorial to the spirit of the soldiers of the Great War This was strenuously resisted by the League, but Clapham persisted maintaining that if a sedentary living person could be taken off the street given a rifle and 60lb pack and marched all over Africa then surely a fit and able athlete could complete the distance. Applications in 1919 and 1920 were refused but in 1921 the League relented and gave permission and 1 for expenses, which was refundable.

The first Comrades Marathon took place on 24th May 1921, Empire Day, starting outside the City Hall in Pietermaritzburg with 34 runners. It has continued since then every year with the exception of the war years 1941-1945, with the direction alternating each year between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, the so called up & down runs.

The Comrades Marathon is a cherished national treasure and attracts thousands of runners, spectators and television viewers every year. We invite you to participate in this great event and experience the worlds greatest race.

ELEPHANT - IN A BAD MOOD.

This happened last Saturday, in the Pelansburg Game Park, near Rustenburg. Luckily this does not often hapen !!!!! Aparently it was an eldely couple in the car and the lady was slightly injured the gentleman was fine, but they were in a terrible state. NO WONDER.
Many a time we have had elephants this close to the car, but not in a bad mood. Thank goodness.
Elephant Santuary 

THE WISDOM OF KING MOKGATLE OF THE ROYAL BAKOKENG NATION.

(The Kingdon is located in the Rustenburg area. 120 km to the west of Johannesburg.)
The Royal Baokeng nation can thank one man in particular for its riches today: Kgosi Mokgatle, king of the Bafokeng in the late 19th Centuray.
During his reign the Boers, under the leadership 0f Paul Kruger, started registering property title deeds on Bafokeng ancestral land. Realising that a war would be futile, Kgosi Mokagle sent regiments of young men to work in the Kimberley diamond mines and with the help of Lutheran missionaries, used the proceeds to buy back the land.
The policy of land expansion continues to this day and is one the features of the Bafokeng.
Unlike other mining empowerment companies, the Bafokeng own the land on which mining opertions are taking place.
The 20th century brought its own challenges starting with the discovery of platinum on the Bushveld complex in 1925. The Bafokeng nation has since deallt with exploitation by mining companies mainly by what is now AngloPlat (since the 1920s) and Implats (since the 1960s)
Today the nations assets are worth about R30 -billion and are held on behalf of the 300 000 strong community. Instead of paying the dividends to individual community members, around R800-million is spent annually on social develoment projects including schools, clinics, road supply, sports facities and job creation projects.

The Sunday Times
written by Jana Marais.

COMMENTS

PETER HAIN- A former British Cabinet Minister, who began global anti-apartheid sports boycott in the 70's.
said
"Jordaan was the hero who led South Africa to a fantastic event for the whole world.
Whatever the challenges ahead, South Africans now have the optimism and a can-do attitude to meet them.

HENRY KISSINGER
said
"It has been the most exciting World Cup and I have never seen one better organised and with
greater hospitality.


PUMPY
says
Well done all South African, now they can see (The World and doubters) some back bone and determination, to live, laugh and love together.

WORLD CUP

Soccer City - With Johannesburg in the background.

SNOW & COOOOLD SOUTH AFRICA

This snow is on Table Mountain Cape Town - Most unusual. Come to show the Football fans that we can put on a cold show as well.

Snow in Worcester – it’s freezing in Cape Town
Worcester experiences more extremes of temperature than neighbouring Cape Town, as oceanic influences are blocked by the Du Toitskloof and Slanghoek mountain ranges to the west. The daytime maximum in summer averages in the low 30°C's, but some days in February can reach in excess of 40°C. Summer is generally dry with the rare late summer thunderstorm, whilst spring and autumn are shoulder seasons of pleasant temperatures ranging from an average 10°C minimum to 25°C maximum, with the occasional rain shower. Winters are generally very windy and often cool to cold with snow being common on the higher lying ground above 1500m. Daytime maximums range from 10°C-17°C, with minimums hovering at or just above freezing. Winter brings most of Worcester's 175 mm of annual rainfall. The town lies in a curious rain-shadow phenomenon caused by the surrounding high mountains.

TAVELLING IN SOUTH AFRICA.

www.adarotours.co.za
South Africa on Tour have been in business since 2003, and arranged Tours and holidays for Countless tourists to South Africa, our visitors book testifies of the good times we offer. We specialise in creating ...

These people have been recomended to me, give them a bash. I am sure they will help you get where you want to go with pleasure. Enjoy your visit, to our wonderful country.

THE BONES OF OUR ANCESTORS

GROUNDBREAKING DISCOVERY

Dad, I've found a fossil!

Professor Lee Berger, a world-renowned palaeoanthropologist and a Reader in Human Evolution at Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg, describes how he stumbled across on of the richest hominid fossil sites ever to be discovered on August 1 2008 in the Cradle on Humankind World Heritage Site.
THIS IS THE URL. (Wits university)
The area is critical as nearly a third of the entire evidence of human origins in Africa come from just a few site in this region. Is is arguably one of the most explored areas in Africa for evidence of human origins, having been investigated continuously since the first discoveries were made there in 1935.

Prof. Berger used Google Earth to plot the various caves and fossiliferous deposits, and to locate potential new deposits. Google Earth allowed him to share information with other scientists, and its 3-D capabilities allowed him to begin to identify what caves might look like from satellite images.

At the beginning of this project, there were approximately 130 known cave sites in the region and around 20 fossil deposits. Soon he began finding dozens of previously unidentified caves and fossil sites.

By July 2008, through using Google Earth complemented by significant legwork on the ground, Prof. Berger had discovered almost 500 caves that scientists had not previously identified. Included in this were more than 25 fossil sites that had been unknown to science. In late July, Prof. Berger noted on Google a series of caves running along a fault line that that appeared to have clusters of trees that typically marked cave deposits. On the 1st of August 2008, whilst Prof. Dirks mapped the recognised cave system, Prof. Berger proceeded into the uninvestigated area with his dog Tau, a ridgeback, who accompanied him on almost all his explorations. Almost immediately he discovered a rich fossil site that was unknown to science, in the vicinity of more than threedozen caves that had been unrecognised by previous researchers.

On the 15th of August 2008, Prof. Berger returned to the site with his post-doctoral student, Dr Job Kibii and his nine-year-old son Matthew. Within minutes, Matthew had discovered the first remains of early human ancestors - a clavicle, or collarbone. Remarkably, Prof. Berger had done his PhD thesis on this very bone, when he had studied the hominid clavicle, scapula and humerus. On the opposite side of the block, Prof. Berger discovered a jawbone with a canine tooth of a hominid. The find would soon be prepared and identified as part of a partial skeleton of a juvenile hominid, around 9 – 13 years of age.
On the 4th of September 2008, Prof. Berger returned to the site with more than a dozen colleagues, with high expectations of recovering more fossils. After four and a half hours, the team had not discovered a single element that they could conclusively be identified as hominid. As the group took a break, Prof. Berger went to the edge of the small pit in the middle of the site and noted a bone sticking out of the rock. It was clearly the humerus of a hominid. Astounded, Prof. Berger went down into the pit and realised that it articulated with a scapula and as he put his hand against the wall, two hominid teeth literally fell into his hand. Remarkably this second find was not the same individual that Matthew had found, but a second skeleton of an adult female

In the months to follow the site has produced arguably the most remarkable assemblage of early human ancestors ever found, including what are probably the most complete skeletons of early hominids ever discovered and by far the most complete remains of any hominid dating to around two million years ago. The fossils, one juvenile male, one adult female, occur together in near articulated state in the sedimentary remains of a deeply eroded cave system, where they were laid down by a single debris flow, indicating the timing of their death was closely related, and occurred shortly before the debris flow carried them to their place of burial.

A further important aspect of the find is that a male and female were found together, and are respectively a juvenile and an adult. The sex of the fossils can be determined from the morphology of the jaws and hips, whilst the age of the juvenile has been determined from its dentition making it about 11 to 13 years old in human terms. In contrast the adult female has strongly worn teeth suggesting an age in her late 20’s or perhaps even older. Both individuals are about 1.27cm tall.

Through a combination of faunal, U-Pb (Uranium – Lead) and palaeomagnetic dating techniques, the age of the rocks encasing the fossils has been determined at 1.95-1.78 Ma. Dating involved a double blind U-Pb date, conducted independently in laboratories in Bern and Melbourne. This is a first in the dating of flowstone deposits in the Cradle of Humankind. Once an absolute date had been obtained, palaeomagnetic analysis was used to constrain the age of the debris flow encasing the fossils. Over 130 elements have been recovered to date, and more are emerging.
The partial skeletons are described in two papers in the prestigious journal Science, due to be published on the 9th of April 2010, as a new species of early human ancestor called Australopithecus sediba (sediba meaning natural spring or wellspring in Sotho). The species is suggested to be a good candidate for being the transitional species between the southern African ape-man Australopithecus africanus (the Taung Child, Mrs. Ples) and either Homo habilis or even a direct ancestor of Homo erectus (Turkana boy, java man, Peking man).
The species has long arms, like an ape, short powerful hands, a very advanced pelvis (hip bone) and long legs capable of striding and possibly running like a human.
The skeletons are found among the articulated skeletons of sabre-toothed cats, antelopes, mice and rabbits. They are preserved in a hard, concrete like substance known as calcified clastic sediments that formed at the bottom of what appears to be a shallow underground lake or pool that was possibly as much as 30 to 50 meters underground at the time. It is not known how these precious skeletons came to be in this pool, but it appears that they may have taken a significant fall. No carnivores or scavengers reached their bodies. Remarkably it is interpreted that the individuals described died at, or around the same time as each other, and thus would almost certainly have known each other in life and may very well have been related.
An international team of over 60 scientists is involved in the project.
Not being the brain box I appear to be, my Husband a Geologist, found this article for me in the WitsReview and I went to the web site. Thank you Web site.
For those who are interested I hope you enjoy this.

CRADLE OF MANKIND. HERE
THIS IS MY LITTLE POST . HERE


Cross Elephant

SOUTH AFRICA.

Together we stand, we are doing so well let no Murder stop our Rainbow nation from striding forward in pride and unity. LET US ALL LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
Remember today the LORD HAS RISEN........ FOR US.
GOD BE WITH US ALL ESPECIALLY SOUTH AFRICA TO-DAY.
We are strong love one another. xxxx

THE CRADLE OF MAN KIND.

The Cradle of Humankind Site comprises a strip of a dozen dolomitic limestone caves containing the fossillised remains of ancient forms of animals, plants and most importantly, hominids. The dolomite in which the caves formed, started out as coral reefs growing in a worm shallow sea about 2.3 billion years ago.

The Cradle of Humankind site lies mainly in the Gauteng province with a small extension into the neighboring North West Province, and covers 47 000 hectares of land mostly privately owned. The Cradle of Humankind Site comprises a strip of a dozen dolomitic limestone caves containing the fossillised remains of ancient forms of animals, plants and most importantly, hominids. The dolomite in which the caves formed, started out as coral reefs growing in a worm shallow sea about 2.3 billion years ago.

This is well worth a visit. Also in the Rustenburg area about 3/4 of an hour.

The map can be found Here

Information general Here

SUN CITY - RUSTENBURG

A romantic balloon safari is another way to enjoy malaria free safari vacations. The conditions for ballooning are perfect in the Pilanesberg National Park. The safari lasts approximately four hours and includes a game drive in and out of the park where you are bound to have at least one close encounter with a member of the Big Five. There is also champagne and a full English breakfast on landing. As you float over South Africa on your balloon safari you could not be more free, nor ask for a more perfect vacation with no malaria to worry about!

Suncity Golf Courses, South Africa

The Suncity golf courses in South Africa are just as spectacular as the rest of the Suncity Resort, with both courses offering the best golf facilities in Africa.
The two golf courses were designed by South Africa 's golfing pro Gary Player, and top golf tournaments are played on these courses. Whilst professionals can certainly do their rounds, Suncity has not forgotten the amateur player; the Titleist Golf Academy provides private or group instruction and golf clinics.


The Palace of the Lost City

The Palace of the Lost City in South Africa is undoubtedly one of the world's most unique and imaginatively decorated hotels. Within The Palace of the Lost City complex, a fairytale palace awaits you, built with passion and dedication. The interior of The Palace features beautiful mosaics and frescoes as well as hand-painted ceilings, all paying tribute to the art and nature of South Africa. A trip to South Africa would not be complete without a visit to the Palace of the Lost City.

Suncity Malari-Free Safari Vacations, South Africa

Malaria free safari vacations are a certainty at the Pilanesberg Game Reserve. Guests staying at Suncity (also a malaria free environment) can enjoy day trips here at any time. More and more people are opting not to take prophylactics and consider malaria free safari vacations a top priority when visiting Africa. Because Sun City and the surrounding areas are malaria free, it is one of the few parks suitable for a safari for small children. Just because your vacations are spent in a malaria free game park does not mean you compromise your safari in terms of wildlife viewing!


There is a lot of fun to be had here, you can throuh a bit of money away on the Tables or slot machines that is always a good way to earn some fun, good or bad!!!!! Good Luck to you all.

Many resturants there, you name it you can do it.

http://www.sun-city-south-africa.com/

ELEPHANT SANTUARY - HARTBEESPOORT DAM.

Elephant Sanctuary Hartbeespoort Dam:

Tel: +27 (12) 258 0423 / 0332
Cell: 072 806 4165
Fax: +27 (12) 258 0329
P.O. Box 4570, Brits, 0250, South Africa
E-Mail: elephantsanctuary@mweb.co.za

From Johannesburg: Take the Brits R512 (past Lanseria Airport) to Hartbeespoort Dam. Cross dam over open bridge and turn right at T-junction, on to four-way stop at the Craft Market (garage on right hand side and one opposite as well). Turn left and travel 2.5km to The Elephant Sanctuary. We are on the left side on the road.

From Pretoria: Follow route to Hartbeespoort Dam. Travel through tunnel. At the four-way stop at the Craft Market, continue 2.5km to The Elephant Sanctuary. We are on the left hand side of the road.

The Elephant Sanctuary group has three operations – Hartbeespoort Dam near Pretoria and just outside Gauteng, Plettenberg Bay in the Garden Route and Hazyview in the Lowveld.

The Elephant Sanctuary provides a “halfway house” for young African elephants in need of a temporary home. It is the only operation in South Africa that provides for elephants in this way. It is our vision to release all the elephants into an environment where they can be more independent once they are older.

INFORMATION: BALLOONING AND ELEPHANTS ARE IN THE SAME VICINITY. NEAR RUSTENBURG AND SUN CITY.


RHINO PROTECTORS 

BALLOON SAFARIS

A specially selected ballooning lodge situated 55Km north of Johannesburg,
15 minutes drive from the Skeerpoort ballooning field.

The Elephant Sanctuary offers an exciting, fully comprehensive elephant experience.

We offer an exclusive, ‘hands-on’, educationally oriented experience with 4 African elephants.

Walk trunk-in-hand with the elephants, touch and interact with them in the forest area, and feed these magnificent pachyderms.

Join us for an intimate overnight stay in one of our two lodges and enjoy true African hospitality.

See elephants stabled for the night, followed by a walk to the mountain deck for sundowners while watching the sunset over the beautiful Magaliesberg Mountains.

Return to the lodge for a 4 course dinner in the traditional style Ndlovu boma, where you can relax around a log fire.

VISIT THIS SITE FOR RATES: http://www.balloon.co.za/lodges/elephant.php

THE VOORTREKKER MONUMENT - PHOTO ADDED.

The majestic Voortrekker Monument is situated in the northern part of South Africa in the Pretoria (Tshwane) region in a nature reserve. It is a unique Monument which commemorates the Pioneer history of Southern Africa and the history of the Afrikaner and is situated in a beautiful setting. Today it is the most visited heritage site of its kind in Gauteng and one of the top ten cultural historical visitor attractions in the country.

The Monument also manages the Erfenisstigting (Heritage Foundation) and various other monuments and cultural historical sites country-wide.

http://www.voortrekkermon.org.za/index2.html

VAAL RIVER NEAR PARYS.

This is the Vaal River, in front of our farm, Our house is build 700 Mts away from the river, cause I was frightened that someone would blow up the Vaal Dam wall and we would get washed away, funny what people think.!!!! A few years ago they caught a few people who were planning it!! can you believe it.

We have had so much rain up here, that the Vaal Dam in overflowing and they are opening the sluice gates. More Photos to follow

.

This of course this photos is the usual one, the quite Vaal.