Gauteng

After a long flight, I mean a really long flight, we arrived at Oliver Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg. In 2009 it was our first trip to South Africa and everything was new, exciting and even scary. After clearing customs, I stepped outside into the warm fresh air and looked up for my first view of the southern sky. 

This first trip we spent the first night with host families who gave us a bite to eat and welcoming conversation before sending us off to bed. 

The next morning, I woke with a start! A really weird noise – where am I, what was that. After I calmed down, I took a peek out the window and saw my a strange bird, an African hoopoe. The hoopoe was not the source of the noise, my hostess told me it was a dove.

At breakfast she introduced to a South African biscuit called a rusk.  Similar in texture to Italian biscotti, being a rock masquerading as a cookie you eat it by dunking it in your tea. While eating mine,  I made friends with her grandson, who climbed up on my lap, helped himself to a rusk, then dunked into my tea. Granny was embarrassed!

Free State

After a day long ride to Ficksburg on the Lesotho border we met our new hosts, who I must say treated us well. Breakfasts were out of this world, dinner was great and our little night caps which we were thankful for were totally unexpected. 

While all the breakfasts were exceptional, one was extra special. We were given the choice of sleeping in or having Easter breakfast on top of Imperami Mountain, We chose the breakfastand timed our arrival  perfectly, just as the sun was coming up over the mountains in the distance. Once the sun was up, our hosts pointed to the other side of the river, we had a birds eye view into Lesotho. 

While most of our time in Africa was spent on the building site at Rachel’s Home in Lesotho, we did not work do Sunday giving us a rest and a little. Time to be a tourist.

Golden Gate National Park

On both trips we visited Golden Gate Highlands National Park in the Free State. Golden Gate covers an area of 340 km². The park's most notable features are its deeply eroded sandstone cliffs –golden, ochre, and orange-hued, with interesting outcrops, including the Brandwag rock illustrated here.

Recently, dinosaur eggs have been found in the park. 

On the way we stopped in the town of Clarens, where there are a number of art galleries. The Blou Donki Art Gallery is where I bought the water colour elephants that hangs in my dining room.