Today is Freedom Day, a national holiday commemorating this country’s first democratic elections in 1994. Nelson Mandela, the first black president, spoke along with others on this cold rainy day Cape Town day. His main themes were crime, economic challenges, alcohol and drug abuse, and “pushing back the frontier of poverty”. The underestimated number of people living with HIV virus and AIDS related deaths weren’t mentioned while I listened and tried to find any white faces in the crowd. Tribal dancers wearing a variety of colorful outfits (mostly covering their lower body) danced while professional news personalities announced the event on TV. Two worlds, both black, present quite a different picture. Some of the women in African garb interviewed have University degrees and a proficient command of the English language, and others are as rural as you can imagine, speaking only their native language. Many share the tradition of topless tribal dress. Africa meets the West.

While the nation takes a break today, I study and reminisce about the holiday Peter and I took last week. While traveling we saw many beautiful things: fields of trees including bananas, oranges, macadamias, coffee, pine trees, avocados and palm trees; dramatic waterfalls, canyons, rolling landscapes and fifty foot trees in full bloom, pink, yellow and blue. Africans line the streets walking nearby every town, smiling faces emerged almost every time eye contact was made. Some women we passed on a seemingly endless stretches of land balanced sticks and branches (at least as tall as they were) on their heads often carring babies the traditional way, straddled legs in back held with a towel, sheet or some other kind of fabric. The two women pictured here were selling their wares and when I asked if I could take their picture the older one stood up to pose. You can see from their clothes, that inseparable mix, Africa and the West. On this day, Freedom Day, I pray God looks with favor on these and all His children here in Africa.

Kruger Park is in the Northeast part of this country, home to a great assortment of animals including the “big five”: Lion, Buffalo, Rhino, Leopard and Elephant. I didn’t expect to see them while I was here, but last week I saw them all! Peter came for a visit and we had a wonderful time. Exploring a small section of the 36 506 acre park, we watched a giraffe run right in front of us, saw hippos take an afternoon swim, and enjoyed a herd of elephants, babies in tow, walk past stripping every tree in their path. We also saw wart hogs, wilderbeasts, zebras, impalas, monkeys, a crocodile and a slew of beautiful birds. Then there was this huge African Buffalo. These animals are said to be one of the most fearsome in Africa weighing in the region of 1,320 pounds. This crusty old guy gave us a questionable look with these two birds on his back.

Maybe the most enjoyable experience we had was an early morning guided walk in the park. We rode before sunrise in a high open air 4x4 out of our campsite to the path where we began the hike. Our guide said he had heard a roar that morning and knew a lion must be nearby, so just outside of the camp he looked around with his flashlight and framed a full grown lion not more than 30 feet away. He was beautiful. The camp has an electric cattle guard that keeps animals from coming inside, thank goodness. On the walk, we passed a massive pile of dung, a local toilet for black rhinos, and not too long afterward came across a mother rhino and her calf. She looked for a moment as if deciding whether or not to charge and the tour guide’s assistant cocked and pointed his riffle, just in case. Fortunately, it turned and walked into the brush. What an experience. We saw a variety of footprints, plants, rock formations, learned a lot about the animals including a small coniferous deer. On the ride back we stopped and watched a gorgeous, full grown male leopard up in a tree. Peter and I felt privileged to see such a unique slice of nature. What a creative God we serve, His untamed imagination and gracious character are evident in the wonderful creatures He chooses to have share this world with us.

There’s a thorn bush in South Africa called “stay-a-while” aptly named because once you brush against it, its prickly spikes grab hold and don’t easily let go. I heard about the plant on an early morning hike several days ago in the Karoo National Park (photo). The Karoo is largest ecosystem in South Africa, a vast and unforgiving stretch of land North of Cape Town and home to a fascinating diversity of wildlife. I stopped in the Karoo with several colleagues that had attended a New Testament conference near Cape Town with me. I flew to the conference and took the opportunity to see the countryside with them by car on the way back. We hiked in the Karoo in the early morning moonlight with the call of baboons in the distance. The stars in the Southern hemisphere, Alpha Centauri, Orion Nebula, the Milky Way, were all glistening as we set out that morning.

The NT conference was held in a town called Stellenbosch. It’s really beautiful, small and quaint, reminds me a bit of Winter Park, Fl. with cozy sidewalk restaurants and unique shops. The participants of the conference were from all parts of South Africa, other regions in greater Africa as well as Australia. I enjoyed the company of Scotsman trained in Edinburgh, now the principal of a bible college on in Western South Africa, an eastern European priest who studied at the Vatican and others. The keynote speaker was ironically from Barnard College at Columbia in New York. She stayed in a guesthouse and missed the college dormitory experience. A group of opera singers stayed in my dorm and although they didn’t keep unruly hours, it was a bit surprising to wake up and fall asleep with Motzart and other arias at full tilt. One day I went to borrow an iron on the other side of the dormatory complex and bumped into a student who said she had heard an American staying there.

We went to the 5:30am Easter service at the Anglican Church this morning. Today is the Day of Firstfruits on the biblical calendar and the later part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Several of my neighbors counted the first “omer” together last night. They’ve decided to tie a ribbon on the fence posts around our complex for each of the 49 days leading to Shavuot (Pentecost). I’ll send a picture when there's a few more on the fence. Happy Easter! Happy Day of Firstfruits! Happy Feast of Unleavened Bread! Happy first day of counting the omer!