Our Christmas trip to Swaziland

The beautiful dining room at Summerfield

Getting out of the country in a hailstorm

The pool at Summerfield in the background

More of the animal statues in the background

Our entry to Swaziland

Our wonderful trip to beautiful Swaziland

Our Cabana at Summerfield Resorts in Swaziland

The lush grounds of Summerfield

Peacock showing his stuff

Near the lake

More of the grounds with animal statues in the vegetation

More of the beauty

More beauty

Our room--housekeeper on the right

25 Cabanas on 25 acres of lush grounds

Carrying goods from the African Market

Reminded us of Hawaii with pineapple fields and mountain tops circling the area

Visiting the galleries

More galleries

More shops

Our Christmas Day Buffet

We had the salads on the first floor hallway between 2 Sr missionary apts.

We ended with yummy Desserts. I was helping with the main dish so didn't get any pictures

We enjoyed our progressive dinner on each floor of our apt. building.

Train trip to Magleisbrug

CONNIE IN DISGUISE

BOARDING THE TRAIN

BUSY TRAIN STATION IN DOWNTOWN JOBURG

VIEW FROM THE TRAIN--THE SHANTY TOWNS WHERE THE BLACKS WERE RELOCATED DURING APARTHEID.

Animals in Africa

Animals large and small are all over Africa

This is the weirdest animal called a Kudu--about the size of an Elk

This should remind you of The Lion King--Pumba the Wart Hog

Wild dog eating an impala--the fast food of the bush.

They call these Zebra (short e sound) not ZEEbra like we say in the USA

This is a Hornbill."  There are fun looking birds all over.  Pigeons are called "rats of the sky"

More Safari animals

We were lucky to see these rhinos.  Poachers often kill them for their horns which are worth lots of money.

A herd of wildebeests running across the road 

She is either angry or yawning.

Notice the bird on his eyelid, cleaning off the parasites

It is amazing to watch giraffes get up and down.  It's a trick to balance their necks.

THE DUNG BEETLE

These large black beetles find elephant dung, then form it into a little ball in which they lay their eggs.

Then they roll it away to a safe place hidden in the foliage until their eggs hatch into more large black beetles called Dung Beetles--yuck.   You see animals large and small on a safari.  This was not my favorite!

The Weaver birds, and other things

Those Hershey-kiss shaped nests are made by the male yellow weaver birds for he female bird

If the female bird rejects the male and his nest, he takes it all apart and starts all over again.

Looking inside the mouth of an elephant--nice of him to lift his tongue and say "ahhh".

The female lions do all the work and the male just rests until dinner is served.

Sunrise in Africa where the deer & the antelope and many other animals play.

A few of the animals we saw on our safari

This guy came right for us.  We were in his territory and he didn't like it.  We left in a hurry.

The giraffes were beautiful and as tall as the trees.

Not a good picture of the rhino but he wouldn't hold still and I couldn't hold still.

The pride of lions--women and cubs.

A red hartebeest

Giraffes in the trees are hard to see.  All the animals are hard to spot unless in the open.

A male impala--there are hundreds--they are food for the lions.

Huge termite hills all over Africa.  The Howes family who we went with on the Safari