24 May 2010

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24 May 2010 – Monday

We had a wonderful day with part of it being with the Bartholomews and part helping Sandile Chirwa work on his application to go on a mission.

The morning and early afternoon was spent going to Umfolozi game reserve with the Bs. It was another gorgeous day and while we did not see lots of animals we did have a couple of experiences that we had not had before.

The most interesting was watching a team of game wardens tranquilize a huge rhino so they could work on a wound that he had on his back. It appeared to me to have had to have either been caused by a gunshot or in a terrible battle with another rhino. It was an interesting experience to see the men edge their way to a point where one could shoot a tranquilizer dart in the resting rhino. As soon as it was hit, it stood up and I got a good picture of the dart sticking out of its rump. It took perhaps 5 minutes for the drug to take effect and then the wardens came out to clean and take care of the wound. We left before they were finished and when we came back a couple of hours later they and the rhino were gone. It was good to see that they take care of the animals and try to keep them healthy.

The second experience was watching a good size group of vultures eat a dead animal. It did not seem to be anything very large but the birds gathered around and at times fought over it. Nothing goes to waste in nature. What the vultures do not clean up the crows will and then the ants will take over. While some of the birds ate, one big vulture sat in the top of the tree watching. We were not sure if he was just a sentinel – he did not make any noise or fly away when we approached – or king of hill.

We saw our share of impalas, zebras, lots of warthogs, some wildebeests, three elephants – they were mainly hidden in the bush –a couple of Cape buffalo, and a good selection of giraffes. Sister B said she did not care what we saw, she just wanted to go through the park one last time so she could take the memory home with her. They are a great couple who love to do good. Hopefully they will be able to go on another mission so they can have the experience of another country.

As soon as we got home and saw them off we hopped back in our very dirty car and headed for Port Durnford where we picked up Sandile and brought him back to RB so he could have his TB test check. Since he had no reaction at all, we were sure he was fine but the hospital has to check themselves.

We then went over to the doctor in hopes that we could get the results of his blood test put on his records but after a half hour of looking they could not find our file so we asked them to call when they did and we took Sandile to the taxi rink so he could head home. Just as we did of course the office called to say they found the misfiled file and so we went back. Unfortunately all the report was not back so we will have to wait a little longer to get it done.

We then got a call from the PD elders saying they needed to see us and so we arranged to meet them at the mall. Elder Lerios had bright red cheeks and had almost every piece of clothing he owned. I told him I was worried about him having a fever and strongly suggested he go to the pharmacy for a free check-up. He is much too valuable to the zone to be down for a week.

By the time we got home I was pretty much worn out so we had a quiet evening. I did start to work on pictures but even that seemed to take more effort than I could muster so I stopped and went to bed. It was a good day for us. A nice combination of adventure and service.



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