African landscapes

Along the panorama route we viewed these amazing 15 million year old rock formations called Bourke's Luck Potholes formed by swirling whirlpools over thousands of years.



At one viewpoint we hiked along a rain forest trail to the rim of the escarpment. Along the way we came across an African man and his expectant wife who had stopped for a rest. As we neared he greeted us with a friendly "Elder Erickson" that indicated to us he was a member of our Church and we had a fun chat with them. Wearing our missionary nametags has led to numerous such introductions and conversations with wonderful people across many countries. At breakfast we met a couple from Zimbabwe who have LDS friends and shared a table with four people from Italy who were open in their remarks and questions about the Church.



Many South Africans are dedicated birders. At one viewpoint we could hear the distict trilling of a bird before we rounded a bushy corner and encountered this intensely listening group with binoculars and long lens cameras. Ron crept up and joined them but could not see the bird that was loudly chirping away.



Gorgeous waterfalls in breathtaking settings greeted us all along our journey. This one is Mac-Mac Falls.



At each viewpoint Africans sell items handcrafted from wood, stone, fabric and beads. From a street vender we purchased a bag of whole macadamia nuts freshly harvested from a nearby orchard.

This area more than any other we have yet visited reminded us of familiar Pacific Northwest scenery. Refreshed, we returned Saturday evening to springtime blossoms in Johannesburg.

Blyde River Canyon

The second weekend in October Ron and I drove five hours east then north to explore the northeastern Mpumalanga Drakensberg escarpment and Blyde River Canyon (the world's third largest gorge) in an area termed the panorama route. This mountain range drops dramatically down to the lowveld African savannah which includes the southern half of Kruger National Park.

Arising near Blyde River within the canyon we admired the cliff walls surrounding us with accompanying lake behind the Blydespoort Dam. Driving to the rim of the canyon we looked down onto water at which we had previously stood. Behind me in the distant blue haze is the flat lowveld. Across the valley we viewed the striking peaks named the Three Rondavels.





Indigenous trees and bushes blanket the escarpment. Bumped up to them are vast pine forests as far as the eye can see in any direction, all planted by hand in neat rows. These plantations represent a healthy industry which is decades old. The trees range in size from a couple of feet in diameter to recently planted saplings in harvested areas. The pine forests thrive on mists created when cloud banks from the Indian Ocean settle along the ridgelines.


This view of Pinnacle Rock is one of many scenic stops which highlight landforms and waterfalls.

Still in the 50s and Loving Life!

Perhaps the greatest joy we experience on our mission is teaching at the Johannesburg Missionary Training Center (MTC) every three weeks to each group of missionaries prior to their leaving to serve in countries across the Africa Southeast Area. Focusing on pages in the Missionary Handbook, our security presentation includes roleplays, discussion points, class input, review of actual incidents, videos of vehicle 'Smash and Grabs' and concludes with our testimony. This is the group of 26 elders that we taught this week and who arrived from across the African and North American continents. It is an honor, and humbling experience, being in their presence and recognizing their potential in their two year service here and as future leaders in their communities when they return home.



While at the MTC we thoroughly enjoy the friendship of two couples who seem to have unbounded love and energy for missionary service: MTC President and Sister Dean and Elaine Christensen and Elder/Dr. and Sister Keith and Diane Merrill, Area Medical Advisor. This is the third mission for the Christensens and the fifth for the Merrills.



We carpool our 45 minute drive with the Merrills which is always filled with stimulating conversation. They served three medical missions in Western Africa and one in New Zealand prior to their service here in Southeast Africa. We always seem to hear something new in the excellent medical presentation Dr. Merrill delivers.



This morning (14 October 2010) some of our colleagues surprised me in our office singing birthday greetings, one was even delivered in German. Still (barely) in the decade of the 50s there are only two missionary sisters younger than me here in the Area Office.

For lunch Ron took me to a beautiful overview of the city with lavendar Jacaranda trees in blossom across the landscape. I'm in a Congolese wrap-around skirt made during our days in Kinshasa.

Cradle of Humankind

The last two weeks of September 2010 were full as we stayed in touch with ongoing security projects and scheduled upcoming training. We taught a security presentation to our largest group of MTC missionaries to date (35), serve in temple sessions with them on Tuesdays, and served as temple ordinance workers on Wednesdays. Because of a shortage of temple missionaries, senior missionaries in the Area Office have been enlisted to serve weekly sessions in addition to our specific assignments.

In the past month three senior missionary couples have arrived to replace couples who have completed their missions and returned home. Two are Auditors and one is in Public Affairs. It is a delight welcoming them to the Area Office and giving them a security briefing for life here.

On 3 October 2010 Ron and I attended our regular Sunday meetings and taught the Sunday School Family History class. Following our 3 hour block of meetings we presented a fireside with the bishop prior to a "Break the Fast" luncheon with 18 Young Single Adults in our ward. General Conference will be held in the Africa Southeast Area on 23-24 October after each unit receives DVDs from SLC.

Receiving General Conference sessions live on BYU TV, Ron and I viewed them 6-8 p.m. and 10-midnight on Saturday and Sunday.

With the office closed due to a public holiday on 24 September, the senior missionaries held a baseball game and picnic in a nearby botannical garden. Ron pitched in a modified game with adapted equipment, playing field and rules to accommodate the players.



On a Saturday outing with another senior missionary couple (2 October), Ron and I went an hour's drive northwest of the city to a wind swept area known as Africa's Cradle of Humankind. In a beautiful, interactive center we viewed remarkable timelines of geology and humanlife from early dawn to the present. Illustrated in written displays and with life-like models were palaeoanthropology in South Africa.

Dolomite caves in the region have yielded rich finds of many hominid fossils over 2 million years old with more finds continually being made. Some of these hominid species are human-like primates.




In the fourth photo notice the two white mountains on the distant skyline on the left and at the far right. These hills were formed over a hundred years ago from gold mining tailings.

Geology hike

With interests in history and geology, Ron and I have appreciated learning much about this vast continent during the past year. For three hours on a Saturday morning in mid September we participated in a group hike of Melville Koppies ("small hills") Nature Reserve. Situated in the heart of Johannesburg and surrounded by neighborhoods, the geology of this area dates back 3 billion years and exhibits some of the oldest rocks on the planet.

The conserved ridges are covered entirely with indigenous vegetation of highveld grasses, flowers and trees and appear as they were prior to area's 1886 gold discovery. They have yielded artifacts of early stone age man and iron age immigrants. The final photo shows remains of one of two furnaces used to smelt iron from ore dating 1860 CE.

Our tour guide was Kim Ncube-Hein, personable and easy-going Chamber of Mines Chair and Professor of Mining Geology, WITS University, Johannesburg. It was a fascinating morning's walk.

In the tree tops

Birds abound in Kruger National Park. Fascinating to us were the large birds we saw walking in the grass along the road, eagles and vultures soaring in the air and colorful birds perched on the tops of bushes and trees.

This first bird in a Southern ground hornbill. Similar to it we saw a bounty of smaller Southern yellow-billed hornbills, Red-billed hornbills and African grey hornbills so that we could identify each by their distinctive coloring.

We viewed unique birds almost half the size of ostriches--Kori bustard, Secretarybird, Goliath heron, Saddle-billed stork, Marabou stork and Yellow-billed stork. Just larger than Egyptian geese are the Great white pelican, African spoonbill, Hadedah ibis and Helmeted guineafowl.

Our guide was adept at spotting and identifying various eagles and vultures, many with names new to us.



Beautifully colored birds greeted us throughout the day. This second picture captures a Lilac-breasted roller with 27 different colors of feathers. We felt fortunate to get a good photo with our compact point and shoot camera. Many visitors come to Kruger as birders with long camera lens to capture birds in flight and perched in tree tops.



A delight to watch are gentle giraffes grazing in the tree tops. They prefer the leaves of thorny Acacia trees and are adept with their manipulating lips at stripping long branch strands of tender shoots.

All kinds of -lopes

Kruger is home to many different kinds of antelope. With interesting markings of stripes and spots, herds of Kudu, Bushbuck, Waterbuck, Sable and Impala were fascinating to watch.

Animals in Kruger

On holiday for a couple of days, Ron and I drove 6 hours east to Kruger National Park with another senior missionary couple. We stayed in Marloth Park Conservancy at Bushwise Safari Lodge located just outside Kruger's electric perimeter fence along the meandering Crocodile River. In the evening from the roadway adjacent to the fenceline we observed elephants with their babies, hippos in the water, Cape Buffalo, White rhino, herds of Kudu and Impala, warthogs, and a variety of birds. In our room we listened to the deep, throaty night sounds of hippos and a lion roaring in the calm, warm air.

Our visit in mid September was early springtime in Kruger so much of the landscape was still very dry before the rains begin. It is a vast area of open grasslands and meandering river beds. Many varieties of trees and bushes were new to us.

We explored Kruger in game drives with driver/guides who were a wealth of information. In addition to the above, we viewed lions, zebra, Blue Wildebeest, giraffe, herds of different kinds of antelopes, ostriches, Vervet monkeys, Banded mongoose, Monitor lizards, Nile crocodiles, hyenas, a Civet and Scrub hare.

Still our favorite animal to view in nature is the African elephant, singly or in herds.





Our midmorning breakfast was prepared in a thatched hide (similar to a picnic shelter/observation point) on a hillside above the Mlondozi Dam. Around this waterhole we added to our list of sightings a herd of Waterbuck, Chacma baboons which trailed across the top of the dam, and Secretary birds (in addition to seven other animal and bird species previously named).



At one point we saw two young hippos in a standoff on the river bank. Our most amazing sighting was a leopard dragging a fresh impala kill to bushes along the road just down the dirt bank from us. It was sobering seeing the rawness of nature. I had not previously appreciated the fact that many animals in nature graze and keep on the move at night to keep from becoming attacked/eaten.