So Cal Pals Visit

Today is Brendon’s 60th birthday. The entire week was a stupendous celebration as we toured Zululand with our friends, Melinda and Ron, from Palos Verdes, CA. Happy Birthday to a wonderful husband and friend! This is one birthday we won’t forget. Today we are on the Greyhound bus returning to our Mountain High Hospital home and musing over the events of the week.

To get to South Africa our friends had an 11 hour flight from LAX to Frankfurt and another 11 hour flight to Johannesburg. From Jo burg they drove 5 hours through the farm regions of South Africa (Mpumalanga) to Kwa Zulu Natal where they met us in front of the beautiful stone church in the center of our town Vryheid. What a treat to see a familiar face and hear American English. We were so excited to see them and hear the news from home. We headed out to the nearby game lodge, Mpofini, and immediately set out on foot to see the game; zebras, giraffes, wart hogs darting in and out with their tails up leading their babies, impalas, nyalas and more. We stayed in a bush lodge camp which consisted of two bedrooms, a kitchen in-between and an outdoor barbeque area which served as a lounge/dining area. The fire was started, the party food laid out and the conversation verve began. I looked up at the open gateway in the stake fence and was alarmed to see a 6 ft ostrich walking in to join us for dinner. At first glimpse I thought it was an elephant so was relieved that it was only big bird. However ostriches have a nasty reputation for biting and kicking so the four us looked at each other and tried to develop a strategy for ostrich removal. Ron used his best predator down stare; I headed for the broom. While Ron locked eyes with the huge avian, I started yelling in my best Zulu and swinging the broom. The ostrich hesitated as we sensed that perhaps this bush camp was his home territory. Melinda couldn’t stop laughing at this ridiculous scene with Susan swinging her broom in Zulu and Ron in his finest bravado form. Finally after shrieking at him for several minutes he backed away and went off into the night. Score one for the California folk!

That night the California visitors heard drums and thought it might be over for the last remaining visitors at the game park. Unfortunately, the lodge is being converted to a hunting camp. Thus we were the last overnight guests in the rugged, yet beautiful, surroundings. By morning the world seemed safe and we headed off for a game drive to see the animals living their lives in a natural setting where competition and death are part of the everyday scene as well as love, child rearing, dominance, and play. The park is in a lovely bowl with acres of grassland and acacias forming a backdrop for the game. We drove over the saddle of the mountain to visit the hippos lounging in their pond and the large herd of ostrich. The guide was asked about the interloper from the previous evening and he retorted that the ostriches were harmless. We felt a little foolish for our alarm the night before but one look at the massive feet on the bird was enough to scare us into our defensive tactics.

After the game drive we headed to Vryheid where we toured all of the Zulu craft stores and muti (traditional medicine) shops. Melinda had an encounter with a rough spot on the sidewalk. What a good sport about a nasty fall. The local Afrikaans dentist was around the corner. He checked out her teeth and jaw, did an x-ray and wished her well, refusing any payment for services. Another act of kindness in South Africa!

Our visitors were interested in visiting our Peace Corps site, Mountain High Hospital, the patient activities program and the excellent Zulu high school that shares our site. I met Melinda as a student in her Shakespearian Comedies and Tragedies class at El Camino College. She offered her services to teach the sonnets to the Matric (senior) students at the high school and was a big hit with these highly motivated students. The universal themes of shame and despair were quickly understood by the 80 seniors and they enjoyed hearing rhyming meter. They read a Zulu poem in unison and sang the SA National anthem which brought tears to the eyes of the Peace Corps volunteers who will be going home soon. A great day and a pleasure for all!

The rest of the week was spent touring KZN game parks and visiting St. Lucia, a fantastic vacation plan for anyone wanting to tour malaria free areas of South Africa. The highlight of the game spotting occurred when least expected. As we drove into Hluhluwe Game Park, (the oldest national park in SA and King Shaka’s hunting grounds) we spotted an animal with a white tail in the middle of the road ahead. We slowly caught up to the animal and couldn’t believe our eyes- a beautiful Leopard walking calmly down the middle of the paved road that leads to Hilltop Bush Camp. We followed the leopard for a kilometer until the rosettes finally darted into the bush. The leopard turned his head and looked back at us; were we lunch? Predators have a stateliness and focus of mission about them that is unmistakable. The face had a sweetness and tenderness to it, but the movement of the body spoke force and command.

After a week of great conversation and fun, it is time to get back to work. Thanks, Ron and Melinda for a great adventure!