I almost can’t believe that God granted my birthday wish 2 years and 6 months ahead of time! It was soooo incredible! When I turned 25 I took myself on a cruise to the Bahamas (which was a lot of fun by the way) and when I returned home I told myself that for my 30th birthday I would take myself on a safari in Africa. On Saturday, December 12th our teams and our host family went on a Safari in Namibia! Below are a couple excerpts from my journal entries about it.
12/12/15 at 6:37am
SAFARI SATURDAY!!! We’re on our way to Mohanga Game Reserve in the country of Namibia. Depending on the roads, it should be no more than a 2hr drive. I’M SO EXCITED! Hopefully lots of animals will be out and about so we can get some great pics.…
12/13/15 at 7:30am
Yesterday, by far, was the BEST DAY ON THE RACE!!! Going on a safari in Africa has been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now and God was so sweet to bless me to do it during this mission trip. It was so cool to literally drive through their natural habitat and spot them doing normal life – way better than going to a zoo! We saw massive elephants and baby elephants, “again and again” antelope, warthogs like Pumba and baby warthogs, zebras, giraffes, buffalo- Africa’s most dangerous animal on land, sables, hawks, vultures, cranes, hippos- Africa’s most dangerous animal in water, roans, goats, beautiful blue birds like I’ve never seen before, and baboons chilling at the edge of the delta. The only thing I really wanted to see and didn’t was a lion, but that’s ok. It was too hot for them to be out. I was in the van with Estelle, Karlien, Jenn, and Kirby. They were the perfect group to experience this with. I couldn’t have asked for more! The sunroof on the van is pretty big so Jenn, Kirby, and I were able to stand on the seat and have our chest and above up out of the rook comfortably as we searched for animals. I was both surprised and proud of myself for spotting so many animals from a distance. I think Daddy would be proud, too. Anyway, we were in the first car so we got to see and notice things before everyone else. J … I was so in awe and all I could say was, “Thank You, Lord.” … On the way home God painted the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen…. And once we got home I took a shower under the stars….
So the day after we went on the safari was quite eventful, too. Except we didn’t have to cross any borders to experience this one… it happened right in our backyard. I’ll call this day SNAKE SUNDAY!!! Here’s what I wrote in my journal.
12/13/15 at 3:07pm
Just about 30mins ago Simone went out with a rifle because the birds signaled there was a bad snake somewhere. She came back after not seeing it. About 10mins ago someone saw it and Willie grabbed his gun, went out, and shot it in the middle of its head. Come to find out, it was a Boomslang in brownish color with a baby dove hanging out of its mouth. It is deadly because there’s no anti-venom for it and that get bitten bleed to death internally. Wandanalou that none of us were bitten!
As I was beginning to write the last paragraph, the dogs went crazy outside. Someone moved a log and there were 2 Common Brown Water Snakes. The dogs killed them before anything could happen. Thankfully, they’re not poisonous so the dogs will be fine.
And now at 3:35pm we have successfully shot, killed, and thrown out a Vine Snake which have the same venom as a Boomslang but is even more dangerous! The reason we caught this one is because a few birds were trying to attack the snake.
