Living south of the equator was interesting. Our back patio faced north, but that was the sunny side of the apartment. To me the sun rose in the west and set in the east. It was always disorienting to me. I've always had  good sense of direction, but I never got used to it. Driving on the left became second nature but the sun just didn't behave properly.

 
The first few months I wrote on my life history, primarily for my grandchildren, and copied a lot of family photographs to Compact Disks. CDs are a much more permanent record than film. Not too long after our arrival in Jo-burg, the name most of our South African friends used for Johannesburg, we made our first trip to a game park about two hours' drive to the northwest near Sun City. Sun City is primarily a resort/casino. A lot of the popular American music stars perform there from time to time.  

The game park is called Pilanesburg. It is located in the crater of an ancient volcano which is many miles across. There is a lodge there where one can stay called Bakubung. One can see most of the big African game in Pilanesburg. There are elephants, rhinos, lions, hippos, wildebeest, ostrich, baboons, Giraffes and antelope of several kinds. It is a very large park, though not as large as Kruger Park. Pilanesburg game reserve can be seen in a day trip but the two hour drive each way lessens the time one can see wild game, due in part to the fact that the animals are more likely to be out and about early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Our first trip there was such a day trip. While we did see elephants and rhinos it wasn't as exciting as Sabi Sabi back in 2000. Other trips there when we stayed overnight at Bakubung lodge were more fruitful.

Pilanesberg had suffered a wild fire, as the photo shows and it looked scorched.The good news is that the vegetation recovers quickly as the climate affords growth year around.

Bakubung Lodge, Pilanesberg      Elephant at Pilanesburg

To read more see Africa 2002 PArt 3 published 10/02/2007.