THE GENTRY JOINT II

MARCH 11, 2012

2012-03-11T20:00:00.000-05:00

MARCH 9, 2012

2012-03-09T17:38:00.004-06:00

MARCH 8, 2012

2012-03-08T21:58:00.002-06:00

MARCH 6, 2012

2012-03-06T19:54:00.000-06:00

FEBRUARY 18, 2012

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FEBRUARY 1 - 2, 2012

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JANUARY 28 - 29, 2012

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JANUARY 25 - 26, 2012

2012-01-26T20:05:00.000-06:00

JANUARY 24, 2012

2012-01-24T20:52:00.000-06:00

JANUARY 23, 2012

2012-01-23T20:40:00.000-06:00

JANUARY 21 - 22, 2012

2012-01-23T09:02:00.000-06:00

JANUARY 19 - 20, 2012

2012-01-20T13:44:00.001-06:00

JANUARY 18, 2012

2012-01-18T21:39:00.000-06:00

JANUARY 16 - 17, 2012

2012-01-17T20:18:00.000-06:00

JANUARY 14 - 15, 2012

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JANUARY 13, 2012

2012-01-13T16:36:00.000-06:00

JANUARY 12, 2012

2012-01-12T19:04:00.000-06:00

JANUARY 11, 2012

2012-01-11T14:19:00.000-06:00

JANUARY 9, 2012

2012-01-09T18:59:00.001-06:00

JANUARY 8, 2012

2012-01-08T16:41:00.000-06:00

JANUARY 6, 2012

2012-01-06T20:36:00.000-06:00

JANUARY 2, 2012

2012-01-02T17:55:00.000-06:00

JANUARY 1, 2012

2012-01-01T19:30:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 31, 2011

2011-12-31T20:53:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 30, 2011

2011-12-30T20:10:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 29, 2011

2011-12-29T15:22:00.004-06:00

DECEMBER 28, 2011

2011-12-28T20:24:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 27, 2011

2011-12-27T20:17:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 25, 2011

2011-12-25T21:51:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 24, 2011

2011-12-24T20:58:00.001-06:00

DECEMBER 23, 2011

2011-12-23T21:53:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 22, 2011

2011-12-22T12:59:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 21, 2011

2011-12-21T22:47:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 20, 2011

2011-12-20T16:17:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 19, 2011

2011-12-19T21:42:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 18, 2011

2011-12-18T13:21:00.004-06:00

DECEMBER 17, 2011

2011-12-17T19:12:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 16, 2011

2011-12-16T19:37:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 15, 2011

2011-12-15T20:38:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 14, 2011

2011-12-14T19:25:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 13, 2011

2011-12-13T14:22:00.004-06:00

DECEMBER 12, 2011

2011-12-12T18:55:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 11, 2011

2011-12-11T18:00:00.000-06:00

DECEMBER 10, 2011

2011-12-10T13:40:00.000-06:00

SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA

2011-12-08T09:19:00.000-06:00

On Thursday, December 8th, the day we flew back home, we squeezed in one final tour—that of Soweto. It is a township south of Jo'burg, and is now officially a part of the city.

Soweto came to the world's attention on June 16, 1976 with the Soweto Uprising, when mass protests erupted over the government's policy to enforce education in Afrikaans rather than English. Police opened fire in Orlando West on 10,000 students marching from Naledi High School to Orlando Stadium, The rioting continued and 23 people, including two white people, died on the first day in Soweto. The first to be killed was Hector Pieterson, who was 12 years old, when the police began to open fire on the students. Another among the killed was Dr. Melville Edelstein, who had devoted his life to social welfare among blacks. He was stoned to death by the mob and left with a sign around his neck proclaiming "Beware Afrikaaners". The impact of the Soweto protests reverberated through the country and across the world. In their aftermath, economic and cultural sanctions were introduced from abroad. Political activists left the country to train for guerrilla resistance. Soweto and other townships became the stage for violent state repression. Since 1991 this date and the schoolchildren have been commemorated by the International Day of the African Child.

We took a private guided tour of Soweto in order to learn more about the historical significance of this township.

Soweto is an economically diverse area. First, we were shown some of the wealthy homes.

Then, we saw some of small "matchbox houses" built by the government in the 1940s for low income families. They do not have indoor plumbing but each house has its own outhouse in the back yard.

The woman here lives in a hostel, a large row of buildings originally designed to shelter male migrant workers from the rural areas and neighboring countries. Today, entire families live in each one of the small rooms and they share community outhouses and communal water faucets. We saw this woman doing the dishes by her community's shared faucet.

These women are doing laundry at a shared water faucet.

This is a view of the row of hostels. There are about 5,000 families living in a small area of hostels.

A makeshift housing unit in Soweto.

The Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital is famous because it is the second largest in the world. It spans several city blocks.

These are modern "matchbox houses" built by the government just a few years ago.

Walter Sislu Square.

Walter Sisulu was a delegate at the 1955 Congress of the People, a major figure in the anti-apartheid struggle, deputy president of the ANC, underground activist and Rivonia treason trialist.

Released from prison in 1989, he died in 2003, the year the R160-million Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication project was initiated. Its design was awarded to architects and urban designers StudioMAS.

Freedom Square where the Freedom Charter was signed on 26 June 1955. Over 3 000 representatives of resistance organizations made their way through police cordons to gather in this dusty square in Kliptown, Soweto.

One of the many squatters villages in Soweto where the poorest of poor live in makeshift tin houses and share outhouses and water faucets.

Here, pigs are raised and run freely around the village.

The Regina Mundi Catholic Church, which played a major role in the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

This is an example of an "elephant house" built by the government. These units house four families and the cement roof looks much like the back of an elephant.

Another elephant house. The units on the right and left expanded in order to gain a bit more living space.

This square marks the place where Hector Pieterson and others were killed in the Soweto Uprisings. Police opened fire on students protesting Apartheid and the new government policy that their education would now take place in Afrikaans language.

This is the home of Winnie Mandela, former wife of Nelson Mandela and politician. She currently serves on the ANC's National Executive Committee.

Winnie's garage.

The wall of Winnie's Soweto home.

This is the home of Desmond Tutu, retired Anglican Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner. It stands on Vilakazi Street, which is also the street of Nelsen Mandela's home. Both are Peace Prize winners.

Tutu's garage.

The Mandela Family Restaurant, now run by Winnie.

The Mandela House. It is a simple three-bedroomed home, which is now a museum showing what it looked like in 1946, when Nelson Mandela first moved in with his family.

The Hector Pieterson Memorial, where all the children killed in the anti-apartheid uprisings are commemorated.

The Hector Pieterson Museum.

Another World Cup Coliseum.

Our Soweto tour guide, Duncan.

The entrance to the Apartheid Museum.

Cafeteria inside the Apartheid Museum.

A display of rocks inside the museum, symbolizing the resistance to Apartheid.

JOHANNESBURG & PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA

2011-12-07T09:12:00.000-06:00

During our South African trip, we visited Johannesburg and Pretoria as well. Johannesburg, known as Jo'burg, is the largest city in South Africa and the provincial capital of the country. Pretoria is nearby and is the executive capital of the country. We stayed with our friend, Bhupendra Sarajnarayan, who lives and works in Pretoria. This blog features pictures taken in these two cities.

A view of the downtown skyline of Jo'burg.

Bhupendra, giving us the tour.

This is the giant sculpture of Nelson Mandela located at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, between Jo'burg and Pretoria.

Bhupendra was styling in his gold shoes.

Making our way up to his apartment.

Bhupendra opening his front door.

Bhupendra's living room.

I was looking pretty tired after having just gotten off the 30 hour train ride.

View from Bhupendra's balcony.

He entertained us with live music.

Bhupendra's apartment complex.

Here I stood, waiting to go on Safari.

Bhupendra's speakers fill up the boot of his car.

Shining his shoes.

An evening out in Pretoria.

A major order of nachos.

Mr. Sunglasses!

On our way to the airport to fly home.

The parking garage at the Pretoria airport is outfitted with lights above each parking spot to indicate whether it is filled or not.

SAFARI IN KRUGER PARK, SOUTH AFRICA

2011-12-07T07:53:00.000-06:00

During our trip to South Africa, we took a 3-day safari in Kruger National Park, one of the largest game reserves in Africa.

Kruger Park is located in the Northeast section of the country, along the border with Mozambique. It is about a seven hour road trip from Pretoria, where we were staying.

After we were picked up in Pretoria on December 5th, we stopped at the Outlook Lodge, owned by Outlook Safaris, our tour company (which we highly recommend, by the way). There, we assembled the whole group of 2 vans and headed for the park.

This was one of our travel companions, Lisa from England, who was enjoying a snack at one of our road trip stops on the way to Kruger Park.

Another one of our travel companions: Bruno from Brazil.

We stopped for lunch about half way there.

Arriving in Kruger Park!

The statue of Paul Kruger, for whom the park is named.

This is the gateway to the Skukuza Camp, at which we stayed. Each camp is carefully guarded with electric fence to keep the wild animals out.

As we checked into our Rondawels (round huts), William noticed that we were all on our phones! So much for a wilderness experience.

The main lodge at the camp.

Inside our Rondawel with real thatched roofing and our own porch.

Impala (African antelope).

A whole family of vervet monkeys. Many of the babies were playing around and leaping from the branches.

In the distance, you can see the male leopard we encountered on our first game drive. These are very difficult to find in the wild, so we were trilled to have seen this one hunting.

There were hippos off in the distance, swimming in the river.

For the first game drive only, we were transported in this open air vehicle. It was operated by a National Park ranger and was allowed to be out later than the 6:30 p.m. curfew. The second night, our game drive was conducted by our tour company, Outlook Safari, and had to be back by curfew. After dark, we looked for animals with spotlights.

We had dinner at the Outlook Safari tent. Even though there were no nets, the mosquitos didn't bother as we dined. Our group included people from Brazil, Pakistan, England and Mexico.

The rondowel camp.

The next morning, we had coffee at 4:30 a.m. then went off on a 5 hour game drive. Here I am gearing up for the early adventure.

Here we are inside our smaller game drive vehicle.

We saw baboons all over the road, many with babies on their backs like those on the right.

This one was comfortable stretched out on the road while his companion preened him.

We got to see a whole herd of elephants cross the road right in front of us.

There is a eagle perched in this dead tree.

We saw this very large ground horbill, a rare siting as they are endangered.

Our able guide, Kylie, pointing out more wildlife.

Can there be anything cuter than a baby zebra with its mommy?

Two male rhinos hanging out as an impala passes by.

A baby giraffe with its mommy. This little guy was really awkward, which was adorable.

Two hyena.

We saw two male elephants.

A herd of cape buffalo, considered one of the "Big Five" African safari animals.

The elephant on the right is lying down, which is a rare siting. They only do this when they are quite tired.

Our exciting siting of a lioness on the prowl! And look how close we got (shot with a wide angle). This the last of the "Big Five" that we were hoping to see.

Back to our campsite for breakfast.

A vervet monkey cruising past our porch.

A wildebeast.

Dinner the second night at the camp. The cook made excellent food even though he was cooking on camp stoves.

Here we are with our safari guide, Kylie. We said farewell to her as we headed out of the camp on the third day.

On our final game drive we saw a lot of zebra.

This hyena is wearing a tracking device. Since there is so much wildlife in Kruger, there is a lot of research being conducted.

Pretty big for a millepede, huh?

We took a scenic route back to Johannesburg that included site seeing at Pilgrim's Rest, a national monument of South Africa. It was a mining town in the gold rush.

The Methodist of Pilgrim's Rest.

We had breakfast in Pilgrim's Rest before pressing on.

We then went to Lisbon Falls, the highest in South Africa, just north of the town of Grasop in Mpumalanga.

Then we stopped at Blyde River Nature Reserve for these awesome views.

After a long drive, we stopped for lunch at a cafe with beautiful gardens called the Rose Cottage.

At the end of a very long day (and a safari we will always remember), we got back to Pretoria.