Sunday, September 14, 2008

Photos from Swaziland

This may be the longest I have gone without a post. The days are just going so quickly - only a couple of weeks left! I have loved everywhere I have been, but there is something about Swaziland that makes it special. The people, the landscape, the history, the tradition - it's all quite unbelievable.

Now to catch you up....

The first week we were here we drove up to Kruger National Park in South Africa. We spent four nights camping and were on drives during the days looking for animals. Even with the fact that the area is suffering from a drought and all the water holes are dried up we managed to see a good deal.

We saw the big 5!

The elephant...


The rhino...


The leopard (we saw a leopard three times and twice right next to the vehicle - extremely lucky)...


The lion (you have to look closely)...


The water buffalo (somehow, this was the one we had the most difficult finding)...

Some of my other favourites - the giraffe and zebra...


We also got to go for a walk and saw zebra, water buffalo and rhino - but all from a good distance. If anything tried to attack I was ready ;)...


Once we got back from Kruger we started our community work. The first couple of days we were making bricks with earth and water. Extremely harder than I thought it would be - it took five of us just to work the machine. I don't have any photos of us working just yet - the last day we were suppose to go we had rain - and probably most of the brick we made washed away. I do though have photos of the children that live around there - they are the ones we are building the house for.



Thursday we were at one of the NCP Centers (Neighborhood Care Point). The NCP is set up for orphan and vulnerable children in the area that can't afford to go to school. It gives them a place to go to play, learn and made sure they receive breakfast and lunch. We had a craft day with them and had such a great time. Such amazing children with such big smiles on their faces.



During the weekends and evenings we are able to explore beautiful Swaziland - this is me on a quad bike...


Well, it's time to get out and enjoy this beautiful Sunday morning - I have been sitting at the laptop looking out at a stunning landscape. This is the most incredible view from a laptop - I'll try and post a photo of it soon. I'm hoping it won't take as long for the next post.

3 comments:

Laura said...

Amazing pictures, Jamie!! Looks like you are having a wonderful time. The picture of you with the gun made me giggle :)

Love, Laura

boccalupo said...

You holding that gun really is sexy.....Am I allowed to say that here?;) The wheel barrel pic takes the cake. Adorable.We're all so proud of you here in NYC.

Chiun said...

elephants! The coolest animal on land. If I could become an animal, I would like to be an elephant (or an whale in the ocean.)