Let Me Take You To, Monkey Town!!!!!!

Monkey Town, where to begin......   Some friends came in for a spell, they are also missionaries here in South Africa.  They are from London and let me tell you, British people are a blast (Why did we break off from them again?).  They have small children and wanted to take them Monkey Town, my daughter was ecstatic.  She absolutely loves those things even after I told her that they were carnivores and that in the wild they will eat small animals and children (It's true, National Geographic has no reason to lie).  Nevertheless she still loves them and this trip was a dream come true, sort of.  We had a cool tour guide (Judging by his rat tail), he was very talkative and warned us not to get too close to the fence because they might pee, poop or throw other body fluids at us (Yep, they do that too).  So, now I was officially grossed out and we hadn't even started the tour.  They didn't have a ton of monkeys and the enclosure was not very large so I think calling it Monkey Town was stretching it a bit (Sort of like me calling my three bedroom home a castle).  Anyway..... Two monkeys stood out to me the most, one was a recovering alcoholic.  I kid you not.  For 18 years until it was rescued, it was given alcohol by it's owner and acted just like a human alcoholic abusing it's family after partying all night.  It was also addicted to Coke (The drink not the drug), to which I can sympathize because I suffer the same affliction.  We were told that after many years of sobriety that if it saw a Coke or beer can it would lose it's mind( I'm sure that the irony of Coke sponsoring this primate center did not escape you).  I wished that I had, had and empty can or bottle on hand to test this theory.  It also looked like a former alcoholic, as if life had been very unkind.  The other one was Tammy, who is an chimpanzee.  She is highly intelligent and we were told that she had picked one of the locks of her cage in 20 minutes and would have escaped if not for the other security lock that she didn't anticipate.  She is also violent and rushed the glass when we went to look at her.  She came outside and demanded a song (she did this by clapping her hands).  My friend's husband sang and then she proceeded to throw rocks at him, it was time to move on from Tammy.  My daughter and son did yet another monkey encounter and that was still kind of  cool.  We saw some birds, turtles, and peacocks, oh my!  A hedgehog that I was not allowed to hold or accost so I couldn't get a picture. Here are some of the pictures that I did get. 

The recovering alcoholic.

The albino donkey that has absolutely nothing to do with anything.

Proof that my warnings went unheeded.

Tammy.  Who is actually larger than she appears and has the strength of seven men.  If you look closely at the glass there is a crack in it.  It's bullet proof and supposedly indestructible yet she cracked it. Not going back until the glass is repaired or replaced with something stronger.

The facility has an electric fence surrounding all of the cages, monkeys will send a scout out to test the security.  One monkey will go and test the fence get electrocuted and the rest know not to try it.  There wasn't a ton to see, it was hot and one of the monkeys peed and it got my friend (Did you know that they wipe their pee on their fur?).  So..... we were pretty much done after that.  At least he waited until the end of the tour, and  this brings me to the end of ours.  Blog you later!

From South Africa With Love,

Trunk or Treat

Halloween is just starting to catch on here is South Africa (well in my neighborhood anyway), so I decided to do a Trunk or Treat.  Usually in America our church would have a carnival or other church's have a Trunk or Treat exhibition (like a tailgate party except with candy).

I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided to do it.  I was so excited, that is until the weather refused to cooperate.  The wind was blowing at the speed of 100mph, I was expecting to see a house fall out of the sky and crush a witch at any moment (I'm exaggerating but that's what it felt like)  I had to wrap bricks in red tissue paper to hold the tongue down, the teeth kept flipping up, the gums ripped.  The thing looked like an orthodontist worst nightmare, to top it off there wasn't a child in sight!!!!  I was so desperate (I had bought tons of candy and would have been forced to eat it) that I sent my son out to scout for trick or treaters.  He found some and was just telling me that they were on their way when my tongue ripped (well not my tongue, the car's tongue), I had to do an emergency tongue transplant with the extra tongue that I had in case of an emergency and this was definitely an emergency.  The kids were so cute, I would have taken pictures of them but didn't want to come across as the "American weirdo" down the street.  It was worth the drama, I'll have to step it up next year!!!!

From South Africa With Love,

The Simple Things In Life

(Sigh)The simple things in life tend to be the most unappreciated things in life.  Take this sunset below, in all honesty I have never stood and watched the sunset until I moved to South Africa.  Life was too hectic for me to take a few minutes and enjoy a sunset.  I have been missing out.......  These are things that we never forget.  I can't remember the last deadline that I had to have in for work or what I cooked last Thursday night for dinner but I will remember the beauty of this sunset forever.  I can close my eyes and still see it.  It was cold but the strand(beach) had lots of people there, eating, some where surfing, vendors were selling overpriced knickknacks.  It was nice.  Sometimes we are blind to the beauty that surrounds us, we overlook it everyday.  I just moved so my Internet has been down, my mother thought that we all contracted Ebola (seriously she did).  I had to explain to her that South Africa and Africa are two totally different places (I showed her on a map before we left, lot of good that did).  It takes a while for things to get going here but it gives me time to appreciate things.  When was the last time that you enjoyed a sunset?  Take the time to stop and appreciate one.  You won't regret it, I promise.

From South Africa With Love,

I Want To Marry You Cookies

I am not a big cookie eater, but I love to bake.  That being said,  I found this recipe on my beloved Pinterest.  They were soooooo good, my family (excluding my finicky daughter who has an aversion to nuts in her cookies, can't win them all) had to have more so I decided to share the recipe.  The name is so cute but I don't tell people unless I have to because it's as weird as it is cute.  Now that I am done rambling.  Without further a due ....................

I Want To Marry You Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter
• 1 ¼ cups light brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup uncooked rolled oats
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup white chocolate chips, extra for garnishing, if desired*
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, extra for garnishing, if desired*
• 1 cup roughly chopped, toasted pecans, extra for garnishing, if desired*

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat until melted. Remove from the heat.
2. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and stir until sugars are incorporated and smooth. Chill the mixture for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from the refrigerator and stir in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.
4. Add the flour, oats, baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, and cinnamon and mix together.
5. Stir in the white chocolate chips, chocolate chips and pecans.
6. Roll by hand into medium-size balls or use a scoop, and place on sheet pans. If desired, tuck extra chips and pecans over tops of dough mounds for a lovely appearance.
7. Chill, on sheet pan for 30 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Remove the cookies from the refrigerator and bake for 14-18 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool for several minutes on pan, then transfer to cooling rack.
9. Makes 36 cookies, depending on size

The butter and sugar mixture.  I melted the butter in the microwave because who seriously has the time to watch it on the stovetop? It took a minute(literally) and I didn't have to worry about it burning.

Incorporating the oatmeal and flour mixture, the eggs and vanilla are in there already.

I mixed it all by hand.  I could have used my KitchenAid but I haven't been to the gym a

in a while so this is my workout for the day.  See... baking is healthy.

Now for the good stuff!!!

Chopping my pecans.  Also a calorie burner.  I could have bought them chopped but went the extra mile instead (Since I haven't run one in a very long time).

All the ingredients are in, now I just have to mix them.  With my really buff arms.

Hello black mat, I would like to introduce you to a taste of heaven.

Yummy!!!!

Enjoy!!! 

From South Africa With Love,

Cango Wildlife Ranch

Doing a bit of catching up.  These are also from our time spent in George.  This place was actually pretty close to the caves.

I loved the entrance!

My fearless son in the jaws of a saltwater crocodile.

I think that porcupines are so cute......

This next picture is disturbing and not recommended for children under 13.

A fruit bat and let me tell you they are huge, it looks small but it is not!!!  They were everywhere, pooping and peeing everywhere.  My friend had a fruit tree and had to get rid of it because of these things.

"When he was a young warthog....."

Pumbaa!!!!

This poor vulture is missing a wing.  I'm sure that the guide told us why but I wasn't listening.

This ranch was once home to a crocodile farm.  They still have crocs, just not a farm.

Don't go in the water!!!! (I took that line from Jaws).

You could actually get in a cage and swim with them.  I passed on that.

They are so, so much stronger in the water.

I used to think that hippos were so cute, brainwashed by that 

Hungry Hippo game as a child.  That was until I saw a documentary on the Discovery Channel.

Pygmy Hippos.  Cute huh? Read the Fast Fact below.

Extremely Aggressive and Dangerous.

Look at those teeth, why can't we see them while looking at a hippo?  It looks like the skull of a sabertooth tiger.

Again we are not listening to the guide.  We tried getting a picture with his head inside the bigger hippos mouth but one of the teeth fell out (we stuck it back in).

So pretty, my husband loves big cats.

They are very playful.

I hear that Johannesburg has a beautiful zoo.  Guess I'll have to see.......

From South Africa With Love,

History of the Cango Caves

Got the history from the caves website. http://www.cango-caves.co.za/ Common myth has it that the Caves were first explored by a local farmer named Jacobus van Zyl (after who the first chamber, vanZyl's Hall, was named) – although research fails to reveal anybody by that name in the Cango area in the 1770's. And besides – we now know that the Caves have been known to man since the Early Stone Age. Still, even if there never was a Jacobus van Zyl, the Cango Caves have been at the forefront of tourism in South Africa since the end of the 18th century: the first to be protected by environmental legislationand the first to employ a full-time tourist guide, they remain South Africa's oldest tourist attraction.     Important Dates 1756: The government awarded the first land grant in the area to Phillip du Pre, whose farm was called Cango-Matjiesrivier. 1760: Hermanus Steyn of Swellendam named another farm grant Combuys aan de Cango (kitchen of the Cango). The entrance to the caves is located on this farm. 1780: Cango Caves is discovered. 1806: The first visit to Cango Caves was recorded.   Early explorations & surveys 1816: P.H. Poleman 1816: A plan elevation was made by Rev. George Thom showing the extent of the cave to be 350meters, from the entrance to the African Drum Room. 1822: George Thompson 1880's: Johnny van Wassenaar (established route to Devil's Workshop) Some notable visitors 1816: George Thom (scientist) 1822: George Thompson (Cape Town businessman/graffito) 1831 Sir Lowry Cole (graffito) 1840: Lt. W.H. Sherwill (Indian army officer/graffito) 1855 J.F. Victorin (Swedish naturalist) Bishop Robert Gray 1860: Sir George Grey (Governor) 1873: Sir Henry Barkly (Governor/graffito) 1890: Lt.Gen. H.A. Smythe (Acting Administrator of the Cape Colony) 1896: Dr. F. Purcell (S.A. Museum) 1898: Sir Alfred Milner 1925: The Prince of Wales visits Cango Caves. 1925/9/30: Prof. A.J.H. Goodwin (UCT archaeologist) 1927: Dorothea Fairbridge 1929: L'Abbe H. Breuil (French palaeontologist) C.J. Langenhoven (author/politician/lawyer/graffito) In the 19th century, entrance to the Caves cost 5 rix dollars – the modern equivalent of about R500.00 – but that even didn’t deter them and many carted away parts of the delicate stalactites and stalagmites for souvenirs or engraved their names onto the walls. In response, the governor of the Cape Colony, Lord Charles Somerset, published the first Caves Regulation in 1820. The 1st law designed to protect an environmental resource in South Africa; it banned the collection of souvenirs, proved for fines for anyone caught damaging Caves formations and prescribed an entrance fee which had to be paid to the District Officer – who was made responsible for enforcing the rules.   Many of the most significant discoveries in the Caves were made by its first full-time guide, Johnnie van Wassenaar. – who served for 43 years: from 1891 until his retirement in 1934. He opened many side chambers and introduced thousands of people to Cango 1, which remains the only part of the Caves which the public may visit. Importantly, though, it is clear that the Caves were known to man long before Europeans first landed at the Cape: recent finds – of some tool left behind in ancient hearths in the Cave mouth – prove that humans have lived and sheltered here for at least 80 000 years. The Cango Caves reveal their secrets painfully slowly. Where once we thought that they’d been inhabited for a thousand centuries, recent archaeological finds have now proved that they’ve sheltered us for more than 80 000 years. Where once we thought that they were only about one kilometre in length, we now know that they extend for well over 5 kilometres – and that they could be even bigger still. But the Caves’ history and their size are just two of their many mysteries. The skeletons of three genets (small cats) have been found in Cango 2: is there another secret entrance to the Caves? Or were these unfortunates drowned and left behind by receding floodwaters? And how did the skeletons of bats – which have also been found in Cango 2 – become enclosed in calcite many hundreds of even thousands of years ago? There is an ancient engraving in the Caves: it’s the only piece of cave art in South Africa in a completely dark area. How did the artist prove himself with a light source to work? The engraving shows and elephant superimposed on an eland – and yet, amazingly, you see only the elephant when you view the work from one side – and only the eland when you view it from the other. Why have so many Caves guides committed suicide?And is there a ghost in the Sand bypass (a tunnel which branches off from the Drum Chamber)? One of the guides drank poison in the bypass – and nobody has ever been able to solve the puzzle of why the lights in the Sand Bypass fuse so often… And then there’s the mystery of Johnnie van Wassenaar’s 16-mile tunnel. This level-headed man once spent 29 hours underground – and, according to him, spent much of that time walking upright. Was the entrance to Johnnie’s lost chamber bricked up at some stage – perhaps during the construction of the stairway into the Van Zyl’s Hall?   R500 is 50 American dollars.  That was quite a bit of money back then.

Cango Caves

Hello Friends!

My husband preached a revival in George (Actually the name of a city here) and we went on an adventure with the Van Stadden family.  We had a blast.  We visited a landmark known as the Cango Caves located in Oudtshoorn, South Africa.  It was beautiful and humid with very small spaces that we had to maneuver through.  Very small places.  Our guide was gracious enough to regale us with tales of people being stuck in the caves for 11 hours and having to be drenched with cooking oil, dishwashing liquid, and butter to be freed from tight places.  I wanted to leave.  Nevertheless we entered at our own risk.  Here are the pictures of my harrowing experience.

The entrance looks big enough right?  

Trust me there are no thoughts of food or drink at this point.  And who would light one up?? Natural gases people!!!

This looks like a monkey to me.

We were told that the African people lived inside the caves at one time.  We were also told that a Dutch man discovered them and had nothing but a lantern to guide him.  When you get deep inside the cave you realize how ridiculous both stories are due to the many drop offs and lack of exits.  I can believe that natives lived in the entrance of the cave as pictured but no further.

Interesting family gathering.

A map of the caves.  There were two routes to choose from.  We chose the adventure tour.  Just call me Indiana.

And there were bats also, just like on the ticket stub.

Yep. It got darker. 

Very pretty.

So this one looks like a dog to me. Or Batman.

This rock belongs in the NBA.  

So this point of the tour had awesome lighting for photographic purposes.  The tour in front us were taking forever.   They went over the allotted time to take photos, so they shut off the lights so that they would leave and we could take photos.  They left then caught sight of the light and came back.  Some people are clueless and rude.

It looks as if that giant rock is balancing on the stalagmites.

Beautiful formation of stalactites.

Not a very good picture but the girl here is named Leslie her and her husband Olaf (Frozen, yeah I know) were on their honeymoon and were on the tour with our group.  They hail from Finland.  They had gone bungee jumping the day before.  Young love is so adventurous.  She looks tired, hot and sweaty.  How we all felt.

I made them stop and wave, this was not done of free will.  Teenagers.

We had to climb up The Devil's Chimney.  That was the name of this particular part of the cave. It was a fitting name.   My knees hurt for days, I banged them on every rock in there to find my footing.

Olaf coming through the Letter Box.  We had to slide out on out stomaches after we fit through a small opening.  The pictures are blurry because I asked my son to take them, he didn't wait for it to focus.  I think that at this point he was delusional.

 Olaf.

We had to climb these narrow steps to get to and from our destination.  If everything in big in Texas then South Africa is the opposite.

Some of the names of the catacombs.  The Coffin, never been in one it was an experience.  One that the dead should only experience. 

There was no love in that tunnel!!!  That is where the lady got her whole tour stuck for 11 hours.  No way in, no way out for 11 hours.  I consider that a hostage situation.  In the defense of the staff, she was told that she was too fluffy to go in but she did it anyway.  It was the smallest and tightest place in the cave.  They call it the Tunnel of Love because of how close the walls are to one another.  You have to be somewhat fit to make it through though.  As we were leaving another tour was behind us and one of the ladies was at least 80.  I was like seriously, you took her money for this thing?  I hope that she is not taking the adventure tour or the Coffin may very well end up being hers.  My son is very athletic and he broke a sweat, the rest of us were hurting.  We had so much fun though, I so enjoyed myself and plan on going back in the summer.

Cango Caves!!!!  If ever in South Africa you have to go!!!!

From South Africa With Love,