Today was the day that Bekah finally landed in South Africa. Not only did she land here, she came in at full speed. See, we visited Addo Elephant Park, a national reserve that has been set aside for the elephants in South Africa. It is the largest elephant reserve in the world and happens to be only about an hour outside of PE. The elephant is considered one of the "Big 5" in South Africa, with the others being the rhino, lion, leopard, and buffalo (what we would call a water buffalo). Actually, they are in the process of merging Addo with a series of other parks in South Africa and expanding the Big 5 to include the whale and dolphin. When I say merge parks, I'm not talking about a few zoos or cheesy 20-acre game "parks". I'm talking about hundreds and thousands of acres of land that extends over a huge area covering a tremendous number of square miles. The South Africans see the value of preserving this part of their world. The Big 5 appear on the paper money, with a rhino on the R10 (10 Rand) note, an elephant on the R20 note, a lion on the R50 note, a buffalo on the R100 note, and a leopard on the R200 note. So today was the day for seeing the elephants. We went with Andre and Marina and their kids in the UPE Kombie. Passing by the townships was again an experience hard to believe. Once we got to Addo, which cost our family a total of $8 to enter, we were fortunate to hear many of the elephants were close by (meaning only a couple of miles away). Andre told us there are times people will spend all day driving through the reserve without seeing a single elephant. Did we see an elephant? Absolutely. But, not only one. We hit the jack pot. We drove toward a ledge that overlooked one of the watering spots for the elephants and were excited when a mother and baby came through the brush and stopped for a drink and cool off in the water. We stayed at the same spot for over an hour, during which time we were able to see about 100 elephants with over 50 coming forward and spending time at the watering hole. We knew that elephants travel in herds, but it is the family that defines the traveling group. To stand on a high point overlooking a vast area of field and bush and see 10-12 different groups of elephants appear on the horizon and move toward the watering hole was extremely powerful. Although we took numerous pictures, it just could not be captured on film. As impactful as traveling through the shanties is, this was equally breath taking. I made an oath this day to never go to a zoo again. The power of seeing an elephant in his natural world sickens me when I think of the confined space we stuff them into in zoos. What I found highly moving was a single elephant, obviously older and slower than the rest, who stood a short distance from the herd and only drank from the watering hole when the others had left. Andre shared that this is common with elephants. Older ones are slowly pushed farther away when they become less productive and more of a burden on the herd. This leaves them at danger of predators or death due to loneliness or starvation. I found this hard to accept, until I compared it to our obsessions with abandoning the elderly or dumping them into the zoos we call nursing homes.

Okay, this is getting too emotional. However, seeing a shanty town and massive heard of elephants all in the same hour tends to illicit these types of emotions. On a positive note, the flea invasion in our flat is nearly over. Just those last few who thought it would be fun to live in my bed instead of jumping onto the floor into the "flea eradication powder." How many of you have ever been bitten by a flea? No, no, no, it's not like a mosquito, although the itch feels the same. Take a mosquito bite and leave it on your skin for about 2-3 weeks, with continual itching. It is a trip. At last count, I have 56 flea bites on my legs. 56. That's like that ad that used to be on T.V. when we were kids where the guy stuck his arm into a plastic box full of mosquitos and then did it again after he sprayed his arm with Off. If you remember that ad, then you remember how you squirmed every time you saw it. Doing that continuously for a couple of weeks is how I'm feeling about now. However, I am resilient and will prevail. At least we haven't run into the puff adders and cape cobras yet.

In between game park visits, we christened Livingstone. Andre, Marina, and friend Sharon took us out to a beautiful spot on the ocean (Cape Recife) where we dutifully toasted Livingstone with a bottle of champaign. A beautiful seaside area, where the de Jagers had previously christened Stanley. A few other fellows were on the rocks fishing for "blue fin" (which I assume to be tuna) with heavyweight rod and reel. I am determined to soon get myself into that ritual. We ended our first week in South Africa with a get together hosted by Andre and Marina where we were able to meet with a number of key university and community people. Again, we feel fortunate for being here with Andre and Marina. A previous Fulbrighter told us the experience we are having is atypical and we should feel extremely fortunate. Don't worry, we do.