DE BUNNY, A HORSE, AND LOTS OF “DEVINE APPOINTMENTS” WITH GOD’S CREATION!

Rid­ing a horse through a game park is the per­fect way to see the ani­mals “up close and personal”.

No motor sounds to alert the ani­mals, just the clip clomp of the hors­es hooves (which all hoofed ani­mals make, so they pay no atten­tion to it).  This allowed me to walk my horse up to with­in 40 to 60 yards/meters of most of the ani­mal herds before they knew I was there.

My fun­ni­est moment:  I rode up to with­in 40 yards/meters of 2 large RED HARTEBEAST bucks in an intense fight (males are the size of a small horse).  No sound was being made except the click­ing of their horns as they wres­tled head to head with lots of grunt­ing as they shoved each oth­er for position.

After 3 min­utes of watch­ing them bat­tle it out, my horse snort­ed, freez­ing them in their tracks.  If only I had a pho­to of their faces when they unhooked their horns, giv­ing us that shocked look that clear­ly stat­ed “YIKES, A HUMAN!!!!”.

My horse was danc­ing a jig as they took off at full speed.   All I saw was 2 tails dis­ap­pear­ing in the bush­es as I calmed my horse who want­ed to run in the oppo­site direction!

Why no cam­era?  Well, my love­ly mount, SASSY, didn’t even like the bleep of a cell phone, (she danced a lot at strange sounds), so tak­ing a pho­to from horse­back was not pos­si­ble, for I don’t like get­ting dumped and hav­ing to walk home.

Sun­day morn­ing, dawned with deep fog and poor vis­i­bil­i­ty of about 150 yards/meters.  But that meant the ani­mals couldn’t see me so eas­i­ly, so Sassy and I were able to get very close before herds of Wilde­beast scat­tered with their cute baby calves.

I then rode off onto a game trail, up into the hills, and was well reward­ed for pick­ing my way through the rocky ter­rain in the fog.

Some ear­ly ris­ers drop by for breakfast.

THREE MAGESTIC KUDOS (2 males after 1 female) star­tled me and my horse at the local water­ing hole.  They ran up the ridge, but when I tried to cross the shal­low stream to fol­low them, Sassy refused.  Just a few feet away on my left, lay a Blue Wilde­beast car­cass, dead about 2 months.  My horse want­ed noth­ing to do with it, so to pre­vent get­ting thrown, we changed direc­tions and went in search of oth­er game.

When I returned to home base,  I told the own­er, Elsabe, and she took all of us in her jeep, includ­ing her ranch man­ag­er, to fetch it.  That meant back track­ing on foot into the hills, but I locat­ed it and Judas, the ranch man­ag­er, drug it out, since it was just hide and bone (but it still stunk).  This was one that hunters in July had wound­ed, but was unable to track down, for it was far from where they shot it.

NOTE:  My abil­i­ty to not get lost in the bush, and how to trav­el by land­marks, tru­ly amazed my host­ess and Judas, the ranch man­ag­er.  (Just basic sur­vival in Moz. where NO ROAD SIGNS exist.)  They told me the norm for them was to have to go find all their lost guests who “thought” they could find their way home.  I can’t take all the cred­it, for any good ranch horse always knows her way home. Tee Hee.  Say “HOME” to my dear Sassy, and you bet­ter be well seat­ed and have a firm grip on the reins, or she will bolt for the barn!

NO FEAR, my dears, for Bush Bun­ny is a very expe­ri­enced rid­er and Sassy was a refresh­ing chal­lenge.  I love a horse with some spunk!

HIGHLIGHT OF THE TRIP was spot­ting the “elu­sive” GIRAFFES!  Five in total were locat­ed. Two young ones, approx­i­mate­ly 1 and 2 year old young­sters still with their moth­er, and they were a delight to watch.  The Giraffe is my favorite African Ani­mal, as no oth­er has that beau­ti­ful rock­ing horse gate. Their beau­ty in the wild is a won­der to see.

Ead­en­wilde Guesthouse

Ead­en­wild Staff with a very hap­py Bunny!

Need­less to say, EDENWILD, is a mag­nif­i­cent game farm where I was allowed to wan­der on foot and horse­back to my heart’s con­tent.  A 1000 hec­tars (2,500 acres), right across from the famous HANGLIP MOUNTAIN (1,700+meters high/5000+feet) in the Water­berg Moun­tain Range.  The Hanglip Moun­tain boasts a PAR 1 GOLFING CHALLENGE.  Hit the ball from the T‑off on top of the moun­tain into the 19th hole on the golf course below, and win a Mil­lion Dollars!

Those who try it pay for a heli­copter ride to the top of the moun­tain, for that is the only way to get up there.  The winds were so strong at the foot of the moun­tain, that I can see why no one has ever won that prize.  It must have been hur­ri­cane force up on top!

JESUS GAVE DE BUSH BUNNY A SUPER HOLIDAY, A GREAT REFRESHING, MANY NEW FRIENDS AND UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES.

Rid­ing alone in the silent bush for over 5 hours in 3 days, as well as sev­er­al long hikes, gave me the best “Qui­et Times” I’ve ever had with our Lord.  Noth­ing like being sur­round­ed by God’s beau­ti­ful cre­ation to “enter in and feel His presence”.

MY HEARTFELT THANKS TO “TEAM ELZABE” FOR A NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN HOLIDAY!

Ani­mals spot­ted: Giraffe, zebras, Nyala bucks, Wilde­beast, Blue Wilde­beasts, Bles­buck, KUDO, Warthogs, Iland Bucks, FISH EAGLE BIRD, Impala, Warthogs with babies, 1 meter (3 ft.) long Igua­na Lizards

LOAD’EM UP AND MOVE EM OUT! KEEP THOSE TRUCKS A ROLL’IN!

WEDNESDAY found us “loaded to the max” with corn and beans as our big trucks and 2 pick­ups moved out at dawn (5:30a.m.) with 2 teams of 12 men each.  My team was off to Kwe Kwe, 30km or 18 miles into the bush.   Capena’s team trav­eled to Tuane (Ti-wan-ee), just 9 miles out of town.  YOUR FOOD GIFTS BLESSED 200 wid­ows and the 604 orphans from the 9 vil­lages who live in those 2 areas.

 Granny shows up all the young folks by walk­ing 9km (5.4 miles) to get food for her and her orphaned grandchildren.

I take my hat off to these super tough women, who out­last the younger folks.

THURSDAY, we dis­trib­uted to over 150 wid­ows and 300+ orphans in the Bala­ma area.

“HAY, you have my bucket.”

Our men then reloaded the trucks with max­i­mum loads for Friday’s give out.

FRIDAY, the 7 vil­lages in the Mavala (Man­go Tree Church) area received corn and beans.  159 wid­ows host 434 orphans in those 7 villages.

Most of the chil­dren come to the give outs, which hap­pen once a month in the dry sea­son.  Car­l­i­tos Jorge did a great job of deliv­er­ing the AWANA based drama/devotion at each give out.   This week’s title was “How God cares for His chil­dren”.  The peo­ple loved it!

PLANTING ONLY FOOD INTO THE HANDS OF THE HUNGRY IS MEANINGLESS UNLESS YOU FEED THEIR SPIRIT TOO.

EMPOWERING THE CHILDREN TO BECOME INDEPENDENT

ORPHANS IN NEED OF NEW FIELD HOES AND MACHETTES (PANGAS).

FOUR YEARS AGO we were blessed with a gift to buy tools so the old­er orphans could plant their own fields.

These hard work­ing chil­dren now pro­vide their own food for 6 months of the year.  (We pro­vide the balance).

Their tools are now worn out and many of the orphans who have joined us since then have lit­tle to work with.

We have been BLESSED with a gen­er­ous gift from RSA to buy these tools for 75 orphan fam­i­lies, leav­ing 625 fam­i­lies with­out tools.

$10 (R120) buys a large size Farm­ing Hoe AND a Machette or Pan­ga, as it is called in South Africa.

TEACH A MAN TO FISH AND HE WILL FEED HIMSELF.  GIVE THEM FARMING TOOLS AND THEY WILL RAISE THEIR OWN FOOD.

Thanks for your ever faith­ful love gifts so we can be a bless­ing to these hard work­ing children.

Bless­ings,

Bush Bun­ny Bren­da Lange