The Utterback's Visit Part 1: The Tribal Experience

My parents joined us in Africa for the month of March. Once again we were excited for visitors, and couldn't wait to start showing off Africa. Having back to back visitors didn't pose to be a problem, as our area has so many attractions we didn't need to repeat anything we had done with Chase's parents, so I didn't feel like we were doing everything all over again. One of the places I hadn't been yet was the Lesedi Cultural Village, so I decided this would be a great place to take mom and dad as they enjoy learning about culture and history. The cultural village is a small staged village area that has been made up to represent 5 of the major tribes in South Africa, the Zulu, Bosotho, Xhosa, Pedi, and Ndebele. A day visit here will get you a tour of the various tribal villages and a Pan African buffet should you choose to stay for lunch.

Everyone who works at the village wears traditional tribal apparel and plays the role of a tribe member. In some ways I compared this to going to any of our colonial tours in the US. Near the area where I grew up there was a place called Arrow Rock and when you went with your school they wore traditional colonial clothing and showed us things like how to make butter. Here at Lesedi they tell you about how each tribes dressed, how they say "Hello, and Goodbye", what they are known for historically, and the roles of the different members of the tribes. Some tribes were more peaceful then others, some known for their art, and others known for their weapons. It was interesting to hear about how each tribe treated their woman, and how they defended themselves from attacks. It was a very engaging tour and our guide was very enthusiastic. The village tour is a full 1.5 hours so we didn't take the boys with us, as I don't think for my young kiddos it would of been interesting enough.

At the end of the tour you also get to enjoy a traditional dance boma (dancing around a fire). This portion of the show was a full thirty minutes of tribal dances from each tribe and even some from other parts of Africa as well. I was very impressed with the dancing and music portion and thought the staff seemed to enjoy this part the most as well. I got some amazing video of the dances, and wished I had bought the music CD they were selling as I know Mitchell and Spencer would of loved the music!

Finally, we ended the day with a Pan African Buffet which included various salads, and meats served with Pap. Pap is a popular traditional staple in African diet. It's corn meal based thick porridge .I describe this as a texture of mashed potatoes and southern grits. It's not very good all by itself, but when served with a stew or tomato gravy, it can be good. I think it's growing on me, and my mom LOVED it. They had several different stews to choose from with various meats. I chose what I thought was beef and chicken only to discover that it was actually ostrich and crocodile. Surprisingly, the crocodile wasn't bad, it "Taste's Like Chicken".  Ostrich itself isn't bad either, I've had some before that was tough and chewy, but in the stew it tasted pretty good.  I guess if its covered in sauce anything can be eaten. They also had a variety to Boer rolls (sausages) and other meats to choose from as well. Then to end the meal we could choose dessert, a traditional dessert in South Africa is the Mavla Pudding which is basically a rich sponge cake with custard pudding poured on top. Over all it was a good day and fun to learn about the tribal culture and let my parents try some South African food.

Hartz Visit Part 3: Ukutula Lion Park and Lodge

One of my favorite places we've visited so far has been Ukutula Lion Park and Lodge. We took Chase's family here for an over night and completely fell in love with the place. Ukutula is located about an hour and a half away from Pretoria.  As you enter the property you start driving down a long dirt road, and feel as though you are on a mini game drive. We saw a couple blesbok grazing and a few other small antelope on our way in. Since we were staying the night we reserved a family sized two room chalet. It had a small kitchen and a living space which made it perfect for us to play games and relaxing. Ukutula offers a variety of activities they have a lion interaction program, a walk with lions, and a game drive. We chose to stick with the lion program and walk. The property itself has several chalets in various sizes, a nice dining area and boma (outdoor fire area), and two swimming pools. You also have the option of self catering your food as most of the chalets have a fire pit and kitchen or you can choose the catered option in which a chef prepares a set menu for each meal. Out of ease we chose the catered option, but quickly found that my picky eating children were not as impressed with the food as the adults were.

Once we were settled, we enjoyed a relaxing morning hanging out and swimming in the pool.  That after noon we all participated in the lion interaction program, this is a two hour program in which you get to hold baby lions, play with the more frisky pre-teens, and walk around the cages of the big cats all while learning about lions daily lifestyle and behavior as well as how the handlers work with them at the park. The highlight for me was definitely holding the baby lions. I couldn't get enough of their cuteness! After holding the babies we moved on to the pre-teen group also known as the "devils". They are a bit larger and known for being extra frisky. The boys were both two small to go into this caged area so they stood outside and watched as we went in. The guide explained to us that you don't want to turn your back to this age group, because when your not looking they will try to pounce. Two of the lions were very interested in the kids and were practicing their stalking techniques on them. Mitchell soon learned that if he turned is back to the fence they would run up to it, so this quickly became a game for the kids and the lions. After the "devils" we moved on to the bigger cats. They have a wide variety of large cats not just lions, so it was neat to hear about the other cats as well.

An intense game of checkers

Our Elephant Chalet

Another highlight of staying at the lodge is simply being able to hear the lions through out the day. When lions communicate with each other it's not the classic roar you would expect and what we are used to hearing from TV. Instead, they talk with each other through deep moaning sounds they are shorter then a long roar, and will continue to do this for several minutes at a time. There are certain times through out the day that they do this more frequently typically early evening and very early mornings. It was wonderful to sit out on our patio sipping coffee and listening to the lions.

One of the "Devils"

The boys teasing the "devils"

The next morning Chase and I headed off to walk with the lions, (Chase's parents did this the day before). Again, this is something the children are not able to do so we split into two groups so that all of us adults could have a turn. Walking with the lions is an amazing experience. We went out with a large group in the morning and had about 5 Lions walking with us. These lions are 18mo to 2 years old, after 2 years old we were told they start to be more dominant and won't listen to the handlers as well. Prior to the lions meeting us we were all given large walking sticks to hold as we walked and were told that if a lion was too close to us or appearing to do something we were not comfortable with that we should give them a little poke. I am not sure how much confidence I had in the stick, but held on tight just in case. When they released the lions a couple of them came up and greeted us by walking up to us, smelling us, and brushing against our legs. We were also told not to touch the lions as they may get a mixed signal. The handlers led us down a dirt path and as we walked along with the lions the guide talked to us all about them. It was incredibly informative and just amazing to see the things they could do. The whole time as we were walking the handlers kept throwing chicken pieces to the lions to keep them distracted from us and to keep them focused on the walk. Every so often along the path we would stop and they would show us some of the lions abilities. Walking along the lions was a truly unique experience and one that I would highly recommend should you ever have the chance! I have some amazing video of our walk also, but unfortunately the blog having trouble uploading it.

After the lion walk we got one more chance to snuggle the babies before we left, it was perfect. As we drove out of the park it seemed that several animals came to say goodbye to us. We saw monkeys, zebra, antelope, giraffes, and Ostrich all on our way out, it was the perfect farewell and come back soon! 

Over all we had a fabulous visit with the Grandma and Grandpa Hartz it was wonderful to have a piece of home here in Africa and to show off our home here! We are looking forward to more visitors soon!!

The Hartz Visit Part 2: Elephants and Monkeys

While Anne and Doug were here we decided to take a couple of day trips to visit some animal attractions around Pretoria. One of the places we have been waiting to visit was The Elephant Sanctuary.  The Elephant Sanctuary is home to several African elephants that cannot survive in the wild or those that can no longer be taken care of by zoos. The elephants there have been trained through positive reinforcement so that they are able to interact with humans. The sanctuary offers a two hour interaction program in which you tour their grounds and learn all about the elephants and how they work with them.
The tour starts with learning about where the Elephants sleep and what they eat, then you walk on a trail through the woods, step in to a clearing, and BAM, there are two huge elephants just feet from you! In the clearing we learned about how the handlers train them and then each person gets a chance to come up to the elephant, touch them, and get a photo with them. When I first walked into the clearing I was a little intimidating, I've seen too many "When Animals Attack" to be weary of being so close to any animal even one that has been trained like these. When you touch the elephants you start to feel their strength immediately a small tap with their trunk can knock you right off your feet. So of course I was a little anxious about the kids being so close, but the handlers give you specific instructions on where to stand when near the elephant and what exactly you can touch. They are trained to read the elephants movements and can tell if they are getting agitated. After getting a very sticky, muddy kiss from one of the elephants we moved on. After another hike across the grounds we came to another elephant that we got a chance to feed. The guy was much bigger than the two we had met in the clearing. Again we had specific instructions to walk up to the elephant place the food pellets in his trunk and then turn around immediately and walk away. Apparently if you linger he gets anxious for more food and may hit you with his trunk. After feeding the elephant we walked over to an area where we learned about the bone structure of elephants and then we were able to walk with the elephants "Trunk in Hand". When you walk with the elephants we once again had precise instructions to stand in front of the elephant and reach your hand behind you. The elephant then rests his trunk in your hand. You then gently guide the elephant in a circle around the arena. You are not supposed to grab the trunk and we were told to keep walking even if the elephant lets go. After walking with the elephant we had the option to ride the elephants for an extra fee, but we decided to skip this part because the children couldn't do it and they were getting hungry after the two hour program.
Over all the program was nice and it was an amazing experience  to be that close to an elephant. I appreciated that the kids could do most of the things on the tour, Mitchell could even walk with an adult and the elephant. However, the sanctuary is one of the pricier animal interactions in the area and though very informative it's not something I think we would more than once.

After we left The Elephant Sanctuary we grabbed a quick bite to eat then headed over to a place called Bush Babies Monkey Sanctuary. This is a facility is a refuge for Monkeys that have either been saved in the wild or have been previous pets of people who no longer wanted them. Its a large enclosed area with trails through a forest environment and the monkeys roam free through out. As you walk along the path some of the monkeys are very friendly and will come right up to you. One in particular will get overly friendly and may even jump on your shoulder or try to pick your pocket, looking for car keys and cell phones! The sanctuary is a beautiful walk and it's really neat to be up close and personal with the monkeys. As you walk along there are two cable suspension bridges that sway as you walk across them and give you great views of the area.

Over all it was another fun day in Africa and we were happy to discover two new places with Grandma and Grandpa. If you decide to do both of these attractions in one day just be prepared because it was A LOT of walking! :)

The Hartz Visit Part 1: The Farm Inn

For the month of February we were blessed to have our first visitors to South Africa, Chase's parents, Anne and Doug. They spent their first week here getting to know Pretoria and the area we live in. As the jet lag wore off for them we took it easy, went on lots of walks, and enjoyed some of my favorite coffee places.  One of the kids favorite places to visit is just down the street from our house it's a small animal park called The Farm Inn. They have a wonderful lodge and a restaurant surrounded by a small reserve which is home to Antelope, Lions, Tigers, Leopards, Hyena, African Hunting Dogs, and Cheetahs. All the predators are in cages so in some ways its like going to a glorified zoo. The Farm also has a small farm animal area where the kids can feed and hold bunnies.  We decided this would be a good start for Grandma and Grandpa and it was number one on Mitchell's list for places to take them. So, we took them over for a breakfast and game drive. On Wednesday morning the place is pretty quiet so we had a small jeep to ourselves for the drive vs riding in the large 30 passenger truck. The guide took us around the farm and talked to us about each of the animals. They have a young giraffe who was born in December. The guide tried to get her to come over to the jeep, but she wasn't interested in his tricks. The cutest thing about this giraffe is her best friend is a little black sheep. For some reason when the giraffe was born this sheep just decided to be by her side, and ever since the sheep has been in the fenced area with her. Apparently he even tries to eat leaves off the trees like her, and he is the only sheep she hasn't tried to kick. It's pretty adorable. The guide then took us around to the other cages to talk about the cats. Now,  I've been on this game drive 3 times, and even though most of it was the same, I always learn something new and it's always fun to experience things with others who are going for their first time.
After the game drive we reserved time with The Farm Inn's most famous animal, Anthony the Cheetah. Anthony was raised by the owner and at one time lived in the owners home with them until he started getting too big. I imagine him tearing up the sofa like a house cat, except on a much much larger scale! This cheetah is incredibly tame, when you are with him he purrs just like a house cat and rubs his head on you. He also loves to lick the salt off your hands and legs. They do ask that you don't touch his paws or lean over him just to be safe.  On the game drive you learn that the Cheetah is the easiest to tame of the large cats. They also have less strength then most, and rarely cause fatal wounds to humans. The guide said that most of the time you can push them off of you, though I am pretty sure I still wouldn't want to go head to head with one in the wild. Anthony has been trained to walk on a leash and has been used as a ring bearer in weddings. He is sweet and a nice treat if you want to get out and pet a large cat for the day.
Following our interaction with Anthony we headed over to the petting zoo for some quality time with the bunnies. The boys love feeding and holding them, but this time Spencer wasn't too keen on the bunnies crowding him for the food.

Over all it was a beautiful day and a great way to introduce Anne and Doug to just a small part of what Africa has to offer.