Aquila Day 2

11-20am

Aquila (Noun – meaning Black Eagle) pronounced A-kee-la (here anyway).

It’s roughly 7500 hectares of Karoo semi-scrub vegetation, where most animals introduced here can happily survive. They keep the predators in camps apart from the vulnerable, so there is no bloodshed. For us Capetonians, it’s the easiest way to see animals in the wild without getting on an aeroplane. Yesterday afternoon, we went for a scheduled 2-3 hour safari to see the game and came back almost 4 hours later. Time fled by, despite us crawling over rugged road terrain in a massive game viewing truck. Padded seats made it comfortable – open sides made viewing great. We arrived back at the lodge close to 7pm fully satisfied. We were out again early this morning, visiting the Aquila Rehabilitation Centre for vulnerable predators. They call them “doomed”. Left alone in the wild, they would not survive…not that this fellow looks needy…

There were plenty more lion….a fabulous pride in the main reserve that entertained us while we sat quietly in the truck just metres away…this was this morning…

Last night they were at the waterhole and provided some great shots…

We want attention and we want it now!

Ahh, it’s a cat’s life.There were many more animals to see. I loved the giraffe. My caption for this one: “Hey, what you staring at? Are you calling me fat?”

There were more the other side of the road…

And here they are eating proteas for dinner!

Last night the rhino were well disguised…

While this morning we found one on the move…There were lots of zebra….this is my favourite one of the zebra…

…and lots of wildebeest as well…

A massive great big Daddy eland…

How could I forget the elephants…

And the hippo. We were so happy to have seen these. They were so obliging and moved towards the bank of the dam…

There is a Bible verse that talks about a leopard changing its spots…

Jeremiah 13:23

Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.

Of this verse, Matthew Henry wrote: “We cannot alter the natural colour of the skin; and so is it morally impossible to reclaim and reform these people. Sin is the blackness of the soul; it is the discolouring of it; we were shapen in it, so that we cannot get clear of it by any power of our own. But Almighty grace is able to change the Ethiopian’s skin. Neither natural depravity, nor strong habits of sin, form an obstacle to the working of God, the new-creating Spirit. “

Great message!

Because of this verse, I looked a little closer at the leopard and his spots. He is wild but cannot survive in the wild.

We also saw a pair of cheetahs, also in a 1 hectare enclosure – they are hoping to breed them…

You can tell the difference between the cheetah and the leopard. Cheetahs are slimmer and have ‘tears’ colour marking coming from their eyes.

We’ve had a really good time. This afternoon we will go on a horse ride and then we’re free until we leave tomorrow morning.  The weather is perfect…not too hot, with a bit of wind. I’m not sure when I’ll get tomorrow’s blog done. We are planning a round of golf on our way home, so it may be a late blog.

Keep the smile going.

God bless you!

In His Grip,

Helga xx 🙂

Gratitude Pic? Just scroll up and pick one!