This was a truly magical moment that I had not anticipated, which made it even more special. As I write this at the end of the day, I am still marveling at being so close to them in an open area, with no fences restricting them from us. As we inched closer, they started to move away; I suspect they would have appreciated some fences, as we tried to move next to them, slowly. They were having none of that, and so we followed them for a bit, walking with the giraffes, until they moved far enough away that we decided to stop following, as they were clearly wanting to keep some space between them and us. It was so nice to experience that walk, even if it was only for a short time.
We made our way back to the van, and continued driving up the hill, to a huge 8 metre high statue of Nelson Mandela at the top.
This monument is really huge, and is by the same artist as the one in Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg. Of course there were many people there, also taking photos of this wonderful statue, and I was able to do the good deed of taking a couple of photos for a young couple who were there at the same time as our group. I thought at first, that they wanted me to get the whole statue in, with them, but it is so very big that you could not see them very well. I called them to see the first photo I took of them, and the gentleman wasn't thrilled, I could tell. (We did not speak the same language.) He focused his camera on his girlfriend, standing at Mandela's foot, and then he handed me his camera, and ran to her to pose while I clicked a few more shots. He was much happier with the second round of results.
Where the statue is, you can look out in all directions, upon the city of Bloemfontein which is quite expansive. We had a clear view and could see as far as the eye could possibly see, and we watched as some very distant clouds were beginning to move in on our beautiful blue sky. The temperature was very pleasant; I only had short sleeves and capris, and I was very comfortable.
We began walking down the hill, along the park road, and saw many other interesting sights, including a tiny gekko, some saw a scorpion, our driver looked for a snake, and I enjoyed the varied plant life, including a large bush that looked like rosemary, another with huge spiny thorns, and some tiny wild flowers sprinkled around.
We eventually came across some gnus, zebras, and some sort of an antelope or gazelle, standing in a herd nearby. We started walking across the field towards them (of course!) to get some photos. They only tolerated a certain proximity, which of course was not the same proximity as what we wanted, and as we slowly walked, so did they.
As we walked through the short grass and brush, I could feel the tops of my feet feeling prickles, like someone was lightly picking the tops of my feet with pins. A few others also experienced a similar sensation, and on people's dark shoes, we could see that there were tiny fragile burrs of different shapes. They seemed to get picked up as we walked through the grass and other plants, and they worked themselves directly in through the shoe surface. My 'prickles' soon stopped as I walked (perhaps my feet became numbed); later in the evening when I was back at my hotel room, I carefully examined my socks and runners, and pulled several burrs from them. It is amazing that such fine and delicate structures could be so strong and cause such discomfort. I snapped a quick pick of some of the collection on my desktop surface, for posterity.
Continuing our walk through the fields, we carried on in our exploration of the park, slowly moving, and occassionally stopping to enjoy the wildlife that was so close to us. At one point, the animals seemed to be getting a bit more comfortable with our presence, and a couple of zebras started to romp around, playing (or potentially wanting to mate or fight... we weren't sure). It was a joy to watch them. One of the great bonuses of being in this park, was that we could be so close to these animals and not worry about lions, or other predators, as there were none around with this reserve's confines. When coming for this trip to South Africa, it looked like I would not be able to do a safari, and I was disappointed about that, but to me, this was even better, being able to walk among animals like this, and even better, do it safely.
Eventually, we could see lightning and dark clouds getting closer, and I could smell the rain. We decided to head back to the van, and check out another place that we were told about. The sky above the planetarium at Naval Hill Park looked quite ominous.
En route, we passed through a section of town that would have been very interesting to walk through, but we were not permitted due to our work assignment rules of where we are allowed to go, as this was in a market area of downtown, and was packed with vendors and people shopping in the market. There was a shoe maker, for instance, making shoes in the street, fruits and vegetables, all kinds of goods and wares, and seemed to be very popular with the local people. And, of course, lots of pickup trucks loaded with people riding in the back.
We eventually made our way to the National Women's Memorial, which is the first monument in the world that is dedicated to women and children. Thousands of blacks and whites died in the concentration camps, mostly women and children. The main monument is a plinth which is similar in appearance from afar to the Washington Monument in the U.S. Also on the grounds was a commemorative Japanese memorial garden; the walkways were lined with stone walls, with the names of those who perished, engraved in granite. It was very moving to be surrounded by so many names, and think about the people whom were represented by those names, and the hardships that they went through.
After walking through the pathways of the garden, our group assembled at the main monument, and then continued to explore the grounds of this very special place. The museum was closed, as we had arrived at 5, but we stopped to read the interesting information posted. Of particular interest to me was a large outdoor sculpture of a ball of yarn and giant knitting needles. The 'ball of yarn' was made from barbed wire, and was to commemorate the women in the concentration camps.
Our driver was exploring this amazing place with us, and he found a tractor, which he immediately ran to, and sat on, bouncing in the seat, pretending to be driving in the furrows of a field, oblivious to us in the distance, as he escaped to a time when he enjoyed working on a farm. He shared with me that he loved that time, working with the earth in the fields, and much preferred it over life in the city as a driver on roads. He was very engaging as he told me about how he loved to be in the fields and hear the lions roaring in the distance. I expressed surprise, and he said that it was common, and he loved that sound. When I told him that we had no lions roaming in the fields in Canada, he could not believe it. In fact, he was sure I was teasing him; how could we not have lions roaming about?!? He said he could not imagine that the world did not have lions in the fields. Isn't it incredible, how one person's 'normal' is another person's 'impossible'.
We came across an old steam engine train on exhibit, and a graveyard with commemorative cast grave markers. The grave markers have been stolen over the years, due to their value of the the metal, and so I think these were reproductions, and yes, they still continue to be stolen, and are hence surrounded in a compound of fencing and barbed wire.
We finally finished our exploration of this interesting place, and were getting hungry, so we went to a place that was recommended to us, named Seven.
It was quite interesting, and most people enjoyed the food there. I most enjoyed the ambience and the company. Oh, and I loved the beaded flower centrepieces, representative of the nation's flower, the protea.
After a fun meal, we climbed once more into our transport vehicle, and headed home. As I get ready to fall into bed, I am amazed at all that we saw and did, after a full day of work, here in Bloem. We walked in an incredible park with wildlife, we visited a thought-provoking memorial park, and we topped it off with a fabulous late dinner. And yet, I remember someone outside of our group asking us, What on earth will you be doing in Bloem?
If I could now answer that, I would say What aren't we doing in Bloem?!
What an incredible trip. I highly recommend it. What a day.
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