Stories from the Park

Two nights at Kruger National Park were incredible. We took a night ride on the second night and one of the animals we saw was a large male lion. He didn't seem too impressed with our bright lights or noise.

African safari

We have finally made it to the great Kruger Park! This place is incredible. This evening we are sleeping in an air conditioned hut in a compound inside the park. We've seen at least 18 species of wildlife today. I can't give you all the pictures but these are a few of them...

Snow on Mt. Bental

I told you it was snowing on Mt. Bental last week. Here is the proof.

A Great Hike

A requirement for all Israeli tour guides is to take an updater field trip at least once every year. Last week I decided to take the one I needed for the year by hiking Nahal Amud. That name is a clue. You see, the Hebrew word Amud means pillar. Nahal is a valley or river bed. In this case it was a narrow and winding canyon that took us to a huge natural pillar. The four hour hike was incredible and the natural pillar... well, take a look! It's fabulous!

Praying for Rain

Up until a couple weeks ago, it has been another very dry winter in Israel. We need rain desperately! So, I ask my tour groups to pray for "Good Weather." It's only after they get here that I explain that rain is good weather.
I started asking God for 10 days of rain to fall during the month of February. Actually, I asked for 90 days of rain but I specifically asked for 10 day in February. We got the 10 days of rain too! It was amazing! We doubled our rainfall for the year in those 10 days.
So, since I had a group of pilgrims out in the rain nearly every day of it, I thought it would be appropriate to show you one of the folks who came with the rain.

Osaka Japan

Our travels seem to go on and on. Today I am in Osaka, Japan. We have a rehearsal for a show in the Bridges for Peace Festival that is being presented by the Japanese office. The festival begins tomorrow and will be presented in several cities across Japan during the next two weeks. Meanwhile, the view from my hotel window is incredible. The castle of the 16th century Shogun is across the street. I went for a walk there yesterday.



The crane was gracious enough to allow me to take a picture as she stood with her friend the turtle. That small pond is inside the grounds of the inner keep of the castle. There are two complete moats that surround the castle.

A couple more of my favorite pictures from Maui. This is a Hawaiian fire dancer. They said he was a three time champion. I keep wondering why we never see championship fire dancing one Eurosport TV.


Right up there with the fire dancer is my own spark of delight.


One of my favorite scenes on our drive around the west side of the island was this wonderful church in a valley, on the beach, between two enormous cliffs.

Maui Vacation

I know... It's been a while since I posted. I have excuses. Nobody wants to hear excuses though. How about some pictures?



Do I look exhausted? This was taken at the end of my sixth dive, yesterday. I took a course in scuba and I am now qualified as an open water diver. That's entry level but for me it's a really good accomplishment. I feel like I have a whole new world to explore.

My instructor, Drew, gave very clear lessons and a lot of, "on the spot" tests. In the picture he was having me check his gear and identify each step.


Of course, we didn't spend all of our time with the dive course though. We took an incredible drive around the west end of Maui. Most of it is a one lane road around tight turns on cliffs. That is, with two way traffic. Let me just add one word here... interesting!

When the Tour Guide takes a break...

I finished my last tour of the season. Now I have a little bit of a break. To help pass the time (And maybe because I was listening to God) I decided to sell my apartment. That led to making small repairs before I sell it. That led to noticing the deck chairs on the patio have seriously deteriorated over the past year. Since I paid over 1000 shekels for them, I didn't want to just throw them away. Then a funny idea went through my head...
Maybe I can save them!


They were made from plastic strips woven like rattan. What if I took the old strips away and replaced it with ropes? So, I went off to the hardware store and purchased a quantity of right ropes. Then I re-rolled the rope into balls of about 20 meters each. I figured that would be what I needed to be able to work my way through the bars of the frames. I have finished a chair and started the two seater. So far, it seems to be working.

Now to go ahead and sell the apartment... (We are only asking 1,5000,000 shekels.)

Incredible Africa!

Africa is fantastic! Everyone knows that anyway, right? On our first day, we went straight to a large national park where they tell me I might be able to see, "The Big Five." That is, elephant, rhino, water buffalo, lion and leopard. I didn't do that well though. We saw several giraffe, several elephants, lots of bucks, a few zebras, a family of warthogs, a herd of wildebeast and an assortment of other animals.



Oh, there was one or two other interesting characters lying about. This monitor lizard was easily 2 meters long.

Today I said Goodbye...

We have gotten used to loading the bus by now. The staff at the holiday village somehow didn't write down the time for the bellboys to bring the luggage. No problem, before they could get to the rooms to correct the error almost all of the group had brought their own.

We visited Akko, Haifa and Caesaria on the way to the airport. Several of the group were anxious because of timing for their departure so they wanted to hurry through the incredible archaeology of Caesaria. I got sort of tickled when I looked back and noticed that some were still in the theater taking pictures when I had gotten all the way to the marble pieces near the gate to the palace.

Galilee and the Borders

The shoreline of the Galilee was lovely again this morning. My true love called me just after dawn to wish me a wonderful day on our anniversary. What could I do but go out to the dock and wish she were there with me. Happy anniversary dear friend!


But the life of the Israeli tour guide is not a convenient one. I gathered the group together and off we went to the Syrian border. We looked at the UN camp on the border and one of the men told me that he had served there. I related a story of a young Canadian soldier who had visited us at our home on leave from that compound.



One of the most incredible tank battles of all time was fought in the "Valley of Tears" just north of the UN camp.

Just one more

We went back to the Memorial park for the Australian Soldiers in BeerSheva this morning. The tour group wanted one more picture, as a group, at the memorial.

Beersheva Memorial and the Charge of the Lighthorse

I'm out with a bunch of guys who talk knowledgeably about shooting German Mausers with accuracy at the 400 meter range. I didn't bother to tell them about my skills with the 38 featherweight.
We spent some time this morning walking part of the battlefield from the charge of the Light Horseman (October 31, 1917 Beersheva).


It just seemed like the right place to encourage them to tell stories so we stood in a circle and listened to the old warriors, their sons and their heirs.



One of the main reasons many of them came was the dedication and unveiling of a new park and memorial in the center of Beersheva.





The statue is one of the most powerful war memorials I've ever seen...

Tanks and other powerful forces

Somebody posted a message on my message board that Aish HaTorah was building near the Kotel (Western Wall) Here is what I saw today.

Just below the expansion project is a large archaeology dig that is nearly ready for tourists.



My tour group is a bunch or Aussies who are here to celebrate the opening of the Anzac memorial. Naturally they are interested in all things military. So... I took them to the armor corp museum today.

I had to post a picture of the Merkava IV for Neil. I told you they had better stuff!