Sleeping Giants

Mountain profiles, along with clouds, enable the imagination to run wild. They are similar to those pictures used in psychometric testing where the subject is asked what they can 'see'.

What can you see in this view of a hill called Devil's Peak, to the side to Table Mountain? It was taken from the plane approaching Cape Town Airport.

This was our view of the Gavea Mountain, when we lived in Rio de Janeiro, commonly known as 'The Sleeping Giant' ...

.... and this is the opposite side of Devil's Peak, to the left of Table Mountain. This was taken from out at sea, in Table Bay...

... and just in case you are having difficulty, here is the same view in portrait. We were told it is called 'Devil's face'.

Walk to Tyger Falls

The area where we are now living is called Tyger Vallei - yes spelt like this, with the 'i' and 'y' reversed. We are still in Durbanville, but closer to the city, with distant views of Table Mountain. The area is mostly commercial, with a large shopping centre and offices, so I was pleasantly surprised, the other day, to discover this small nature reserve nestled behind a shopping area called Willow Creek. It was a sunny afternoon and the autumn colours were stunning, as I have tried to capture in this photo.

As its name suggests, Willow Creek has a creek with lots of weeping willows hanging over the water. Several nests hung from the trees, just above the surface of the water. I have no idea what kind of bird uses such a nest. Do enlighten me, if you know.

Beside the creek, paths have just been laid, with wooden decking areas at intervals, presumably for people to stand and watch the wildlife. Apart from lots of guinea fowl, I didn't see much evidence of wildlife, but there must be lots of birds and other small creatures. Perhaps, now that the contruction work is almost complete, and the area is allowed to settle, wildlife will return to this nature reserve.

The path meandered beside the creek to a large lake with a waterfall tumbling down the rock wall into the lake. Apartments have been built around this lake, together with restaurants, with large decking platforms over the water's edge. It is called Tyger Vallei waterfront and I expect it is a popular place for local entertainment.

It reminded me of the waterfront area in the centre of Birmingham, next to the canals which run through that busy city, creating a tranquil setting for people to walk, eat and live.

Views from the plane - Lusaka to Cape Town

I decided to take some photos from the plane as we travelled from Lusaka to Cape Town.






This was just after we had taken off, showing the Zambian bush, already losing its green colour, now that the rains have ended.




A little higher and the plane turned giving a distant view of the city of Lusaka - you can just make out a few high rise buildings on the left horizon. Lusaka must be one of the smallest capital cities in the world.

We changed planes in Johannesburg. This photo shows the haphazzard tracks of a strip mine only a short distance away from a huge area of housing.

Close to Cape Town, the rugged mountains of the west coast rose up, breaking into the patchwork landscape of South Africa's wine route.

On approach into Cape Town, the plane swung out into False Bay, the sheltered side of Cape Town, and followed the shoreline, providing an interesting ariel view of the waves rolling onto the beach.

Antennas and huts

On my view of the farm I said you could see the antennas, newly errected, on the radio site. However, antennas are not the posts, but the wires coming out from them and also hanging between them which I hope you can just make out. It's a complicated interlaced pattern depending on where you want the 'footprint', the area to be reached, to cover.

This photo is actually of the older antenna errected in 1994 and broadcasting to central and southern Africa. However, using short wave radio, the signal bounces back down from the ionisphere and can then be picked up almost anywhere in the world. In the early days reports came in about the Radio Christian Voice being picked up as far away as USA/Canada, Scandinavia, India, Russia and the Far East.




This hut is used as a store/kitchen by some of the workmen on the site. I managed to get close up to take this photo, to show the basic construction of these huts. They are also constructed in a circle with handmade bricks for walls as homes out in the bush. Many villages with these simple huts can be seen on the journey to and from Lusaka, and there are also many in the 'compound' areas located around the farm site, where local people, who work on the farm live. In recent years brick and cement housing has been provided, along with washing and toilets blocks, and mains electricity, but the huts continue to be used for cooking and storage, and from my point of view, provide a very 'African' feel to the site.

African sunset

As I am sure regular visitors to this blog already know, for me sunrises and sunsets are my favourite times of the day. There is something so wonderful about a sunrise, which reminds me of God's gift of a new day. Each one is unique and unlike any other, for those who have eyes to see it, just like each new day is a unique opportunity to experience the new life Jesus gives to us.

Sunsets are equally wonderful, but in a more calming way. It is a time to reflect upon the day, the thank God for the blessings of the day and to place our concerns into his hands as we approach the end of the day.

I love to watch the changing colours of sky at sunset; the way trees and hills sillouette against the backdrop of the white firey ball of the sun gradually turning yellow, then orange and finally red.



Sunsets in Africa come very quickly and last night I had amost left it too late to set out on a walk down to the crossroads, from where the sunset view is best seen. Although the path of the sun, in Zambia, doesn't change much throughout the year, being only 15 degrees south of the Equator, I nevertheless notice that sunset is a little earlier now, around 17.45 (5.45pm).

My journey was also delayed by a chat with some boys from the compound. Children in Zambia are on mid-term break, so I asked them how they were spending their holiday. The answer came back "Football"; of course!

May Day in Zambia

I arrived back in Zambia on May 1st, which is a national holiday, like many other parts of the world. As I hadn't seen Andy for three weeks, it was lovely to be able to spend a whole day together.

The Christian Vision farm is situated on a plateau and the land extends almost as far as the Kafue River. The residential area sits high on the plateau and one of the homes has this spectacular view across the farm to the river in the distance. On a clear day the river can be seen as a pale blue line, but I doubt you will be able to make it out in this photo.

What you can see, though, are the new antennas which have recently been erected on the radio site, to broadcast into Northern Africa. This service will come on line later in the year when the Africa service is relaunched.

We decided to go exploring on the farm to see how far we could get along the road down to the bottom of the farm. Andy had been here before many years ago, so couldn't remember exactly which track to take.

However we finally found it and travelled a couple of miles parallel with the boundary, opening and closing make-shift fences, until we reached a gate which we couldn't open. The track appeared to be deeply rutted also, so we decided to stop and turn around.

All along the boundary are very tall straight gum trees, the trunks of which are used for telegraph poles.

This odd looking tree is the trunk of a palm tree, minus any branches.

Earlier in the day we had taken a long walk from the residential site to 'Mount Zion', the highest place on the farm, off the road back towards town. The transmitter tower acts as a repeater for the fm signal to Lusaka.

Andy recalled that when the tower was being installed the area was full of snakes and scorpions. The crazy paving steps leading up to the tower were laid after a way had been made through the thick bush vegetation.

April Wedding

On Saturday 28th April Matt and Esther were married. The wedding took place at St Jude's Church in Wolverhampton, on a gloriously sunny day. The reception was at the Mount Hotel, also in Wolverhampton. It is a Victorian mansion, converted to a hotel and conference centre, which I have been to for training events with my college in Walsall.

Here my sister Sandra and her husband Graham are standing outside the oak-panelled Grand Ballroom, where the sit-down reception was held. Graham, a photographer, took the wedding photos, but also attended the event as friends of the family.