Intoxicating Mango............

Wish we could share mango's with you all.... we have baskets of them!  The intoxicating smell and tantalising taste sensation, doesn't just draw the human's but the monkeys and elephants too, therefore we have to pick them green........wherever you go on this Ranch, even in places people don't dare tread, there are mango trees, the wonderful Gabon Forest Elephant spreads them everywhere.... and I'm so thankful!

Amazing what one finds whilst walking.......

So many things are missed whilst rushing past in a vehicle........
I walk this route daily and due to a shower of rain yesterday, look what I found.
The closest plant nursery is in Libreville, a 12 hour drive away, so guess what I dug up today to fill  empty spaces....... Anyone know what they are?

Granadilla like flower in the wild........

When JB has an opportunity to leave his office and visit one of the many different cattle camps on the ranch, I grab my camera and jump at the chance........  This morning whilst he was busy looking at the new calves, I wondered off to explore.
 Everything is so different to the "Africa I know", plants, trees, birds, animals, even different parasites in the flowing rivers, people and of course, the language.  It's all very "alien" to me......
I came across this creeper on the ground, with a flower so similar (but smaller) to the ordinary granadilla.  They told me they eat the fruit, which is similar to a gooseberry.

I have a common granadilla growing on our fence and its flowering right now, so took a quick snap of the flower just after a shower of rain.....

These awful green grasshoppers are eating my vegetable seedlings as they pop out of the ground....

Whilst walking this morning

I dug these seeds out of an elephant dung lying on the road and threw them in my pocket, not sure what tree they belong to but love their singing faces! 

The ORANGE Cave crocodiles of Gabon.....

The search for the Orange Crocodile of Gabon

This is fascinating, please click on the links to read more.....

How they found the orange croc.....

His perspective not my own.....

God views things through a "wide angle lens". He takes a wide sweeping view, though we tend to be limited and view life through our "macro" lens, up close and at oft times, greatly exaggerated.

All the struggles of this life have to be seen in terms of eternity.... God takes the long view!

Thankyou Lord that in the midst of my ups and downs I can trust your perspective and plan for my life.

...
Had to climb a very rocky outcrop to get this view of the road leading to the work area, Nyanga Ranch.  Its cloudy most of the time so it quite hard to get a "light" pic....

Pointed to the lens at my feet .... rocks everywhere.......

A few iPhone pics of our 12 hour trip from Libreville to Nyanga Ranch...

Lambarene, Gabon.... Where the noble peace prize winner, Albert Schweitzer Hospital is and where he died.... (This will be another story)

Salted Bream for breakfast?

A field of "mushroom anthills" though hard to see.

Bush meat for dinner? Baby croc and small buck on the menu....

Plenty road works adding on an extra 2 hours... Good news for the future though so no complaining allowed!

Good idea stopping and buying a delicious pineapple for breakfast...

When are we getting there???? 

"Home" at last.... Did I really call it home? 

Libreiville Beach front, Gabon.....

I'm so used to the Indian Ocean turquoise seas, but this is still beautiful. It's brown due to all the many and huge rivers running into it. 

We have a lovely Catholic Church built on a hill overlooking a small part of the ranch....

It was beautifully built by a local chap who is still employed by the company.  He did all the carpentry (using beautiful hard woods, which there is plenty of ) and the building.  I have added a lot of pics onto this post as just want to show you a close up of all the art, painted by a local artist that adorns the walls of the church.... The artwork so depicts life in this area......

I love this Cameroonian Zebu Cattle breed, they are a photographers dream...........

On my daily morning walk....

My first leg is to go through the workers villages and whistle for two friendly dogs to join me. With great excitement and tails wagging they gladly follow me... I neèd them to be my ears and eyes, they need to pick up on things I might miss....

In this part  of the world , it could be an elephant, buffalo or even a mamba or Python.

I have named them "viens vite" which is French for "come quick" , but I had better increase my vocabulary fast as maybe these wild animals understand  French too!

The walk is not easy, as there are many hills, high humidity (today was 80%), and plenty stinging flies! My two companions need a lot of encouragement, they are meant to be out in the front protecting me, but it seems the other way round, BUT on the homeward trail, that's a whole different story. They run ahead, furiously wagging their tails, stopping every know and again to look behind and egg me on! 

This reminded me so much of our life walk ..... When times are tough, uncertain and the up hills are wearing us down, our friends and our Faith in God keep us on track, encouraging us to persevere and "hang in there" our turn will come in lagging behind, then at other times life will be a breeze. At times we can even get weary just in "staying strong"... 

Most of us are "out of our comfort zones" these days, so encourage, listen, spur each other on, as we are certainly on the "homeward run!"

GRATITUDE unlocks the fulness of life..........

It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance,
chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home,
a stranger into a friend.......
(Melody Beattie)

" a washroom with a view"

It's Piton (Python) season they told me with great excitement.....

The six month rainy season started today, and when it rains it comes down in sheets! When the rains arrive the pythons start moving too.... And the Gabonese say Python is one of their favourite meats to eat.... Groan 😟

There is a reward on the ranch for any pythons killed, as they often take calves. One of the herders got lucky last month as he killed 6!

My greatest fear, as I walk daily on the ranch, is coming across a python, not because it will kill or harm me, but just seeing the sight will surely give me nightmares! They say I will be able to smell it before I see it, as they smell putrid..... 

This pic is not taken by me and I do not hope to take a pic either....

Our new place......

Yip, this is our new "home" for as long as we work in Gabon. We have beautiful views and plenty solitude, so come and visit..... These are taken with my Nikon, not iPhone...

View from the verandah...

Back door entrance, check my kitty on the step...

Trees out at the back, that are filled with monkeys in the early morning, will still get shots of them, if they allow...

The blessings of a new day......

I'm so out of my comfort zone....

I've got some work going on in the inside, I'm trying to learn contentment in ALL things.... Not easy!

Doing the "nice", "pretty" and "comfortable" things is just SO much easier.....

. But getting into a smelly truck loaded with people and smelly fish, doing shopping in a town that has NOTHING on your list and trying to converse in a language that is totally foreign! I then needed the loo.....mmmm, I'm not going there, your imagination can! Yip we went to our closest town today (official business)....

Now let me find the blessings instead of the grumblings....

The view all the way there was amazing.

I'm learning a new language.

I'm eating strange things! ( nibbled on a rock today,  they sell it near the garlic, it's for woman's health they told  me, it's like eating chalk, must be a form of calcium)

I have eyes to see all these new experiences...

I have ears to hear some really new bird sounds....

I have health and fitness to work in a very remote part of the world...

I have an adventurous husband who isn't afraid of new challenges! Now tell me, would you find that a blessing or a curse?