Diggapedia

  I came across a study by the Pew Research Religion and Public Life Project that asked 3,217 Americans how they felt about various religions.   The results gave some interesting insights about how people of various religious persuasions feel about others, the relationship of political affiliation to religious feelings, and how ignorance shapes our views.   I was not totally surprised by the results, but many important social conclusions and questions came to mind. A little bit of background.   Respondents were asked how they feel from a scale of 0 (coldest and most negative) to 100 (warmest and most positive) about Jews, Catholics, Evangelical Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Atheists, and Mormons.   It should be noted that due to demographics, almost half of the respondents described themselves as Protestant (White Evangelical, White mainline, and Black Protestant), followed by unaffiliated (Atheist, Agnostic, and nothing in particular), Catho...

Epilogue Part I They say there’s nothing like Safari and once you get that first taste, your appetite grows.  In just six days in the Bush, we experienced sights, sounds, smells and sensations unlike anything previous.  And while we were far from roughing it during our stays at Singita Ebony and Camp Jabulani, once you’re in the Rover on and off the trails, you know intellectually and feel emotionally you are somewhere special. The fascination of watching your ranger and tracker pursue a leopard or cheetah using skill, guile and intuition.  Masters of their craft that you watch in awe as they pursue, double back, and turnabout and voila: there’s the Leopard.  And then you realize they are as excited as much as you even thought they have done it hundreds of times.  But they’re more than tracker and guide, they are Thimba and Coleman.  One lives in the nearby village with his son, mother, aunt & sister while the other’s home is 2 hours away and h...

6/10/14 Transfer day.  A late breakfast and farewells to the staff at Camp Jabulani as we head to the Hoedspruit airport for our one hour flight to Johannesburg, a final opportunity to see zebras, warthogs, impala, wildebeest and sole Cape Buffalo. We arrive in Joburg and are taken to the luxurious Saxon Hotel, and I mean luxurious!  During check in we met a student from Ithaca College over here on a 12-week internship as part of his hospitality and hotel management degree.  A great opportunity. We confused the staff at the main restaurant Xunu, that we only wanted selections from the lunch fare as we have had our share of big dinners.  And like everybody else in this country, they obliged our “unique” request.  In a twist, we went from BIG FIVE sightings in the bush to celebrity sighting as I noticed former Man U star Ryan Giggs at dinner. Upon returning to our suite, we discovered our anniversary celebration was not over as our suite was once ...

6/7/14: Going Out With a Bang Our last full day and night at Singita Ebony.  We went out in style! Another early start with a shot of coffee (and tea) before the dynamic duo of Coleman and Thimga took us out in search of the female leopard we saw on the 5 th .  The neighboring camp had reported seeing her with her two four-month-old cubs heading towards Singita property.  It didn’t take long for Thimba to pick up the fresh trail as he and Coleman abandoned the Rover to us while they set out on foot…armed.  After 2+ hours of starting, stopping and off-roading, the boys picked up the hot trail where mama leopard had killed an Impala (Happy Meal) and dragged her into the brush to feed her cubs.  Cin was able to snap some fantastic shots of the mother and her shy but adorable cubs.  I believe the thrill of the tracking was as exciting, exhilarating and rewarding to Coleman and Thimba. Upon returning to camp for breakfast, ...