Thursday, December 24, 2009

Helicopter Flight from Johannesburg to Parys, South Africa


One of our church members here in Kempton Park, Stephen Blewett, is a businessman in Pretoria and invited Megan and I along for a 1-hour helicopter ride. There's a link below to a 2-minute video of the helicopter flight we took from Germanton's Rand Airport to Parys, South Africa, showing the transition from a first-world city with skyscrapers to third-world rural townships. We flew over the brand-new 2010 World Cup soccer stadium still being constructed, the beautiful Vaal River, and even do some airborne goony cattle rustling on the co-pilot's farm in Parys.

Watch the 2-minute video:



Megan and Stephen Blewett as he prepares the helicopter for take-off. Stephen flies 3 times a month to maintain his helicopter pilot’s license.



Aerial view of Johannesburg, South Africa, a modern first-world city with a population of about 6 million people.



The brand-new 2010 World Cup soccer stadium still being constructed in time for next year’s games. In two weeks, this will be a no-fly zone, so aerial images like this won’t be possible any longer.



The famous Soweto smoke stack murals. “Soweto” stands for Southwest Township and was the site of a young boy being shot during an anti-apartheid rally whose image was shown around the world and, in part, helped end the evils of apartheid.



The beautiful Vaal River. The landscape is green and lush from all the heavy rain we’ve had lately. Summer is the rainy season here in South Africa.



Megan really loved the helicopter ride.



Aerial view of a third-world rural township without most of the conveniences of the Western world.

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