Hi, I am a Grey Parrot and I live in the Monte Casino Bird Park in Johannesburg.
My name is Jaco.
On Wednesdays I fly to Cape Town to visit my cousins.
I love to fly and I enjoy the magnificent nature of South Africa and I talk to all my animal friends during my trip. Zebras, Flamingos, Penguins, Elephants, Giraffes and not least the king of the animals King Lion III. Last Wednesday I saw people were building new stadiums. The FIFA World Cup is taking place in South Africa in 2010. The world is coming home to Africa, the cradle of humankind, the site where the story of our species started. It is - in essence - the home of all humanity.

The first animal I spotted from up there was Zebastian the Zebra.
He proudly presents the flag of The Republic of South Africa. You can see Zebastian
in the upper left corner with the flag. He knows about what the colors of The Republic of South Africa's flag symbolize:
Red symbolizes the freedom struggle,
Black and White symbolize the different people of South Africa,
Yellow symbolizes the mineral wealth, and Green and Blue symbolize the fertile land, the magnificent nature.
Zebastian brings two zebra friends. They are eager to attend the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The Rainbow Flamingo has an interesting story to tell. The male Rainbow Flamingo told us:
Desmond Tutu, you know the former archbishop, who always smiles, named South Africa’s
people the Rainbow Nation. That was because of the wonderfully diverse, colourful, and utterly unique society. And did you know, the male Rainbow Flamingo asked, that the national motto of South Africa is "Unity In Diversity".

Zebras and Flamingos are very common in South Africa.
You might however not have expected Penguins in South Africa. There are Penguins in
Australia, South America, and South Africa - not merely at the South Pole.
The Penguin P shows us Africa, and he points out where South Africa is situated.

As I flew over the savannah I spotted Tall-Charlie, he is a giraffe. Tall-Charlie’s favourite food is the acacia tree and its leaves. He easily can manage to eat leaves 18 feet above the earth.
Normally giraffes have brown spots. Tall-Charlie however has red spots.
On New Years Eve a few years ago, a hunter had a pot of red paint - and he wanted to make some fun. One, Two, and three – soon he had painted Tall-Charlie’s spots red.
Tall-Charlie was amused - the red spots were easily removed - he believed.
But it showed - he could not remove the red paint.
And a few months later Tal-Charlie had a son.
His name was Not-So-Tall-Charlie and he had red spots, too…
If you see a Giraffe in a Zoo, at a Circus or at the Savannah with red spots, you know for sure,
it is Tall-Charlie or a descendant of Tall-Charlie.
As I flew back from Cape Town I flew along the eastern cost line of South Africa.
I really enjoied the spectacular Wilderness National Park between Cape Town and Port Elisabeth.

I saw 4 baby-elephants dancing around the famous Baobab Tree. This famous tree is also called  boab, boaboa, bottle tree, upside-down tree, and monkey bread tree.
Some baobabs are reputed to be many thousands of years old, which is however difficult to verify as the wood does not produce annual growth rings as trees do normally.

As I came back to Monte Casino Bird Park in Johannesburg I met Bernhard.
The whimsical monkey.
He knows about the FIFA World Cup tournament stadiums.
He has made his own map of the FIFA World Cup stadiums in South Africa.
The stadiums are in Cape Town, Durban, two in Johannesburg, Mangaung/Bloemfontein,
Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Rustenburg, and Tshwane/Pretoria.

King Lion III, the king of the animals, has got the ultimate job.
He has been asked by FIFA to present the trophy to the winner of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
I look forward to shake hands with the Brazilians, King Lion III said with a cunning lion-smile.