Pioneer Express

+ old timey arcade, ice cream parlor & more!

Central Texas Theatre Academy

Where dreams come to play! Wimberly, TX 78676 www.centextheatre.org

Sign up TODAY for CTTA’s 2023 Spring and Summer Camps

June 5-9 Mythology Camp ages 5 – 12

June 12-16 Shakesperience Camp ages 5 – 12

June 19-30 Musical Theatre Camp ages 8 – 16

July 3-28 Shakespeare on the River ages 12 – 18

AND Mark Your Calendars to see our 2023 Productions

All aboard! The Wimberley icon has returned to 7A Ranch as the Pioneer Express stops at the depot to delight guests of all ages. The train runs Saturdays every 30 minutes from 10 am to 5 pm, and Sundays from 9 am to 12:30 pm. Tickets are $6; kids 2 and under ride free. Rides are about 12 minutes in length. Get tickets at the front office in Blanco River Outfitters, where you’ll also find Wimberley apparel, river gear and great shopping! Plus, play games at 7A’s old-fashioned arcade during office business hours (Friday and Saturday from 8 am to 8 pm and Sunday through Thursday from 8 am to 4 pm.) And the old-timey 7A ice cream parlor is open Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from noon to 4 pm and Friday and Saturday from noon to 6 pm. Photo courtesy 7A Ranch

7A Ranch is located at 333 Wayside Drive in Wimberley. For more information, visit the website at 7aranch.co or call 512-847-2517.

WILD LIFE, from Page 6

Austin City Limits. Donavon was doing surf camps with Billabong and Rodney wanted to go along and take some photographs. “I’d never been surfing and I hadn’t been diving in 20 years, but I was ready to go even though I had to pay my own way, it took 48 hours to get there and at 6 am they’re all surfing, so I jumped in the water and started taking photos.” He gave these to Donavon who gave them to his sponsors who bought them. “We became good friends and I still travel with him sometimes,” Rodney says.

“I wanted a more adventurous life, more action” is how he explains the wanderlust that drives him to swim with sharks, killer whales and crocodiles, and to travel to Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia to photograph elephants and lions. Getting those amazing shots sometimes takes a lot of patience, as Rodney recalls watching two lions sleep for three hours before the female stood up and dawn broke amid dramatic cloud formations (“Majestic” photograph)

“When I first went to Africa, I didn’t see a single rhino the whole time we were there. We drove the entire Serengeti, a planned two-week trip turned into five weeks, then 10 days in Kenya, and Ethiopia but still no rhinos.” It was around this time that he got a clearer picture of how terribly threatened these animals are and how protective the rangers have to be to guard the rhino’s location because of the staggering rates of illegal hunting for its horn.

Meeting James Mwenda of Kenya Ol Pejeta Conservancy had a profound effect on Rodney and inspired him to do what he could with his photographs to call attention to this tragedy, as he’d already done as an advocate for protecting the great sharks and other endangered animals. “I’ve been encouraged by reactions from people who tell me how much the photographs and the stories have affected them,” Rodney says. He sees that his work can make a difference. “A big part of this gallery is rhino conservation,” he says.

See WILD LIFE, Page 9

James told those at the WILD LIFE gallery opening about growing up in a small village and how from a young age he’d wanted to protect the animals. He could never have imagined when he was 10 years old that he would someday, in Sudan, be one of the men who would take care of the last male Northern White Rhinoceros. He says although it’s true that man is responsible for driving this extinction, he is also working to revive the species. “We still have a lot of beauty on our planet, no matter what is going on in the world,” James says, “whenever you can do something that is a greater cause than your everyday regular activities, that is a blessing.”

At WILD LIFE, we see the beauty on our planet in the photographs of these amazing creatures that are such an important part of our world. The message from WILD LIFE is this: we all have a part to play as custodians of this planet. It boils down to asking “what can I do?” and then doing something.

FYI • WILD LIFE is located at 13620 Ranch Road 12. Hours are Thursday through Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm and Monday through Wednesday by appointment. WILD LIFE donates 50 percent of profits from sales of “Wimberley the Rhino” merchandise to conservation efforts at Ol Pejeta Conservancy. The shop features many items acquired on Rodney’s travels to complement the themes of the galleries. For example in the Africa room there are baskets from Rwanda and beaded necklaces from Kenya; and miniature guitar replicas and books about musicians Rodney photographed (including Willie Nelson) in the Music Room. To see many of the photographs that are on display at the gallery, and to purchase prints, visit the website at rodneybursielphotography.com.

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