Sunday/Monday. Even before Rita and I booked our August trip to the UK, we had booked a November Road Scholar trip to Botswana. Whenever I get back from a trip I first name all the photos and then write this blog. Next comes choosing the pictures to put in the blog and uploading them and the text to blogspot. So when I get back I am immersed in that trip for a month or two until I get the blog published. That’s where I am now—in Botswana’s 100+ temps with our three other companions, guide and driver in the 4X4 looking for animals, then, back at camp, eating until we are stuffed and having siesta time in the heat of the afternoon. So come on board with us and enjoy the ride! And be prepared for lots of animal pictures.
But before we get in that 4x4 we leave Greenville for Atlanta and then the 14+ hour flight to Johannesburg’s Tambo International Airport which actually wasn’t too bad—I slept some and watched two movies, Nights in Rodanthe and In Bruges. We went a day early so that we could see a bit of Joburg. After passport control we found our driver who took us to the very nice City Hotel Eastgate. It had an outdoorsy feeling just like the ones in Hawaii. I had maybe the best meal of the trip that night—wonderful grilled cauliflower with a bit of salsa, good fries, veggie meatballs, wine and apple crumble.
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Rita walking toward the entrance
to City Hotel Eastgate |
We weren’t meeting the Road Scholar group the next day until about dinner time, so we booked a tour with a local guide to see both some of Joburg and Soweto. Then we got some welcome sleep.
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| Walls and fences everywhere |
Tuesday. When we met our guide at 9:00 it was raining. He was pretty sure it was going to be an all day rain, but we agreed to meet again at 12 to see how things were then. At noon it was still raining, but I didn‘t want to waste the whole day. So we decided to skip Joburg and do Soweto.  |
| Walls and fences everywhere |
On the way our guide told us that Joburg was unsafe for tourists but that Soweto (which is one of the places the native South Africans—as opposed to the Dutch or British who colonized it—were shunted to) was perfectly safe. Sad. As we drove through the streets of Joburg I noted that everything was walled or fenced—businesses and residences. It wasn’t a ringing endorsement for South Africa’s largest city.
As we entered Soweto we picked up an informal guide whom our guide uses. We got the distinct impression that the tips that tourists give him was his only source of income. He told us about the history of Soweto and in particular the Soweto Uprising which is the reason we know the name at all.
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| Highway sign for Soweto through the rain |
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| Decorated nuclear towers |
In 1974 during Apartheid, South Africa put in place the Afrikaans Medium Decree which forced school children to learn in Afrikaans as well as English. They considered the Afrikaans language to be useless and the language of the oppressor (from the Dutch times in SA). So on April 30, 1976 the children of Orlando West Junior School in Soweto went on strike. The rebellion spread, and a mass rally was planned for June 16 when 20,000 students walked from their schools to Orlando Stadium singing and carrying placards. The police began shooting directly at the students, killing 176. One of the victims was Hector Pieterson, 13, who was actually too young to be there but was curious. A photographer Sam Nzima captured the photo that has come to symbolize the Soweto Uprising, that of Mbuyisa Maikhubo carrying the almost lifeless body of Hector to the hospital with Hector’s sister following along. June 16 is now a public holiday in South Africa called Youth Day.
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The photo that defines the Soweto Uprising
Mbuyisa carrying Hector and his sister following along |
We learned also that there are three classes in Soweto, the lower class who live in the shacks we saw as we entered the township, the middle class who live in what are called matchboxes, and the upper class who live in gated enclaves called Beverly Hills. It is very hard to move up.
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| An area of shacks in Soweto |
Our guide gave an interesting analogy for how Sowetans view life there (as opposed to Joburg generally). The open hand has fingers of varying heights, but the closed fist shows equal-height knuckles. The latter is what he said everyone in Soweto is (despite the housing differences apparently). He also mentioned the term water under the bridge (which is depicted at the Hector Pieterson Museum) which symbolizes letting go of the past.
The Apartheid Museum was not open that day, but we did visit Nelson Mandela’s (matchbox) home where he lived with his wife Winnie. There we had a very good student guide. The house itself was quite small. The kitchen was only a stove, the two bedrooms big enough for a bed and chest and the living area large enough to entertain. Water was brought in for washing or showers. In the garden buried under a tree are the umbilical cords of his six children which signifies for them a closeness to one’s ancestors.
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The kitchen--just a stove
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| Mandela's bedroom |
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| The two of us outside Mandela's house |
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| Mandela's matchbox house |
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| Mandela statement on apartheid |
He subsequently worked with F.W. de Klerk, then president of South Africa, to dismantle apartheid and institute universal suffrage for which they jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Mandela was elected president on May 10, 1994, an election overseen by de Klerk who came in second. Mandela died on Dec 5, 2013, having never wavered from his devotion to democracy, equality and learning.
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| Later photo of Mandela |
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| Memorial to Mandela |
One quirky fact is that the other South African to win the Nobel Peace Prize was Desmond Tutu; oddly they lived on the same street. |
| Photograph of Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela |
Back at the hotel, we met our guide and fellow Road Scholars. Onx Manga was our guide. He has been featured in two books about the best safari guides in Africa. And he was great—incredibly knowledgeable, very personable, funny and efficient in the areas where a guide should be efficient.
Our fellow scholars were Mike, Jeanne and Jonye. We spent the next 11 days with them and Onx, so we definitely got to know each other. Mike is a life-long New Yorker and professor of geology at NYU with an interest also in volcanology. Jeanne is a retired meteorologist from Southern Oregon. And Jonye, in that introductory get-together, said only that she was from LA and had lost her husband about a year ago and needed something new. It turns out that she is writing a book and has pursued various interests in her life. They were all well-traveled. We were a very eclectic group, but we got along really well, tolerating our various eccentricities. Onx said that the groups are usually larger so that there have to be two 4x4’s and he has to go from one to the other. I think that is just a bad idea. We learned so much from Onx, and a lot of it was because of our questions and observations. We would have missed half of that. Crazy.
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Jonye from CA, Mike from NY, Onx from Maun, Botswana, Jeanne from OR and Rita
waiting for our plane in Tambo Airport |
Wednesday. After breakfast it was back to Tambo for our flight to Livingstone, Zambia which abuts Botswana in the northeast. I was hoping to see Victoria Falls from the air, but I didn’t—only its river and a lot of clouds.
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View of Zambia from the air--strange
circles and the Zambesi River |
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The closest we came to Victoria Falls--
a poster in the Livingstone Airport |
At the airport we boarded a mini-bus, driving through Livingstone and the Zambia countryside to the border of Zambia and Botswana. The route we took didn’t show well for Zambia; it seemed primitive and almost seedy. But I am always reminded that when we drive on an interstate through a city, it often appears seedy and rundown also. So don’t judge a book by one page. |
Stanley House--they obviously loved the references
to Livingstone and Stanley |
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| On the road to Botswana |
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| Rita and Jeanne viewing a small settlement in Zambia |
At the border we switched to our 4x4 vehicle. But before that we had to step with both feet into a box containing what I don’t know. This was Botswana’s attempt to keep the hoof and mouth disease present in Zambia out of Botswana. We drove through Chobe NP awhile before coming to our lodge.
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Our route from Johannesburg, SA to two locations in Chobe NP,
then Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta and
Makgadikgadi Pan NP in the Kalahari Desert, and on to Maun
and back to Johannesburg |
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| Chobe Game Lodge entrance |
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The so-ugly-they're-cute warthogs
on our lawn |
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| Cape weaver (I think) at our lodge |
After a short orientation we walked down to the Chobe River and boarded a boat for our sundowner ride. On safari a sundowner is that time on the game drive where you stop, get out of the vehicle and have a drink and some snacks. (And this is the only time when you get out of the vehicle. Walks in national parks are strictly prohibited, I think because it is just too dangerous even at the lodge where you have to be accompanied at night.) On a boat ride you just keep going. But it is a lovely tradition. Rita and I had a delicious drink—kahlua and amarula. Amarula is an African liqueur which takes its name from the marula tree (the a on the front means ‘from’). We saw plenty of those trees later in the trip. The ride was so relaxing, and it came with a gorgeous sunset.
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| Great cormorant (I think) on the water's edge |
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| We had great sunsets. This was our first one--on the Chobe River. |
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| A few minutes later |
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| And later still |
Before sundown we saw a good number of animals on the Botswana bank of the river. The other side is Namibia which is odd because Namibia is west of Botswana on the Atlantic coast, but some agreement at some point gave them a strip of land along the Chobe River all the way to the border with Zambia and Zimbabwe where the four countries meet at one point just as NM, AZ, UT and CO do.
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| Here you can see that strip of Namibia on top of Botswana |
There was one particular place that was obviously a favorite spot. We saw impala (which we had already spotted on our way to the lodge), warthog, guinea fowl, giraffe, steenbok, baboon, hippo, bulbul, cormorant, fish eagle, giant kingfisher, cape buffalo, crocodile, kudu, elephant, snowy egret and openbill stork. Not bad for a first outing.
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| Cape buffalo munching on grass |
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| Crocodile on the shore |
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| First group of elephants we saw |
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| Impala and baboons on water's edge |
You may wonder how I know what we saw. I kept a list every day of the animals we encountered on our outings. Believe me, it would have been much harder to identity the pictures without that chronological list, especially for the birds. We were given a booklet with all the animals and trees we might see. There were 2 1/3 pages of mammals, 1 1/4 pages of reptiles, 1 2/3 pages of trees, and 22 1/2 pages of birds!
We went straight to dinner when we got back to the lodge where Onx regaled us with stories—as he did on the whole trip. We eventually learned all about his family (wife and 6 kids), his past jobs and all the people he knew at the places where we stayed.
Dinner was very good and elegantly served. That was the case for the whole trip. We had three meals (with lunch and dinner being three-course meals at the first place) in addition to a coffee break in the morning, snacks and drinks before we left on our afternoon drive or ride, and the sundowner. We were constantly stuffed. I was sure I had gained 10 pounds, but it was only 1.5. Why I have no idea. Maybe it was all the jiggling in the very bumpy rides in the 4x4s.
Thursday. Up at 5:25 for a 6 AM breakfast and 6:30 game drive. That held except on the days when we were transferring lodges. You have to go when the animals are out and about, and that is early morning and late afternoon when it isn’t so hot at which time they are mostly resting. The lions were almost always lying down or sitting. They aren’t lazy, we were told; they are just conserving energy.
This morning we saw impala (this was the animal we saw the most of), elephant, a kudu skull, frankolin, mongoose, warthog, lion, a pan (a dry river bed that fills in the rainy season), monitor lizard, hippo, African jicana, black-winged stilt, helmeted guinea fowl, plover (lapwing), African fish eagle, lourie (also called a go-away bird because that’s what its call sounds like), cape buffalo carcass, kori bustard, jackal, giraffe, ALT (a joke among the locals—if something far off can’t be identified for certain, it’s called an ALT, an animal looking thing), baboon and elephant carcass.
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| Chobe River |
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| Impala on typical scrub land |
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| Female elephant and offspring--the little ones are so cute |
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| Kudu skull |
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| Well-disguised frankolin |
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| Another cute-ugly warthog |
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| Our first lion in an oft-seen pose |
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| A pan--a dry river bed |
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| Monitor lizard |
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| Hippos barely visible |
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| African jicana--pretty coloring |
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| Helmeted guinea fowl with pretty blue head |
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| Black-winged stilt |
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| African fish eagle high in the dead tree |
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Elephant watching us. They don't see us
as individuals, but rather as one big blob. |
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| Cape buffalo carcass |
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| Kori bustard--another good disguise |
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| Jackals--even the name sounds ominous |
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| First giraffe sighting |
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| Marching elephants--they are quite orderly |
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| Baboon on the move |
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| Onx preparing sundowner refreshments |
Some random facts we learned: Africa's Big 5 which one hears about are the cape buffalo, lion, leopard, African elephant and rhinoceros, so called because early big game hunters considered them to be the most difficult and dangerous to hunt on foot in Africa. Onx told us, though, that the hippo kills more humans than any of the Big 5.
Horns are permanent; antlers are shed every year. If a male kudu loses a horn, no female wants to breed with him. So he is essentially finished. Poachers, often from neighboring countries, get $500 for a tusk or horn from a middleman who then sells it to a buyer in China for $100,000 who then makes $1,000,000 selling the powder.
I had previously had a disdain for vultures. They fly over a carcass while the lions and then hyenas have their fill and then swoop down and have the rest of it. They are thus signalers of a kill which the poachers don’t like since they are doing something illegal. So they will poison the meat of the carcass so that the vultures will eat it and die. Vultures are thus becoming scarcer in Botswana. They are one of the three great scavengers along with the hyena and the crocodile. They eat rotting meat, thus keeping the savannah and river banks clean of dead animals. I gained a new respect for these ugly birds.
After lunch and our siesta, we had a lecture form Onx on elephants (Road Scholar being a company that takes seriously the word Scholar in the name). There are 131,000 elephants in Botswana now whereas in 1978 there were only 30,000. With a 22-month gestation period and 2 1/2 years of nursing, there is not enough time for 30,000 to turn into 131,000. Animal specialists investigated this mystery, using plant clues including palm trees. A species of palm from Angola started turning up in Botswana where previously it had not been; the researchers concluded that the extra elephants had come from Angola during the wars of the 1970-80’s. Elephants only digest about 40% of what they eat; the rest comes out in the dung which is pulled apart and spread by other animals who are looking for insects and whatever else is edible. So some palm seeds from the dung got buried and turned into palm trees. Interesting study.
But now there are too many elephants in Botswana because there is not enough grass that they like or acacia trees. They die in great numbers in the dry season. November should be the rainy season. We were there from the 5th through the 19th, and we had one smallish rain. We saw lots of carcasses, not all of which were hunted down. In some cases the animals just lie down and die because of the lack of food.
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Elephant carcass that had been there awhile
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To continue the story of the elephants, the government officials go back and forth about what to do about getting some of the elephants to go back to Angola or just to reduce their number in Botswana. One solution is to allow a certain number of trophy hunters to kill an elephant. One downside of that solution is that the strongest would be killed (the poachers want a good amount of ivory), leaving the weakest with the smaller tusks. Another solution is to recreate their migration route. A path would be created with dung and other clues. This solution, however, does not please the farmers (and the majority of people in Botswana are engaged in farming). They would have to give up some of their precious land along the migration route. The elephants are terrible about tearing down fences and trampling on and eating the crops, so a possibility is to put a wire or rope around the fields infused with chili peppers which they don’t like. The issue is a very controversial one which has not yet been settled.
That afternoon on our drive, we got that rain. We even put on ponchos (since our vehicles are open on the sides). The impala females were all pregnant. They hold off birthing their young until the rainy season so that there will be enough food for them to eat to produce the milk for the babies. We were all excited that the rains might be starting and we would see some babies. In fact, the rains didn’t come, and we saw only one baby.
On our drive, in addition to impala, we saw striped mongoose, kudu, baboon, elephant bones all spread out, Burchell’s zebra (these are white, black and brown whereas the zebra of Kenya are just black and white), water monitor lizard, lion, and vervet monkey.
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| Striped mongoose |
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Kudu with their characteristic hump
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| Baboon baby getting a ride |
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| Scattered elephant bones |
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| Lots of dung in a barren landscape |
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| Burchell's zebra baby nursing |
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Lions hanging around our rest area
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| Vervet monkey and baby underneath |
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Notice the baby's tail crossing the mom's tail--
that helps them hang on
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| Another pretty sunset |
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| Rita and the end of the sunset |
Friday. This day was characterized by death. We saw two dead cape buffalo, probably mother and child. The lions were gone and presumably the hyena (strangely we never saw hyena), and the vultures had arrived. We saw a good number of vultures which made Onx happy. Earlier we had seen a two-year old elephant down and 4 lions keeping watch.
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| Dead baby elephant and lion waiting for other pride members |
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| Dead cape buffalo with the vultures taking their turn |
Other animals we saw that morning were: grey lourie, Egyptian goose, lilac-breasted roller, black-backed jackal, white-backed vulture, leopard high in a tree and pretty far away with a kill because a lion was at the bottom of the tree and he couldn’t come down (didn’t really count in my estimation since it was so hard to make out. Jeanne with her good camera got some good pictures. I was constantly gobsmacked at how our drivers and Onx could spot these animals from so far away and often so well hidden. Camouflage is a real thing there.), dead giraffe, carmine bee eater, monkeys eating monkey apples (the only fruit then available until the rains came), chameleon, tawny eagle, white-backed vultures, maribou stork (another scavenger), Jacobin cuckoo, and an impala herd with no babies.
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Grey lourie (or go-away bird because
that's what its call sounds like) |
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We watched these elephants eating this dried, tough
plant. He uses feet and trunk to tear it from the earth
and then rests it on his trunk. |
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Then he bring the trunk up to his mouth
and pushes the twig in.
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| Leopard high in the tree waiting out the lion below |
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| White-backed vultures hovering |
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| I could see a bunch of ALT's in this tree |
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| Monkey eating a monkey-apple, the only fruit available in the dry season |
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| Pretty chameleon crossing the path |
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| The chameleon on Onx' hat |
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| Tawny eagle on branch |
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| Lots of vultures gathering |
After our lunch of pizza to order, pasta and salads, a native troupe sang and danced for our pleasure.
After the siesta, we took another boat ride on the Chobe, going farther down the river this time. Another kahlua and amarula and animals: baby croc, hippos, impala, kingfisher, hamerkop, darter, cormorant, egret, grey heron, giraffe, lapwing and elephants on the shore with a lion above them just keeping watch.
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| A baby crocodile on the bank |
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| Hippo--yes, only one |
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| Lapwing |
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Giraffe drinking--they have to spread their
front legs which makes them very vulnerable |
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Beautiful sky
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| And a few minutes later |
It was extremely hot and we had to wait in a hot waiting room because the president of Botswana was leaving on his presidential plane. Officials were lined up ahead of time awaiting his coming.
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| Officials escorting the president to his plane |
The plane we got on was tiny with a very tiny hold. We were given strict instructions about the size of bag we could bring (particularly the height) and the total weight of that bag and our carry-on bag. We even had to give our own weight. Onx who is 6’6” got on last and was told to move to another seat to balance the weight.
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| Our tiny plane |
We were flying below the clouds, so we could see their shadows on the ground. After the 45-minute ride, we landed at what was called Savute International.
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| Hilarious handmade sign for our "airport" |
We transferred to another 4x4 for our 25 minute ride to Belmond Savute Elephant Lodge. This place (and the other two where we later stayed) was nothing like Chobe Game Lodge. That was like a fancy resort hotel whereas the other three were more basic though nice and felt more authentic. For these three we stayed in tents though while inside it didn’t feel like a tent. They were really well-equipped and nicely decorated.
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Our singing welcome to Savute.
The Botswanas love to sing; it does
raise ones spirits. |
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| Our tent at Savute |
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| The wonderful interior of our tent |
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| The view from our porch! |
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| Cape buffalo seen from our porch |
After settling in and having our siesta break, we gathered for another afternoon game drive. This time we saw elephant, cape buffalo, yellow-billed kite, a dead kudu, first one lion and then a second and then the rest of the pride all under trees because it was very hot. Three of the young ones were nursing, all on one mother.
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| Yellow-billed kites in a dead tree |
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| A kudu skeleton--we saw a lot of death |
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| A lion watching us |
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| Then he pays more attention |
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| Cubs (older ones) nursing. We saw adorable young ones later. |
We also saw steenbok, impala, sand grouse, an elephant skull, savannah hare, red-billed hornbill, yellow-billed hornbill, a baobab tree (which is not actually a tree but rather a succulent—we sucked on a seed and the powdered seed had been in our very nice welcome drink), red-crested bustard, dead acacia tree, and greater kudu (called the African grey ghost because they blend in so well).
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Steenbok with their spread ears.
We soon learned distinguishing features of antelopes
and birds which otherwise seem alike. |
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| Our driver Goms with an elephant skull |
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| Striking red-billed hornbill |
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| A pretty well-disguised yellow-billed hornbill |
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| A large baobab "tree"--really a succulent |
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| A sand grouse--another one that is disguised well |
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| A dead acacia tree against the sunset |
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Kudu, also called the Gray Ghost.
I know I keep mentioning disguise, but my
pictures really emphasize the point. Sometimes
it was a bit hard to find the animal in the photo. |
Another sundowner where our driver had to fix a flat tire and Rita engaged in a kudu dung spitting contest with Onx which her family got a kick out of it when she sent them the video I shot. Back to the lodge for dinner and to our tent where we were encased in a mosquito net for the night as we were in the other two lodges later.
Rita participating in the Kudu Dung Spitting Contest
with Onx. No one else volunteered.
(Click to see the video--not a great one unfortunately.)
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We had a flat tire but Goms had what he
needed to fix it |
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| Another beautiful sunset |
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Our napkin birds at dinner. They treated
us like kings and queens. |
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| The night view from our porch |
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The mosquito netting around our beds.
It actually felt very cozy. |
Sunday. This morning we were intent on finding a leopard because one had been spotted. The drivers all communicate with one another about what they are seeing. How they tell the others where they are I have no idea because to me it was hard to distinguish one spot from another. It’s not as if they have street signs—though at Chobe they actually did have markers some places where two paths crossed.
We looked for a long time for the leopard, sometimes staying on the paths but other times just plowing right through the bushes which we knocked over but which stood back up again after we passed. Most interesting ride. Not finding the leopard in that terrain, we headed for open savannah to water holes. Along the way we saw: maribou stork, African marshall, steenbok, kudu, wildebeest, elephant, warthog, dead cape buffalo with maribou all around, blacksmith lapwings, an elephant with what Onx said was an unusual and impressive set of quite long tusks, Marsh pride lions (there were two prides in Chobe but I didn’t record the name of the first one we saw—maybe Northern pride), and cicadas singing loudly. But no leopard.
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| Steenbok eating |
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Bushes like those we plowed through searching for the leopard.
I couldn't take pictures at the time because I was ducking the branches. |
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Wildebeest also watching us. In general, the
animals weren't afraid of us, just watchful.
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| Bush with thorns which the elephants nevertheless eat |
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Onx told us that this elephant was unusual in
that he had two long intact tusks.
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Dead cape buffalo with marabou storks waiting.
They also are predators. |
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Blacksmith lapwings at the water hole
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A March pride lion. The guides can tell one from
another by where they are since lions are territorial. |
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Our incredibly rutted path. I asked if it sometimes
got so rutted that the vehicle couldn't get through.
The answer was yes. They would then veer off to
make a new path to go around the low spot. |
After siesta we had another lecture, this time on the Bush people. Forty percent of Botswana is dedicated to wildlife. In the 1990’s it was decreed that there would no hunting in wildlife areas—other than the trophy hunting that I mentioned earlier where the hunters get ivory and the villagers get meat. The new president extended that edict to no more living in wildlife areas. The Kalahari bushmen (The Kalahari Desert covers the entire southern part of Botswana.) were forcibly relocated to a place where they were given homes, schools, medicines, etc. But they didn’t like their new location and instead wanted to preserve their traditions. They sued the government in a case that has lasted for 10 years. Meanwhile some of them are living illegally in a national park, and the government is not kicking them out. With this new decree, the country was divided into farm land and wildlife areas. The farm land is fenced and thus prevents migration for some animals. There is as yet no solution to the hunting vs. protected wildlife issue in Botswana.
Our afternoon game drive wasn’t spectacular except that I tried gin and tonic at the sundowner, a drink that I had never had but was pleased to find really hit the spot in that oven-like environment. We saw: giraffe, kudu, impala, dove, lilac-breasted roller, roan antelope, sable antelope, a baby baobob tree, dwarf mongoose, tawny eagle, and a friendly yellow-billed hornbill. And Onx entertained us with a cicada song.
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| Clouds casting a shadow on the ground |
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Another view from the air. We saw
lots more water in the Okavango. |
The camp had no AC, only fans. We had been without internet for two days at the previous camp, so we finally got it here. After we arrived at our tent, we witnessed a growling match between baboon and either a wild dog or a hyena—I wasn’t sure which and didn’t get a picture. If it was a hyena, it was the only one we saw.
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| The dining area at Camp Xakanaxa |
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On the Khwai River with the sage
on both sides |
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| Close-up of the sage |
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| There were lily pads in several places |
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| Another view of the lily pads |
Along the way we saw: frog on the river sage, elephant eating river grass, jacana, goliath heron, lesser jacana (a rarity, we were told), squacco heron, jacana with blue helmet, and African openbill.
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| Oscar the hippo |
Tuesday. Happy 75th birthday, King Charles. Our game drive in the morning started off cool but soon got hot. No leopard here either, but we saw cape buffalo, Egyptian ibis, damaged marula trees (uniquely they can heal themselves as most other trees cannot), dead and live termite mounds, a hippo trail, impala, woodland kingfisher, male elephants, saddle-billed stork, swans, blue-eared starling, impala, hooded and white-headed vulture at a kill, marabou stork waiting to eat, side-striped jackal, wild dogs, ant lion hills, waterbuck, lion and Burchell's zebra.
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Cape buffalo taking it easy
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| Marula tree ravaged by elephants |
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| Close-up of the marula tree |
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A hippo trail--they come out of the
water at night to feed |
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| Woodland kingfishers |
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| Elephant with two broken tusks |
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| Saddle-billed stork--I love their elegant long legs |
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| Blue-eared starling in the grass |
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| Marabou stork watching |
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| Side-striped jackal |
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| Pack of wild dogs |
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Ant lion hills. The ant lion larvae dig the
pits to trap passing ants |
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| Waterbuck munching |
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| Male lion under a tree, a typical pose |
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Burchell's zebra eating. We frequently
capture animals eating because that
is what they do frequently |
For lunch the staff surprised us with a feast under a large tree along the river complete with white table cloths. As we were approaching I smelled food cooking and mentioned it to the others only to see it just moments later as we pulled up to the opening. |
| Our picnic along the river |
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Warthogs in camp--obviously they don't
fear humans--we are not in a 4x4 at that point |
On the afternoon drive we saw: female waterbuck, crocodile, wattled crane, lala palm trees whose leaves are used for making baskets, impala, lots of trees down in one place (either elephants or too much water on the roots), hippo (their ivory is just like elephant ivory but for some reason is not as desired), lions with cubs, a sausage tree, and an endangered ground hornbill. We stayed a long time with the lions because the cubs were just so precious. (I’m a sucker for babies of any type, human or animal.)
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| Female waterbuck |
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| Wattled cranes |
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| Lala palm fronds which are used to make baskets |
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Lots of dead trees from elephants
or too much water on the roots |
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| Herd of impala |
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Onx holding a hippo jaw
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| Female lion with two nursing cubs |
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| The cubs peek up |
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Cubs have finished eating
and are watching us
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A sausage tree so-called
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Endangered ground hornbill. Are you starting to see
why I was so amazed that Onx and our drivers could
immediately name every animal and, in particular, bird?
There are just so many different kinds. |
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And another pretty sunset.
I never got tired of seeing them. |
Before dinner we sat around a fire—so relaxing—after a day of just riding, mind you.
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| Wine by the fire before dinner |
Wednesday. On the morning drive we were again looking for a leopard with no luck. But we did see: about 100 cape buffalo, impala but still no babies, a closeup of a marula tree absolutely devastated by elephants, reedbuck, woodland kingfisher, leopard tracks (there is hope!), termite mounds, swamp with drowned trees, lechwe, Egyptian goose near a nest he stole from another bird, hoopoe, blue-eared starling, elephant kicking sand to cool off, impala butt, baboons, wildebeest, lions and cubs, male lion watching us during our coffee break, saddle-billed stork babies, Burchell’s starling, impala jumping a pool in fear of crocs, zebra, black-faced vervet, blue-balled monkeys, bush and scrub hare, and fireball lily.
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| Live termite mound |
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| Dead termite mound |
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| Onx holding a chunk of the dead mound |
On our afternoon drive we achieved our goal—finding a leopard! It was incredibly exhilarating for all of us. We first found the kill (a young zebra) and soon saw the female leopard and then her cub approaching. The mother had killed the zebra earlier and gotten its guts out. Now she had brought her cub (who would have been in the hiding place the mother provided up to this point) so that he could have some bites. He approached guardedly and took a few nibbles. Then the mother dragged the zebra off. She had to get it and her cub into the top of a nearby tree that wasn’t too straight (too hard to climb) pretty quickly as night was approaching and she needed to make sure the hyenas didn’t get the carcass or a lion them. We stayed at the scene for a long time. Eventually there were about 10 vehicles gathered, but we were first and had the best seat for the show. We also saw: bushbuck, scrub hare, and waterbuck suckling. Everything else would have been anticlimax.
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| Bush buck and scrub hare (notice the ears) confronting one another |
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| Gutted dead zebra |
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| Leopard waiting for her cub to catch up |
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| Leopard cub approaching the kill |
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| Giving a sniff |
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| Taking a few bites |
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| Mama watching for lions |
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| Cub retreating |
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| Other 4x4's gathering |
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| Mama on the go |
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| She grabs the zebra |
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And pulls it along. She has to get it, herself
and her cub into a tree before dark. |
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Onx and Harry preparing our sundowner.
This one was a real celebration. |
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| Another outstanding sunset |
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| Oscar the hippo in camp again |
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| Wooden camp mascot--of course, Oscar |
Thursday. This was another moving day. We had time before leaving for the airstrip, so we had a lecture on Botswana history. (Note: The old name for Botswana was Bechuanaland for those old enough to have learned that in geography class.) The land was never colonized by any Europeans because it was landlocked and offered nothing but rich soil. The people of the area feared that they would be taken over by surrounding countries, so the chief asked Queen Victoria to protect them. Amusingly, at an audience with her in 1885, he called her “the old lady,” which to him was a term of respect but she didn’t take it that way. A later prince, son of the chief, had studied in Britain in the early 1940’s and married a white girl Ruth which was not taken well when he returned to his homeland. In 1950 he renounced his succession and left the country but then came back in 1960 and started a political party to gain their freedom. On Sept 30, 1966, they achieved that goal. His party, the Democracy Party, has ruled since then; it is particularly strong in the south. People in the north, primarily farmers, mostly belong to The Opposition. As I mentioned, the policies on hunting and tourism are a constant issue.
Our next lodge was Leero La Tau in the Makgadikgadi Pan National Park in the Kalahari Desert. On the way there we saw: cows, goats roaming freely and an interesting onion plant shooting up even without the rains. In the desert only scrub grows. The only trees of any height are the acacia, beloved of elephants. Obviously we were in quite a different place with domestic animals around.
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| First domestic animal we have seen |
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Small palms and wild onions
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Onx pulled up a wild onion.
Looks like our onions only bigger,
and the animals eat them. |
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Interior of our third tent in Leroo La Tau
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Bathroom in our tent
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At lunch we were informed that there was no electricity because their generator and back-up generator had both failed. They weren’t sure if they would be able to get it fixed. These places are really remote, for remember no one is allowed to live in these protected places; the few camps that are allowed to support tourism are limited to 12 double rooms. And this was in 100+ temps, mind you. Hmm. During the siesta we sat on our porch; the room was just too insufferable.
On our drive we went back and forth between national park and community land (set aside for farming and where people can live on their measly farmsteads or in small villages). We saw: bushbuck, spur-winged goose, Nile crocodile, grey lourie, hippo, bull elephants, a small croc, elephants and croc very near one another, kudu, zebra, and elephant dung spread out (by other animals looking for nutrients). Dinner was eaten by solar light. There were bugs crawling all over the table at dinner (which I hadn’t been bothered by up to this point). The room was hot. Not great.
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| Spur-winged geese |
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| A whole lot of hippos |
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| Rising out of the water a little |
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Opening up for a huge roar. You got the
impression that they were one-upping each other. |
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| Grey louries |
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| Nile crocodile quite close to the hippos |
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| Kudu near the pond also |
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Elephant dung picked apart by other
animals looking for nutrients |
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| Hippo out of the water--Rita's favorite animal |
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| Another gorgeous sunset |
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| Another view of the sunset |
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| A few of the cows and the farmer's sister-in-law |
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| Rita milking the cow--and actually getting milk |
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The cows were branded because they
graze on common land |
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| The goats in their pen |
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Grinding the maize
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| Separating the corn from the chaff |
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| The baskets made by the ladies |
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| The huts in which the farm people live |
We also learned that if a cow is killed by a lion on community land, the farmer will be compensated by the government though not for as much as the price of the cow. If a cow is killed on state land, shame on the farmer and too bad. We had earlier heard from Onx that in the farming communities of Botswana, dowries for a bride are paid in cows, that being a precious commodity. Bargaining goes on between the groom and the bride’s uncle who is in charge of the wedding. Onx had to pay 12 cows for his wife which he said was a LOT. But he clearly was crazy about his wife.
We next visited a village of about 3000 and met the chief. He was the second son of the previous chief but was deemed more suitable than his older brother. Interesting. He was well dressed and articulate and proud. His primary job as chief was to give out traditional punishments for infractions though there are also police now. In fact, he had previously been a policeman for 17 years. There is little work for townspeople (as opposed to farmers), so they live on the dole. The current chief is trying to come up with jobs that people can do to earn their keep. But it didn’t seem to be a big concern. Strange way to live when the farmers, on the other hand, work really hard.
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| Building in center of village |
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| Mike, Betty, Jonye, Jeanne and Rita meeting with the village chief |
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| Women carrying jugs on their heads |
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Rita observing the village gathering--which is what I
suppose you do if you don't have work |
Our next stop was at a school where, unfortunately, the children were not in attendance that day. We had brought school supplies and had hoped to give them out. Instead we had to give them to the teacher who showed us around. We were given a list of items that were in need and selected from that. After seeing the incredibly sorry state of the school buildings and the meager supplies, I felt bad about the few things we had brought. There just seemed to be incredible need.
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| One of the classrooms at the school |
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Jonye in the spare classroom--look at the state
of the desk in front of hers |
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| KT, our teacher guide, Mike and Onx in the classroom |
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| Rita in another classroom |
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| A view of the village |
We learned that kids start at 5 or 6 years of age in reception where they learn some basics. Grades 1-7 are primary, 8 and 9 are middle school, and 11 and 12 are high school. The middle and high school years are spent in a boarding school elsewhere, and most don’t do that. She said that most kids who go away for school don't come back. She actually used the terms primary, middle and high school which surprised me; I would have thought that they would use the English terms rather than American. Lessons are taught in English which is one of the two official languages of Botswana, the other being Tswana. English is used for official business and most written communication. Tswana (or Setswana) is the national language which is spoken by most of the people.
On our drive that morning we saw more of the wild onions which look so cute in the otherwise mostly brown landscape and a palm tree whose leaves are used for baskets. When we got back for lunch we were told that there now also was no water in our tents (for toilet or shower) because their reserve was gone. We sat outside during siesta again and this time played a couple of games of Yahtzee.
After siesta Onx told us that he was given the choice of our moving to another place or staying put. We decided to stay put and went on our afternoon drive—back through the village and into the National Park the official way (attendance is strictly taken in the restricted areas; the driver signs in so many people and then signs out those people when they leave). We saw: hippos eating grass that had been provided by the government—a controversial issue since the farmers do not get grass for their animals during the dry season, a leopard tortoise shell and then a leopard tortoise, lots and lots of zebra, white-backed vulture, and blue-balled monkey.
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Hippos eating grass provided by the government, a source
of contention with farmers who don't get grass for their animals |
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The entrance to Makgadigadi National Park
(another word I liked the sound of) |
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| Onx showing us a dead leopard tortoise shell |
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| A whole lot of Burchell's zebra |
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| White-backed vultures |
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Vervet monkey
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| And a live leopard tortoise |
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| The zebra heading down the hill toward the water |
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| And getting a drink |
The staff surprised us with a fancy sundowner on the top of a hill with a great sun view. (They probably went out of their way for us because of the lack of electricity!) We had dinner outside during which the lights came on! This was our last night, so we each gave our highlights of the trip. Mine were the great small group that we were, the leopard spotting, and all the babies we saw.
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| Our last (fancy) sundowner |
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A glass of kahlua and amarula with a layer
of vodka bubbles on top framed by the sunset |
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| Last sunset--I looked forward to them every day |
Saturday/Sunday. Up early to pack our bags. Breakfast was at 9:00, and we left at 11:20 for the airstrip for our last tiny plane ride which took us to Maun Airport. Maun is the largest city in northern Botswana. As we flew over, it looked like any suburb in the US, so different from everything else we had seen.
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Maun from the air
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At Maun we met Onx’s wife but, since our plane was late, we didn’t have time to have lunch with them. The flight to Joburg was quick. We left Jeanne, Mike and Jonye after immigration. Tambo is big, so I was worn out when I got to the gate (the heat really did not help me on this trip) and didn’t even get a souvenir from South Africa for which I kicked myself afterward.
On board, I watched the first two episodes of 1923 which I am eager to continue. We flew to Cape Town but stayed on the plane for two hours while the cleaners came in and worked around us and the crew changed (it had come from Atlanta but for some reason isn’t cleaned at Tambo). That was very strange. On the long flight I slept some, had a very late dinner and watched two episodes of Succession which I also want to continue.
We arrived in Atlanta an hour early, got through customs early with our global entry passes, and were lucky enough to get an earlier flight to Greenville. Even though it was Sunday morning Martha had just enough time to get to the airport to pick us up. Back home I was pooped but stayed up, unpacking and getting some business done. Martha had us over for dinner at 5 which was really nice. I went to bed late but still woke up at 2 AM (9 AM in Botswana). I had a really hard time with jet lag on this trip; I woke up at 2 a couple of nights, then 4 for several nights, and finally 6.
It was a really good trip. For the animals. For the camaraderie of our group. For our great guide Onx. For the ease of not having to plan it all (even though I like planning). Rita said it was the best trip she had ever taken. With more to come.
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| My purchases |
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