Serowe, part 1

Left to right: Ashley, Scott, Derek and myself

Last weekend, Ashley, Scott, Derek and myself took a trip to the town of Serowe (say-ROH-way) to spend a night at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary. We had heard rave reviews from a group who had went the week before and all of us were itching to get off campus, so we made last minute plans and hit the road.

We got up bright and early and took a combi to the bus station in time to catch the 8am bus for Serowe. As the buses are waiting to depart, vendors are free to come on board and push various foodstuffs or fake designer items towards you, and I had skipped breakfast so I bought a chicken pie. I love the smell of spicy chicken in the morning.

The ride took about three and a half hours, but it went by in flash thanks to my penchant for sleeping in moving vehicles. As we rattled into the sleepy bus station in Serowe, the change of pace from the bustling capitol was refreshing.

We had heard about a museum in Serowe dedicated to the presidents of Botswana (all four of them are from this village) and we decided to track it down. After asking for directions a couple of times, a young girl selflessly offered to show us the way – and it wasn’t that short of a walk.

Of course, after we had trekked all the way there it was closed. We found a boy banging away on the drums to a Shakira song out back and another boy said the managers of the museum were gone until Monday. So we headed back to the station.

We were planning on cooking dinner at the campsite, so we bought groceries to make al-foil meals (potatoes, onions, and carrots wrapped in tin foil and thrown in a fire) and bratwurst. Then we stopped by a small kiosk by the bus rank and grabbed lunch before we took the bus that would bring us out to the Rhino Sanctuary.

I fell asleep on this bus, too, and this time it proved to be costly. As the bus made its stop Scott poked me awake and I was able to come to my senses with just enough time to throw my book in my backpack and head out. However, as the bus pulled out of sight I realized I had left my half of the groceries in the overhead compartment. I couldn’t believe it. My one group responsibility and I dropped the ball. We were able to get on the phone with the bus company, but they said no buses ran until the morning, by which time our sausages would be rotted or already eaten by a lucky traveler. So we would make due with half-supplies.

Tiny tent beneath the Mokongwa

From there we moved to our campsite. Each campsite at the sanctuary is centered around a large, stately Mokongwa tree and has plenty of space to set up camp, though our extra-cozy four person tent didn’t need much space at all.

As we set up the tent and explored the area, we heard music coming from a neighboring campsite and so we went to investigate. As we approached we saw a group of four locals dancing to the music and we figured we wouldn’t bother them, but they caught sight of us and invited us over.

Hornbill

They were incredibly friendly and we talked for a while. There were two guys and two girls. One of the guys was a banker, the other a teacher. They knew a lot about the birds that inhabited the sanctuary and told us the story of the mating habits of hornbills. Apparently once a female hornbill is pregnant, she sheds all her feathers into a knot in a tree to make a nest, and then the male seals her into the knot by filling the hole with cow dung. He leaves just a small hole so that he can bring her food while she minds the eggs. The male does this faithfully until the eggs have hatched, at which point the female’s feathers have grown back. Talk about commitment!

Us and the local ladies

Then they showed us how to eat sweet reed, which is a smaller, softer relative of sugar cane. You have to peel back the outer layer with your teeth and then the middle is like a natural lollipop.

To be continued…