spring break, part 2

The next morning we loaded up the trucks for our excursion into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. We kept asking the drivers how long the drive would be, and we couldn’t get a straight answer. Our driver said nine hours but then all the other guides laughed, and then another said two hours and there was more laughter. So we decided it best to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

With a stop for lunch, the trek ended up taking about seven hours. Geographically it might not have been that far, but half of the trip was over dirt roads pocked with unexpected ruts and bumps, keeping our speed in check.

We finally arrived at our “campsite” – there are no designated camping areas; our guides just picked a spot with some open space and decent tree cover. We set up camp while the guides rustled up another too-good-to-be-camping type of meal over an open fire.

Gemsbok

That night we got a briefing on a few safety things: wear long pants and closed-toed shoes on account of the scorpions and snakes, don’t make the walk to the pit-latrine at night, and so on. Little did we know just how pressing those words would become.

The next morning we went on a game drive at the crack of dawn. Just as in the Okavango Delta, the experience in the Kalahari was completely different from other game drives on which we had been. The reserve is hundreds of kilometers across, and so it was basically open wilderness. We saw herd after herd of springbok and gemsbok, as well as wildebeest and suricats.

That afternoon we heard lions roaring in the distance, and so on our evening game drive that night, our guides went in search of the pride. And we had success. Just as the sun was beginning to set we came upon one male, two females and two lion cubs. They were relaxing in the shade before their nighttime activity.

Suricat family

We headed back to camp before the sun was down and apparently the lions followed us back. That night the pride of lions came into our campsite! One of the cubs dragged away one of our tarps as a new toy, and a student stepped out of her tent to use the bathroom, scanned the bushes with her flashlight, and saw the reflection of two lion eyes not twenty feet away. We could hear their calls, too. One would call from one side of the camp, and then one would respond from the other so we knew we were encircled.

It was nerve-racking, but our guides handled it like veterans. They never showed a hint of fear, and reassured us that the lions weren’t interested in hurting us. We were told to remain in our tents for the rest of the night, though, which was advice obligingly followed. In the morning the guides used the trucks to subtly usher the lions away from camp.

The next day on the evening game drive we tracked down the lions once more, and got an even closer view of the pride. The cubs were adorable – pawing at each other and rolling around as the mom watched their antics from beneath a tree. The father stayed covertly behind some bushes, but every once in a while would raise his head to yawn or survey his surroundings, and he was majestic, indeed. With a full mane and a filled-out, muscular frame, he was a dominating presence. We heard the lions again that night, but they weren’t inside of our camp, so everyone slept a bit easier.

Me and the lion

The trip was very relaxing. Everyday consisted of a morning game drive, followed by a schmorgasboard of delicious lunch options, then a four hour break to socialize, read, nap, play cards and just beat the heat in general. Then came a shorter evening game drive where we tried to work up our appetites for the dinners of consistently delectable and monstrous helpings of food.

Lion cub

After four days of that, I was accustomed to the laidback lifestyle, and definitely wasn’t ready to get back to the grind of school and everything that came with it, but we had to go back eventually. The drive back to Audi Camp was much quicker on the way back (or maybe it was all in my head) and one thing I didn’t mind about getting back was taking a proper shower.

We spent one last night at Audi Camp and headed back to Gabz in the morning.

 

One more three-course meal at Audi Camp for dinner…

spring break, part 1

It’s 5:00 on a Saturday morning. The sun has yet to peek its head above the horizon. The streets are still teeming with exuberant kids whose celebrations from the night before have yet to cease. You pile into a minibus heading for the airport with friends whose eyelids are still heavy from an abbreviated slumber. It’s the beginning of a weeklong adventure into the wild.

This is the story of my mid-semester break trip to northern Botswana.

Sunrise painting the grassland gold as we search
for elephants and giraffes

The flight went quickly and we landed in gorgeous Maun, Botswana, with a view of the famous Okavango Delta off in the distance as we walked across the tarmac. The airport was tiny, as expected, and so I was taken aback when the sign read Maun International Airport, because I was used to only major cities having international service. But when your nearest neighbor is only a one or two or flight away, I suppose being dubbed ‘international’ is no big deal.

Eating like a king at Audi Camp. Gourmet pasta and
chocolate mousse. I never could keep my eyes open
for pictures...

When we walked into the airport a man was standing with a sign with our program’s name on it. I’ve always wanted to have a guy waiting for me like that. We loaded into two big trucks and headed to Audi Camp, which was a fancy campground where we spent the night. They served us a fabulous three course meal that night (see picture of chocolate mouse).

In the morning we headed out for our Mokoro trip, which was a trip into the bush that was to culminate in a ride through the delta in small dugout boats to an island where we would camp.

The truck drive through the bush that morning was an adventure in itself. We drove across a river where water started coming into the back where we were sitting, which was at least six or seven feet above the ground, and I was momentarily concerned that we would float away (for the Oregon Trail fans out there, there were plenty of jokes about whether we should have forded the river or caulked the wagon and floated across).

Mokoro "harbor"

Also, the sides were open in the back of the truck and so huge tree branches that would get initially snagged on the front of the truck would sling-shot into the back and so there was a constant scramble to predict which side the biggest branch was coming from and try to avoid it. One boy took one in the face and I was unfortunately sitting on the outside and was left with an arm full of cuts and scratches.

The guides took a few wrong turns as well, and so the drive ended up taking three or four hours. Some of the kids sang to pass the time. I channeled my eighth grade choir and chimed in on a few Grease numbers.

We finally got to the Mokoro launch site (see picture of the “harbor”) and I did not realize how small the boats would be. But there wasn’t anything to do about it at that point, so I sunscreened up and helped load supplies into the tiny boats.

The polers were excited to see us and explained some guidelines while we climbed into the boats. There were thickets of grass in the bottom to give cushion and help with water that got in, and the guides folded bed mats into chairs for each of us, and so the boats were actually outrageously comfortable. And the poler took care of the transport, so there was no paddling! (I wish canoeing was like that back home) I leaned back into my mat and enjoyed a soothing glide across the Okavango Delta.

Derek and I in our Mokoro

As we wove our way through the reeds and crisp water I dozed in and out. One of the girls made an astute observation: it was like an all-natural spa treatment. Lying on comfortable mats with the sound of water passing by and birds chirping, while basking under the African sun without a care in the world. I could take that trip everyday.

Near the end of the ride we saw two hippos playing in the water, not 50 feet from our Mokoros. My first in person hippo experience!

We got to the island campsite and lunch was whipped up in no time. Again, we ate extremely well, even while in the middle of nowhere. I had a ham and cheese sandie with onions, tomatoes, peppers and chili sauce. Then on top of that I had fried chicken, salad, coleslaw, hard-boiled eggs and fruit juice. Talk about fit for a king.

We got a little naptime before an evening bush walks with the guides. We split up into groups of six or so and headed out into the wild. That first night we saw a herd of water buffalo, antelope, termite hills and a humungous spider with a colorful pattern on its back. At one point I was able to take a step back to soak everything in; before me was an endless green-amber savanna, with antelope gaily grazing in the neighboring field, and I was surrounded by good friends as we all silently enjoyed the heavenly sunset, not wanting to spoil the moment with inadequate words.

An early morning bushwalk with the lovely
Audrey hiding sheepishly behind a sprig
of sage, with Lurch in the background

When we returned we had another huge meal, and then everyone sat around the campfire as we shared stories, told riddles, and mingled with our local guides.

The next morning we had a bush walk at the break of dawn. It was hands-down the highlight of my semester thus far. We took a different path from the night before, and soon we could hear the calls of a group of baboons. The guide couldn’t believe that we hadn’t seen baboons before, so he tracked them for us (with some combination of their droppings, footprints and calls – I wasn’t really sure how he did it) and soon we were amongst a whole family. They were running from tree to tree and some had spotted us and had stopped to stare in return.

We made our way through some trees and came upon a lake. At the edge of the lake there were puddles, and I was about to walk through one thinking it was nothing out of the ordinary, but my guide stopped me and stuck his walking stick into the puddle. It was as deep as his entire stick! I would have been up to my chest in mud. Apparently elephants make theses holes as they pick up mud to cover themselves with. Good thing I didn’t have to learn it the hard way.

Then, as we circled the water, our guide pointed out a pair of eyes floating in the water. A crocodile! It was cruising unassumingly in the morning sun, probably keeping an eye on the silly group of humans wandering his shore.

Then on the next lake over there was a huge pod of hippos. We counted at least seventeen and they were frolicking and swimming and spewing water everywhere as they enjoyed the relief from the heat that water brought. They became curious about us as we approached, and some of the hippos slowly started making their way towards us. We enjoyed each other’s company for a few minutes, and as we left one of the hippos opened his mouth as wide as he could and let out a moan, and we yelled goodbye right back.

I couldn’t believe all of the experiences I was having, but the surprise waiting around the next corner is what made the entire trip. We rounded a bend and the path opened up to a clearing, and standing in the middle of the clearing were four of the most majestic, impressive elephants you could imagine. I was speechless. Here, in the middle of the wild – not a game reserve, no fences involved – were four real-life elephants, grazing to their hearts content and I was sharing the same field, walking along as though a brother in their kingdom.

Elephants in the background...look closely

Our guide explained that as long as we stayed downwind, we could approach them, and we did. We got so close that we had to whisper, as not to disturb them. Plenty of pictures were taken, and everyone reveled in the moment.

We headed back and after a quick, but hearty brunch we loaded the Mokoros for the return trip. It was as serene and relaxing as the first, and I was sad to be ending this once in a lifetime experience.

That night, back at Audi Camp: first course: butternut squash soup; entrée: pan seared fish with a roasted vegetable medley and a garden salad; dessert: ice cream! (I had 4 helpings) for dinner…

SERENITY NOW!

A female lion curious about these weird tourists
in her territory

Bushwalk

Mokoro trip

Serowe, part 2

Our gang at the wedding

The two couples then mentioned that they had been invited to a local wedding happening later that day and wondered if we would like to come along. On the inside we were bursting with excitement because none of us had attended a wedding in Botswana and we had heard such great things, but on the outside we exercised our Midwest politeness and said “oh no, we’re not dressed for it, we wouldn’t want to intrude, etc.” But they insisted; there was no dress code and no invitations were required.

So the eight of us packed into their two cars and headed for the wedding. It was around sundown when we arrived and apparently the wedding had been going on since 7:00 that morning (taking “fashionable late” to another level). As we sat down the best man appeared to be giving a toast (I couldn’t decipher the Setswana) and so we sat politely and looked around at the huge number of people in the crowd. After that we were all served dessert and non-alcoholic sparkling wine as the bride personally made her way around handing out thank-you gifts and posing for pictures.

Ashley (bride to be) with Botswana bride

Things wound down after that. Our local friends speculated that there was an after-party for the wedding somewhere, but we decided to go our own way. We stopped by a bar/restaurant and sat at outdoor picnic tables, enjoying the lovely night air. We saw Derek’s flatmate there (a huge coincidence since we were in a town three hours from UB and sitting at a random roadside restaurant) and talked with him for a while.

Eventually we all agreed we were hungry, and I admitted to the group my careless misplacement of our dinner meat, and so our local friends invited us back to their campsite for a braai. They read our minds.

We got back and got the fire going (with, needless to say, music blaring from the car) and we supplied the al-foil meals while our local friends supplied the steaks. We had quite the time, as it was pitch black and Derek was trying to slice potatoes with a broken knife and the guy in charge of the steaks disappeared into their cabin and the local ladies spent the whole time dancing. Somehow it all came out, though, and it was actually a hearty, somewhat balanced meal.

The midnight braai

We had to retire after that because it was around midnight and we had a game drive scheduled for six in the morning. So we stumbled back to our own campsite and somehow managed to squeeze into our clown car tent. Sleeping proved to be a challenge, as there wasn’t enough floor space for everyone to lay flat on his or her back, but you could only lay on your side for so long before your hip went numb from resting on the ground. So it was a night full of adjusting and bumping and a questionable amount of sleep.

But as the next morning came around we soon forgot our troubles. Our driver picked us up at six and we had the whole nine-person truck to ourselves. We headed toward the “pan” (the open grassland area where the animals roamed) and just as we turned the corner from the camping area to the pan, we came upon a majestic, golden brown male giraffe who was indulging in a morning graze among the tops of acacia trees. I had never seen a giraffe in person before; they’re such unique creatures and they’re taller than I realized. They walk very methodically – shifting their weight in a calculated manner with each step – and our guide said they are sometimes called the beauty queens of the jungle because their smooth gait is reminiscent of an eveningwear round of a beauty pageant.

From there we moved to the heart of the pan and I experienced another ‘first.’ Two white rhinos appeared to the left and started ambling towards our truck. I had never seen a rhino before, either. It was quite the scene. It appeared to be a mother rhino with her child and they walked right in front of our truck! They joined a group of zebras and springbok that were grazing together to our left, and all three types of animals peacefully grazed and played rather harmoniously beneath the morning sun.

We drove around more and saw even more rhinos and giraffes, as well as wildebeests and ostriches and warthogs. It was an amazingly successful game drive and I’m glad my partners captured some of the best moments on camera.

An apple covered in peanut butter with some Salticrax (the Botswana version of Ritz crackers) for breakfast…