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…