Girls Weekend

In honor of King Sobhuza's birthday, Tini, Jenny, Ciara and I took a four day weekend and headed to the kalahari in Botswana. It was a fairly lengthy drive through South Africa to Botswana. Highlights along the way included the South African border town of Zeerust. Proving that we perhaps have been in Africa too long, as we drove through the booming metropolis of Zeerust, Tini exclaimed in all seriousness, "A two 'Chicken Lickin' and a 'Hungry Lion' (both cheap end fastfood restaurants), this town has EVERYTHING". The truck below also created an interesting converstation. It is hard to see it, but the white truck is a lead truck to the flatbed truck behind it. The sign on the roof says, "ABNORMAL", with two red flags on either side. I am not sure which is more politically correct "ABNORMAL" or the American "WIDE LOAD".

We finally arrived at Khutse Game Reserve to find we were the only four people booked at the Lodge. Despite this fact, our rooms were not ready yet. Luckily, we had stopped in Gaborone and purchased some of our own refreshments, including local Botswanan beer and ingredients for gin and tonics. Unfortunately, the drinks were all warm by the time we reached the lodge. Because there was no ice, we convinced them to let us put our drinks in one of the refrigerators behind the bar. They gave us our own little shelf and allowed us to go get our refreshments whenever we wanted to. Finally our rooms were ready and we went to have a shower/rest before dinner. Ciara came to visit Tini and I closing the door on her way out. We did not realize, until we were getting up for dinner half starved, that the door locks automatically. And, of course, the key was still on the outside from when the woman had shown us to our rooms. Tini and I were locked in the rondeval. This is when we realized it might not be a good idea for us to travel through Asia together. Our solution at that time was to get responsibility lessons from Michelle and Steph. Now, though, since we are only going to India we will be chaperoned by Tini's parents.

I saved the day by climbing out the window and freeing Tini. That night we had a personal dinner with over a 1:1 staff to customer ratio before retiring fairly early.

The next day we got up early to do a walk with a Sans Bushman. The had moved out from the Kalahari in the early 2000s leaving their traditions and nomadic life behind. According to our guide, the government offered homes, schools, clinics and cattle for those willing to move out. There have, however, been some legal suits saying the San were forced out of the Kalahari.

The walk was probably the most interesting part of the trip. We learned that during the dry season, the Bushmen used tubers for drinking/cooking water as well as bathing. It is amazing how much water can come from one potato.

We then watched as our guide made a fire with two sticks. He used a hard stick on a soft stick based twirling it back and forth to make ash.

He then used the hot ash to light grass making fire.

Our next lesson was how to make rope from a plant called "Mother-in-law's tongue", which looked somewhat similar to a green onion. He removed the outer green part leaving the inner fibers. He then separated and twisted the fibers together by rolling them along his leg. The rope he made that day was thin, but amazingly strong. It would be used to trap small animals with the setup shown below. The bait would be in the middle. As the prey came to feed the rope would snap up catching the prey. I am pretty sure I could survive a full three minutes in the middle of the Kalahari now.

After our tiring morning of fetching water, building fires, making rope and setting snares to catch our dinner, we did a bit of relaxing by the pool filling the afternoon with reading, napping and putting a puzzle together.

Later that afternoon we went on a game drive in the game reserve. The safari vehicle looked like any other from afar, but once in we realized the seats were old airplane seats with trays and all. The game was less than spectacular, but driving through the Kalahari was interesting. The amount of foliage was not what i expected from a desert.

The sunset over the Kalahari was beautiful. That night upon our request, dinner was moved under the stars around a camp fire. We spent hours enjoying the fire and chatting.

The next morning, we headed to Gaborone to check out the big city. On the way, we began to believe the guidebook when it said there are more donkeys in Botswana then people. This cart was not driving itself, the boys had just jumped down to ask for treats from us.

We had one stop on our way to Gaborone in my favorite town, Molepolole. We had assumed that Khutse being a large tourist lodge would accept credit cards so we had not brough enough Pula to cover the two nights. The staff, being very trustful, arranged for us to meet someone in Molepolole to pay. Again, we thought we would be able to pay in credit, but not so. After about eight trips to different ATMs we were able to get out enough cash to pay for the lodge. We then pulled off a shady transaction in the parking lot of a grocery store handing over a large sum of Pula to a lodge employee. I was a little nervous for her carrying so much money. Luckily, she was accompanied by some male family members.

That night in Gaborone, we enjoyed a movie before meeting some of the Baylor Botswana doctors for a wonderful Brazilian dinner.