This post is long overdue. More than a couple weeks ago John and I had
the pleasure of hosting a visit from some of our friends from the USA, Jen
& Liz. We had an amazing time! It was wonderful to share our life here and
have our first real trip with such great friends.
They flew through Johannesburg
in SA and spent a night there and we met them in Gabs the next morning…getting
to the airport was a mess for us at first as the taxi we had set up the night
before had a flat tire and only let us know when we called 5 minutes after he
should have arrived. We set up the ride with someone we did not know well since
our normal taxi would have to have picked us up an hour early (7am) and we
wanted a bit more sleep…bad mistake. The
taxi driver then proceeded to give us a number for another taxi who was out of
town. We trekked to the local shopping
center (which was not open yet) in the rain and luckily found the only taxi
driver who dramatically overcharged us, but we got there in time which was all
that mattered at that point. While
relaxing with a cup of filter coffee their plane landed and I was overcome with
excitement and nervousness. Up to this
point it was like I had two separate lives, my Peace Corps life and my USA life
and in only moments the two would merge.
Thoughts were rolling through my head about who I was, who I now am, and
wonder about how much I have changed.
That’s the amazing thing about a true friendship though you are accepted
for who you are! Thanks Jen &
Liz! After lots of hugs, we went to pick
up the rental car and headed to our lodge.
This day really composed of running errands (getting groceries for the
road), heading to a San (local tribe in our neck of the woods) art exhibit at
the museum, and just generally catching up with each other.
We had a great breakfast at
Metcourt with lots of bacon and other goodies and then got on the road. After a quick initiation of avoiding a baby
goat without hitting any humans on the first day, Jen got the full driving
experience in Botswana. Before the trip
would end we would see 4 lanes worth of passing vehicles on 2 lane roads, elephants
crossing at elephant crossing signs, more cows than a factory farm, the Tropic
of Capricorn, and a number of precariously loaded vehicles. Stopping for gas the first time, we spent
about 5 minutes trying to find the little latch in the car that would open the
gas tank and after reclining the seat and popping the hood, someone finally
figured it out. It needed to be pushed
from the outside and it opened right up.
We arrived at the Rhino Reserve
in Serowe and were very impressed. The
four person chalet was spacious and had a braai pit right outside. We got in our first game drive of the trip
and saw impalas, warthogs, zebras, and black rhinos. We got within 50 yards of a small herd of
rhinos and sat in tranquil silence at the majestic scene. We noticed there were notched out of most of
their ears and our guide explained that it is an anti-poaching technique. All the samples are sent to an international
center that catalogs the DNA and if someone is caught with rhino horns then
they can trace where it came from to see who was responsible. It was a great day and perfect weather for
the drive. We ended the day with a meal
from the restaurant and a fire in the braai pit.
We continued north and completed
our first quest of the trip: finding a BeMobile Sim card. In Gaborone we went to 4 different places
looking for one and were unsuccessful including a BeMobile store (this would be
like going to AT&T and them telling you sorry we don’t have phone plans
right now). We grabbed a local delicacy,
the wonderful Fat Cake (makwinya - deep fried dough), and got some gas.
We made it to Nata Lodge where
we checked in then headed out to meet Caroline who is a good friend of ours
from Hukuntsi (featured in some photos previously on the blog making fajitas
with us) and was transferred to the Senior Secondary School. She was kind enough to give us a tour of the
school so Jen & Liz got to see a bit of the non-tourist parts of Bots. This was a beautiful new school where the
majority of students are boarders. It
has the normal issues where many classes have no teachers but the reasons seem
administrative and bureaucratic rather than lack of trained teachers as many
teachers have to wait years after completing schooling to get posted. Jen and Liz also got to see a Kgotla and
local driving school as Caroline had a lesson there in the evening when we left
her. We ended the evening with dinner at
the lodge and drinks on the back porch of one of the rooms.
Tuesday began our trek to Zambia
from Nata. On the way we stopped in
Kasane with the intent of leaving our rental car at one of the local lodges,
but first ran errands and grabbed cash at the ATM. While waiting in line I unexpectedly ran into
Octavius who I thought lived farther from Kasane. He graciously allowed us to leave the car at
his place and we all hung out for a little bit before having to catch a cab to
the ferry (there is no road, only a ferry to get across). The Bots side of the ferry was sparsely
populated but tarred roads, but the Zambia side was seemingly utter madness
with cars everywhere waiting to cross, mud all over (our car would have had a
hard time making it), and taxi drivers & hawkers who accosted us as soon as
we left the immigration area. John
quickly ran to find out the currency translation rate to pula and we negotiated
a taxi ride to Livingston where they dropped us at the ATM to withdraw money so
we could pay them. It was madness, but
nice to see that kind of commerce and entrepreneurial spirit.
We checked into Jolly Boys, a
nice hostel, for the evening and went for a walk to find some dinner. Stopping at a pie shop, we got chicken
peri-peri & the illusive spinach & cheese pie which we have been on a
quest for all throughout Botswana. I guess we were just looking in the wrong
country. Then our tour of Livingstone
continued to a mall with vendor stalls where vendors will barter and negotiate
price. Although it was fun I was taken
completely by surprise and extremely out of practice because most people in
Bots won’t negotiate. The amount of
customer service and salesman ship was amazing and great to see so close to
Botswana where those are not strong qualities. On the way back to the lodge we
ran into Rachel & Julia, other PCVs, and spent a relaxing evening just hanging out at the bar in the
backpackers. It is always great to know
our friends get along well!
This
part of the trip is best summed up with pictures! We went to the Royal Livingstone Hotel and
got just feet away from zebras & giraffes.
This was just before we took a boat to Vic Falls,
Zambia side, and into Devils Pool. We
took some pictures of the falls from a side view and then put our camera into
the hands and waterproof bag of our guide.
He took a small canoe over while we got to swim through the falls to a
small island of rock!! The water was
warm and refreshing and the experience was fantastic. All four of us jumped into the small pool of
water that is literally right on the edge of the waterfall. After hanging over the side and being
constantly on guard against the small fish that bit at our toes we swam back to
the mainland and were fed Eggs Benedict and coffee. All this before noon. Again we can’t recommend this enough if you
find yourself nearby and in the mood for an adrenaline rush. While waiting for our taxi to arrive we were
serenaded by an eight person choir singing traditional songs. There were very few guests about so it was
like a personal show just for us.
Sitting there in shorts and a tee-shirt I felt a little uncomfortable,
but that passed and we got a ride back to the backpacker. The truck from the next place we were to
stay, Jungle Junction, was pretty late so our group drank some beer and Tracy
and I played pool on the worst pool table ever.
The rails fell off if the ball hit them so all bank shots were out. The tables in southern Africa I have seen so
far are pale comparisons against American ones anyhow but this one took the
cake. If you made a ball you had a
fifty-fifty chance when it went through the return that it would fly out the
side of the table and roll away on the ground.
It was fun mostly because it was ridiculous. The truck arrived full of supplies so we all
crammed into the bed of the truck. There
was a mattress for some and others got the wheel well. It became a bumpy ride and between branches
smacking me in the face and trying to keep crickets from taking my eyesight I
was pretty preoccupied.
Thus began our time at Jungle Junction
which was an amazing relaxing place to let go of the weariness of travel. It is an island about a kilometer long with
outdoor showers and a self-service bar.
We arrived by dugout canoes, and got introduced to the staff that live
on the island and were warned to secure valuables as the monkeys who live here
like to filch things. Our time here
included a mix of activities for differing people such as a village tour, hiked
the island in search of hippo tracks, mokolo (mokoro or canoe) rides to go swim
and an evening campfire. One day we
ventured back into Botswana, in Chobe Park, for a game drive. It was broken up into two activities: a 4x4
and a boat ride. The 4x4 allowed us to
see all kinds of birds, a ton of elephants and we even got to a spot where they
crossed the road letting us get within 30 feet of them. The highlight for me was seeing a momma lion
and her cub walk around. I could have
watched her all day and we certainly wanted to take the cub back. I think Sally could find a way to befriend
her! She could definitely teach her
hunting skills. Also on our 4x4 ride
there was a dung beetle attack. These
mostly hollow bullet bugs can get as big a thumb and have a super hard
exoskeleton, but the oddity is that they fly.
You see them all the time careening through the air like something from
a video game. Well the truck was going
pretty quick and it had a canvas top but was open otherwise and the dung beetle
smacked right into someone. I was a seat
back so I never got the details, but between Jen and Liz they got it out of the
truck. No one went to the hospital so it
is now just a good story.
We reluctantly left the island
and due to the local currency we paid over a million kwacha all together so we
felt pretty flush. At the local Zambian
markets you can get the old inflated Zimbabwean dollars. I think the highest is 50 trillion
dollars. If we make it back that side I
want to pick up a “set of them” to get a little brick of history and a good
reminder of what inflation and bad governance can do to a country.
This began our trek back to
Gabs. In the morning Brett and Max drove
us to the border and we had to say a sad farewell to Zambia. We crossed the border (ran into a nurse from
a village near Hukuntsi that Tracy knew – it is a small country), stopped for
cookies (very important as they were mint coconut chocolate crème
biscuits…mmm), picked up the car from Octavius and bid him a sad farewell, then
headed out to Francistown where we stopped for the night. We made it back in time for Mid-Service Training
and Jen and Liz became well versed in all that Gaborone has to offer. I am sure there are huge gaps in events even
some off timing, but we wanted to share another part of our adventure with
you. We love and miss you all.
Tracy and John
