There are two albums: One from my study trip and one from my stay in Manyana.
Check them out!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
This week has been the most amazing week ever.
Last Thursday, we left Gaborone at 4:30 am and began our drive up to the north of Botswana (Kasane, to be precise). It's about a ten hour drive. We arrived at the Waterlily Lodge, which is a lovely little lodge that overlooks the Chobe River, and had the whole afternoon to relax. We spent most of our time next to the pool and enjoying the availability of Western food again.
The next day we woke up and we taken to an ecology center that housed injured reptiles and various other animals. We all got to hold snakes and turtles and, of course, lots of pictures were taken. We were supposed to receive a lecture from one of the employees there, but there seemed to be a slight lack of communication and he was not prepared for this. Instead, he chatted very briefly with us about general topics. In order to fill the time, our drivers took us to a few random sites in the area such as "the salty place," which I am still unclear about. It was basically just a large area with some natural hot springs and a lot of salt deposits. We got very little information. After our short tour, we returned to the lodge and half (seven) of us went on a sunset cruise down the Chobe River. Here, we got our first glimpse of the wildlife in Chobe. We saw hippos, elephants, baboons, impala, crocodiles, buffalo and all kinds of birds. It was a nice little taste of what was to come.
On Saturday, we drove into Zimbabwe and took our trip to Victoria Falls. The falls are absolutely astounding. We walked along a little trail that periodically has lookout points that you can walk to and take photos from. Then, you reach "danger point" which is a lookout that has no barrier keeping you from the edge of the cliff. My friends and I took turns sitting on huge rocks right at the tip of the cliff, laying down on our backs and hanging off the edge to see the falls upside down, and various other adrenaline-inducing activities. After we finished our walk along the falls, many of us were hungry for some more thrill-seeking activities. We knew the program wouldn't let us bungee jump for liability reasons, but we managed to find a loophole. We were informed of a "swing" that existed over the gorge. We somehow managed to convince one of our coordinators to let us do it, and we were transported to location. The "swing" consists of jumping off the cliff, free-falling over 70 meters, then swinging over the Zambezi River. The only difference between the swing and a bungee jump is that instead of bouncing after the free-fall, you swing. Nine of us decided to do it, and I was the first to go. It was the scariest, most amazing thing I've ever done. As soon as I was pulled back up to the jumping platform I wanted to go again. Immediately after I jumped, I raced back to the van and two of my friends and I went on an elephant "safari". It was less of a safari and more of a one hour ride on an elephant's back, but nonetheless, it was a blast. We learned all kinds of cool facts about elephants and even got to feel them. After our ride, we were taken to a small flea market where we did some very fast, very intense shopping, and then we rejoined the rest of our group and returned to Botswana.
As if Saturday wasn't amazing enough, Sunday began our three day safari/camping trip in Chobe National Park. It was somewhat upscale camping (portable shower and toilet, prepared meals, etc) which was not what I expected. Our daily schedule consisted of wake up call at 6:00 am, half an hour to freshen up and eat a quick breakfast, safari drive from 7:00-ish to 11:30-ish, lunch, "siesta time", high tea, safari drive from 3:00-ish to 6:30-ish, dinner, and then free time around the campfire followed by bedtime. This happened everyday for those three days. The safari drives were PHENOMENAL. Some of the most memorable moments included:
Last Thursday, we left Gaborone at 4:30 am and began our drive up to the north of Botswana (Kasane, to be precise). It's about a ten hour drive. We arrived at the Waterlily Lodge, which is a lovely little lodge that overlooks the Chobe River, and had the whole afternoon to relax. We spent most of our time next to the pool and enjoying the availability of Western food again.
The next day we woke up and we taken to an ecology center that housed injured reptiles and various other animals. We all got to hold snakes and turtles and, of course, lots of pictures were taken. We were supposed to receive a lecture from one of the employees there, but there seemed to be a slight lack of communication and he was not prepared for this. Instead, he chatted very briefly with us about general topics. In order to fill the time, our drivers took us to a few random sites in the area such as "the salty place," which I am still unclear about. It was basically just a large area with some natural hot springs and a lot of salt deposits. We got very little information. After our short tour, we returned to the lodge and half (seven) of us went on a sunset cruise down the Chobe River. Here, we got our first glimpse of the wildlife in Chobe. We saw hippos, elephants, baboons, impala, crocodiles, buffalo and all kinds of birds. It was a nice little taste of what was to come.
On Saturday, we drove into Zimbabwe and took our trip to Victoria Falls. The falls are absolutely astounding. We walked along a little trail that periodically has lookout points that you can walk to and take photos from. Then, you reach "danger point" which is a lookout that has no barrier keeping you from the edge of the cliff. My friends and I took turns sitting on huge rocks right at the tip of the cliff, laying down on our backs and hanging off the edge to see the falls upside down, and various other adrenaline-inducing activities. After we finished our walk along the falls, many of us were hungry for some more thrill-seeking activities. We knew the program wouldn't let us bungee jump for liability reasons, but we managed to find a loophole. We were informed of a "swing" that existed over the gorge. We somehow managed to convince one of our coordinators to let us do it, and we were transported to location. The "swing" consists of jumping off the cliff, free-falling over 70 meters, then swinging over the Zambezi River. The only difference between the swing and a bungee jump is that instead of bouncing after the free-fall, you swing. Nine of us decided to do it, and I was the first to go. It was the scariest, most amazing thing I've ever done. As soon as I was pulled back up to the jumping platform I wanted to go again. Immediately after I jumped, I raced back to the van and two of my friends and I went on an elephant "safari". It was less of a safari and more of a one hour ride on an elephant's back, but nonetheless, it was a blast. We learned all kinds of cool facts about elephants and even got to feel them. After our ride, we were taken to a small flea market where we did some very fast, very intense shopping, and then we rejoined the rest of our group and returned to Botswana.
As if Saturday wasn't amazing enough, Sunday began our three day safari/camping trip in Chobe National Park. It was somewhat upscale camping (portable shower and toilet, prepared meals, etc) which was not what I expected. Our daily schedule consisted of wake up call at 6:00 am, half an hour to freshen up and eat a quick breakfast, safari drive from 7:00-ish to 11:30-ish, lunch, "siesta time", high tea, safari drive from 3:00-ish to 6:30-ish, dinner, and then free time around the campfire followed by bedtime. This happened everyday for those three days. The safari drives were PHENOMENAL. Some of the most memorable moments included:
- Our guides driving off the road and OVER bushes to get better views of two lionesses. TWICE. Each time we were within twenty feet of them. The first time, we were only about ten feet away and one of the lionesses stood up and our guide said "sit down, don't move," which is never something you want to hear when you're that close to a lion.
- Seeing so many elephants that it began to feel routine. It got to the point where there would be an elephant next to our car and none of us would even reach for our cameras (however, I must admit I have a zillion pictures of elephants. I adore them). A similar situation happened with the elephant as with the lion. Once, an elephant was relatively close to our truck, got scared, trumpeted and mock-charged us and our guide told us again to not make a sound. Those words are insanely scary those words can be when a dangerous animal is standing next to you.
- Seeing an elephant carcass recently caught by the three male lions that were sitting near it. The following morning, we woke up early to return to that spot and see the lions again. Once again, our guides went off-roading to get closer to the lions. The male lions are much more shy than the females so the kept backing away. They walked far enough away that the vultures that had gathered felt safe enough to descend on the elephant carcass. We drove over to get a better glimpse (it's a remarkably disgusting and simultaneously fascinating thing to watch vultures eat). We drove up far enough so that the lions would come close again, but not too far so that we couldn't see. Then, the lions returned and scared away all of the vultures. It was WAY cool.
- Watching an African fish eagle catch a fish and then have the fish stolen by leopard faced eagle (I think...). We all became very invested in the fight and cheered when the leopard faced eagle dropped the fish. Honestly it was like watching a sports game.
- Sitting three feet away from a leopard while it stalked a gathering of guinea foul. Amazing and incredibly lucky.
- Watching one male elephant try to mate with another male elephant on our drive out of the park. We saw an aroused elephant and, being the college students we are, made our guide stop to get better looks. That's when it all went down. The whole van was giggling, which made the van of elderly people behind us giggle as well. It was an all around good time.
Those are all of the highlights I can think of right now, but if I remember more I'll be sure to add to the list. So, that was our AMAZING safari. I was so sad to leave. Yesterday (Wednesday) we left Chobe and we all went on the sunset cruise (some of us for the second time). I must admit that before the cruise we all stopped at Tops (the liquor store) and stocked up a bit, thus, the cruise was slightly different the second time around, but no less fun. We all had a blast together. We then had the rest of the night to just hang out at Waterlily and relax before the long drive ahead of us.
Today we left Kasane and headed back to Gaborone. We're here (back at the Kagisong Center) until Wednesday, which means I will have regular, if slow, internet 24/7. Here we're doing our orientation for our next village home stay which will begin on Wednesday.
So, that was a remarkably long post, but it was a fabulous week. Check in every now and then for more updates while I'm in Gabs. I hope everything is going well back in the states!
Talk to everyone soon!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Hi everyone!
It has been far too long since my last update and I have millions of things I would like to share. A lot has happened since the last time I posted...
I guess I'll just start where I left off. The Mokolodi Game Drive was amazing. We saw lots of amazing animals (giraffes, antelope, rhinos, ostriches, etc) and after the game drive we had a fantastic dinner in the bush (a braii). So much fun and a fantastic way to end our stay in Gaborone. The next day we left Gabs for our first home stay.
For the past 5-ish weeks I've been living in a small village called Manyana with the Mogomotsi family [Cecilia, my mother, Boiki, my father, and my three siblings: Dineo (sister, 22), Onalenna (brother, 20) and Onnetse (brother, 17)]. As soon as I met my mother, I was given the name Boitumelo, which means 'joy' and my nicknames include 'boi', 'bitu', 'bitwizer', and just simply 'twizer'. I adore my name and the meaning behind it. I couldn't have asked for a better family to live with. They were so warm and welcoming and exactly what I needed for my first home stay. The village was rural but not nearly as rural as what I was expecting. Every one of our families had electricity and most had working televisions. However, there was no running water so I bathed in a small plastic tub with an inch of water in the bottom and went to the bathroom in an outhouse in our backyard (at night, I had to use a bucket in my room because the outhouse potentially contained snakes and bats. No thanks.). Manyana is just a beautiful village and I am so sad to leave it (we said our goodbyes this morning).
In the interest of saving time and condensing five weeks worth of experiences, here are some memorable moments in Manyana:
It has been far too long since my last update and I have millions of things I would like to share. A lot has happened since the last time I posted...
I guess I'll just start where I left off. The Mokolodi Game Drive was amazing. We saw lots of amazing animals (giraffes, antelope, rhinos, ostriches, etc) and after the game drive we had a fantastic dinner in the bush (a braii). So much fun and a fantastic way to end our stay in Gaborone. The next day we left Gabs for our first home stay.
For the past 5-ish weeks I've been living in a small village called Manyana with the Mogomotsi family [Cecilia, my mother, Boiki, my father, and my three siblings: Dineo (sister, 22), Onalenna (brother, 20) and Onnetse (brother, 17)]. As soon as I met my mother, I was given the name Boitumelo, which means 'joy' and my nicknames include 'boi', 'bitu', 'bitwizer', and just simply 'twizer'. I adore my name and the meaning behind it. I couldn't have asked for a better family to live with. They were so warm and welcoming and exactly what I needed for my first home stay. The village was rural but not nearly as rural as what I was expecting. Every one of our families had electricity and most had working televisions. However, there was no running water so I bathed in a small plastic tub with an inch of water in the bottom and went to the bathroom in an outhouse in our backyard (at night, I had to use a bucket in my room because the outhouse potentially contained snakes and bats. No thanks.). Manyana is just a beautiful village and I am so sad to leave it (we said our goodbyes this morning).
In the interest of saving time and condensing five weeks worth of experiences, here are some memorable moments in Manyana:
- My first night in the village, my sister bathed me entirely, which sounds a lot more awkward than it was. To be honest, I actually really appreciated the demonstration.
- Hiking to "pride rock" with friends from my program.
- Making a pot with a traditional potter in the village (made entirely by hand from the soil in the woman's yard. We used the rib bone of a cow to smooth the pots).
- Making friends with all the children in my neighborhood (particularly Boitshepo and Doku)
- Visiting the village of Mmankgodi for the culture day at the kgotla (a town center, or sorts) and discovering what we thing is an abandoned school.
- Visiting a traditional doctor.
- Visiting the Manyana rock paintings
- Our farewell party
Now, I'm in Gaborone for the night and tomorrow morning (at 4:00 am) we are heading north for our first study trip (to Chobe National Park and Victoria Falls where we will camp and have a three day safari, a sunset cruise on the Chobe River, and a day trip to Vic. Falls!). We'll be gone for 8 days and then we're back in Gaborone for a few days before we head to our next village (Mochudi). In Mochudi, I'll be living with another host family and I will have an internship (yet to be determined where).
Unfortunately, I think that's all I have time for right now, but I will have internet again after our study trip and hopefully more regularly in Mochudi (I hear there are internet cafes there!).
I miss you all very much and it was so wonderful to touch base with home for a little bit today. I promise to update after our trip!
Love,
Jesse (Boitumelo)
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