Rain and More Rain

Yesterday we marked four weeks here by celebrating the end of the month with everyone else. The end of the month is pay day for most people and you can see that on the road and in the shops and restaurants and cafes. We decided we would go out to dinner and chose Linga Longa at Riverwalk. I am not sure how to describe the menu but it wasn’t very good. They serve breakfast all day and I have a feeling that their breakfast menu is probably much better. We were sitting outside and also barraged by yellow jackets. But it was fun to watch everyone coming and going. From the restaurant we could also see Tlokweng Road, one of the roads that leads (in a very short distance) to South Africa. The road was very full – though there is not a whole lot on that road - and I could only conclude that people were traveling to South Africa to load up on goods to bring back to consume or sell. I will have to check into whether that is correct.

We are delighted to have gotten wireless at home. I had been a little wary that I had given someone – who had come to my house with an application (because I did not know where their offices were, though could have found them) – a wad of cash and gotten no receipt. There were problems scheduling the installation and then that particular guy was out. But in fact, the company was very professional and very accommodating. On Thursday afternoon when the rain finally let up some, Koketso and his crew arrived to install something on the roof and a wireless router in Kuno’s bedroom. It was great – no landline, bank statements, pay stubs, yearlong commitment as some of the other companies require. It works perfectly, even through all of the rain. Has made a huge difference for us. We are a little sad not to see the people at the internet café regularly anymore, though we can always go there to have copies made, buy school supplies and more.

We had incredible rain this week; indeed it actually rained non-stop for about 48 hours, some of it torrential. It is fine when we are snug and dry inside our flat, but even just going out to do an errand becomes a chore – never mind our three gates and three locks that have to be locked and unlocked every time one goes in or out. At the same time, I think also of all of those people who are living in not very watertight houses and think how uncomfortable they must be. A second person, Sethunya, told me that my Setswana name would be 'Mmapula' for bringing the rains (pula means rain and is also the name of the currency - since rain is about the most valuable commodity in dry Botswana; Mma is how you address a woman). The rain has wreaked total havoc on the roads; that patching of potholes that had commenced might well not have. The potholes are even worse now than before. I am told that the roads outside of Gaborone are not nearly as bad as in the city and that does seem to be the case. Gaborone has grown so much in the last years and the roads, among others, simply have not kept up. On GABZ FM, when they do the evening traffic reports, it is primarily about where the potholes are bad and where the traffic lights are out. We have seen now that in the evenings there is lots and lots of traffic out of the city as people head out to the northern and western suburbs. I am very happy that we are right in the city center. The electricity has only been out once since we have been here, in the middle of the night one night, despite all the rain and thunderstorms. I am told that during the fall there were regular, even scheduled outages, but have not seen them since we have been here. Something about South Africa, from whom electricity in Gaborone comes, trying to wean Botswana from its use of power from South Africa.

Cultural Excursion

Over the weekend we were invited to go along on an excursion for international undergraduates at UB organized by the international students office. It was a very hot weekend and we were in a large, unairconditioned school bus from the University of Botswana. It was about 30 foreign students and 10 Batswana: former students and those who currently work for the office. One of them is actually from Zimbabwe and had his two children, Tokudzwa and Rutendo (Kuno and Mave's ages), with him. Also with us was another American family, the Knoops (who actually very kindly invited us along), coordinating the ACM program at UB, including their two girls who are also at Thornhill in Stds 4 and 2. It was a packed program beginning in Mochudi, capital of the Bakgatla, and the Phuthadikobo Museum; this is a nice, small historical museum that I would like to return to on another occasion. From the museum, which is up on a hill, one has a great view of the ‘village’ or town, including two looming red and white cell phone towers. (As all over southern Africa, everyone seems to have a cell phone; many people do not have landlines.) After touring the museum we went back into town to get lunch at either Choppies or Spar. Of course it was midday Saturday when many people are doing their weekly shopping so was quite crowded. And hot and getting hotter. Next we went to see the so called Matsieng Foot Prints in Rasesa. This was the least impressive part of the trip; this place refers to an origin myth for the Tswana and a four meter hole in the ground that is supposed to be the place from which an early ancestor emerged. After that we went to a village called Manyana that contains very poorly preserved rock paintings that were painted 2,000 years ago by the Bushmen or Basarwa of contemporary Botswana. One could barely make out the many different figures, indeed could only do so with the assistance of a guide. It is remarkable that these paintings exist out in the open where they are clearly washed by the rain and other elements. There are supposed to be others up near Maun that are better preserved. Also in Manyana we saw David Livingstone’s tree. This is the most amazing tree I have ever seen – a wild fig tree that is bigger than enormous and that has bent over and rooted in numerous spots. There are areas underneath some branches that are miraculously cool and are apparently the place where Livingstone held his clinics. I am not very informed of his time in Botswana; will hear more, I am sure.

At that point we were all as hot and sweaty as one could imagine and had no water left. We were on our way to the Bahurutshe Cultural Village in Mmankgodi, the village that Masters had pointed out to us. We were greeted by a very sweet group of ululating older ladies who sang and danced for us and showed us some Tswana customs from the past. The students had group sleeping arrangements and the families had chalets. There was no hot water but there was at least running cold water which, together with some soap, was amazingly refreshing. For dinner we had some Tswana specialties including seswaa and bogobe (otherwise known as pap). Of the latter we had maize at dinner and sorghum, much darker, for breakfast – with curdled milk and sugar. We were all exhausted, primarily from the sun, I suppose, and slept very well. In the morning, after a breakfast that included the bogobe and vetkoekies, we headed for the Mokolodi Nature Reserve. We had been here a couple of years ago and remembered it as so-so. As then, we were going out late morning which is not a particularly good time to see animals. We saw some of the same animals from the Gaborone Game Reserve, but in nowhere the numbers and a few others such as an old giraffe that stared us in the face (there are supposed to be 40 in the reserve) and a couple of elephants standing waiting for us with their keepers. The only other thing we had not previously seen was a couple of wildebeest. There was a very nice braai lunch waiting for us down by the river at the end of the game drive and then we were off on to the final stop on our excursion, Lion’s Park. I could have done without this, basically a water park run by an Afrikaner playing the occasional Afrikaans tune on the music system. At least everyone had an opportunity to cool off. In any case, it was a great way to spend our first weekend on our own and a welcome chance to get out of Gaborone and see some of the surrounding areas. I have to say that Botswana is really dry. And I am saying that in the middle of a rainy season when it has been raining a lot! But even though there is a lot of green out there and even though we are in the better watered part of the country it is clear that this is a very dry (and very hot) country…..

Thornhill Primary School

Well, we finally got the school situation sorted out! On Tuesday Mave and Kuno were ‘assessed’ at Thornhill School, my first choice because of its location (right in town near the Main Mall, a 10 minute drive for us) and its fees, which are less than several of the other private schools. Both children – with their fine Delaware public educations – were reported to be excellent students and would have no trouble going ahead to Standard 7 and Standard 4, though Kuno is young for Std 4. The school year in southern Africa is the calendar year so a new year has just started so the kids either had to go ahead half a grade or behind half a grade. I was delighted that they accepted us even though they are really squeezed for room. They were very kind and accommodating. As soon as we found out the kids were accepted we cancelled our assessments at Northside. School started on Wednesday!

The school is a mini world unto itself. The students are primarily Batswana though there are South Africans of all hues, reflecting the significant South African population in Gaborone. There are a few Indians, not as many as had been suggested by others, and then a smattering of other Africans and Europeans. There are three classes for each grade or standard. School starts at 7:15, with me dropping them off around 7; they finish at 12:45 at which time I pick them up. There is a half hour break around 10:30 when they are encouraged to run around and have some fun. They all have hearty snacks at that point which they have brought from home. In another week or two activities (no extra cost) begin. Those run from about 1:30 to 4:30 and kids may choose to sign up for whatever they want – lots of sports, art, music etc. At that point a school lunch will essentially be offered (which they eat outside; it is a lovely if a bit small campus) or they may bring a lunch from home. So hopefully Mave and Kuno will find activities that coincide and I will pick them up later, giving me a longer work day and giving them a longer day.

They wear serious school uniforms – a dress, short white socks and black shoes for Mave (posts or small hoops only for earrings) and grey shorts and short socks, black shoes and a Thornhill white button down shirt for Kuno, becomes grey trousers when colder. They have special swimming ‘costumes’ and bathing caps for swimming (once a week) and special PE ‘kits’ – green Thornhill shirts, white shorts and white sports shoes for PE which is also once a week. On PE and swimming days they may wear their PE clothes. The kids look great in their uniforms and blend right in. Both came home with the names of five friends they had made the first day. Mave reported that the girls that she hung out with that day were surprised to hear her American accent as they assumed she was a new student from here. They like her American accent while Mave loves their Botswana/South Africa/English and whatever else accents. For Std 7 there is a field trip to South Africa at the end of the year that Mave is already sorry that she will miss.

Postscipt: In the book, Desert Doctor, by Alfred Merriweather, first Speaker of the National Assembly in Botswana, he writes of the new capital city around the time of independence: "Schooling had always been a problem in Botswana. In the old days there were separate primary schools for whites and Africans. Such a state of affairs could not be in the new town, and so Thornhill School was built." He goes on to write that the school had a "great prestige value among the people of Gaberones."

Our Neighborhood

I am very pleased with our flat. Now that I have cleaned, bought new sheets and covers for the beds, put some things on the walls, and set to work on new curtains the place feels like ours and much more homey. There is a pretty tiny front yard taken up by the car park and the clothes line and a much larger backyard. The backyard has the biggest jade plant/tree I have ever seen as well as a lemon tree that produces very lumpy lemons. It is all a bit overgrown and I am not sure how much we will work on it; there is a little patio with the white plastic table and chairs. It is a perfect place for Kuno to play with his sling shot. After trying unsuccessfully to down some lemons he took Moses’ advice and hauled out some appletiser cans for target practice. Hopefully that will keep him busy….among other activities. Yesterday there was a herd of goats in the area behind our backyard. Moses remarked that that would not happen in Windhoek and then observed, but we are in Africa here.

I am also very pleased with our neighborhood, known as Village. It is a bit rundown and while most of our neighbors are expatriates of one type or another associated with UB, they are not diplomats and aid workers who have a much higher standard of living. We are in the heart of Gaborone and definitely not in one of those neighborhoods with big houses and high walls and guards. So we are part and parcel of the city. Indeed, while more than 200,000 people live here, Gaborone is quickly coming to have a smaller feel to it as we figure our way around. I like that we have the small shopping area nearby with the Choppies for milk or whatever else we might run out of and the lady with her shop to sew our curtains, as well as a bakery, a restaurant, the Belgrade takeaway, our internet café and various people sitting under trees selling their wares. There is a petrol station about a block away and then the Riverwalk Mall about a mile away for our larger shopping needs. The best part is the Thapong Art Center - the only art center in Botswana! - on our corner. The Ethiopians to the right of us are usually outside talking and smoking into the night and the delicious smell of their food usually wafts our way. The Nigerians have four kids, one a boy who is a little older than Kuno. Yesterday Kuno had the time of his life as he and Moses went out onto the street to play with his new soccer ball. (He always corrects me that he is playing 'football.') First the younger son joined them, then the older one, then the Dad. Street soccer in Africa.

Gaborone Game Reserve

A contribution from Mave: today very early in the morning the family set out to the Gaborone Game Reserve. We had been once before a couple of years ago but unfortunately did not see that many animals. When we arrived we came across some impala. They were the usual animals that you see around Southern Africa so we didn’t get that excited. After a drive further into the game park we saw some ostriches in the middle of the road just hanging out. Then very close to the ostriches was a family of warthogs. However the mother was on one side and at first we didn’t notice that it was a family until we thought that the mother was distracting us from something and looked across to find the father and babies. Unfortunately shortly after we spotted them they ran away. The next animal that we saw were the monkeys which we encountered several times during the trip. When we saw the monkeys we also saw all of the animals that are listed above and it was a very pleasant scene until the horrible wild dogs came and chased them away. We were terribly outraged at that!!!!! Later that day we went to the Botswanacraft so my mom could get some more wall hangings. Kuno also got a sling shot so he practiced with that for most of the day.

For the record: we saw at the Gaborone Game Reserve (in no particular order): ostriches, warthogs, springbok, an unidentified African eagle, pheasants and guinea fowl, vervet monkeys, impala, some kind of geese, some kind of white heron or cranes, meerkat, dassies, zebra and kudu. It was really a remarkable game drive. We were there when the place opened at 6:30 am and it had rained heavily the night before which may have contributed to all of the sitings. It was a lot of fun! The Gaborone Game Reserve is a small but delightful reserve more or less right in town. There are actually lots of animals to see, especially if one gets there early in the morning.

Settling In...

This week has been pretty painful. I went back to Road Transport and Safety on Wednesday and was brought almost to tears as I was told I needed not just a certified copy of the seller’s ID, but of her passport. The only way that that could be overruled was if I got into my still unregistered car and drove to another office and met with Mrs Mabule. Fortunately, Mrs Mabule decided not to press the issue and I finally got the ownership transferred and car registered. I followed up on some leads for car insurance where they suggested I needed a letter from my insurer at home on my driving record. This makes sense though I did not have it and did not feel I could get it easily. Instead I will pay the premium rate which looks to be about $200 for the six months. While the agent worked on that she gave me temporary coverage, very efficient I thought. Then I went with Charles to transfer water, electricity and the security system. That all went remarkable smoothly as well, though took time. Yesterday we got Mave a cell phone which made her very happy.

On Tuesday I had had three goals: register the change of ownership on the car, get car insurance, and sign my lease for the flat – and then later in the day to go to the mall and get some new bed sheets and some groceries, finally. Well, I was quite lucky to accomplish two of those. First thing in the morning, though, Moses ordered a taxi to go buy a new battery for the car. Fortunately, he was very successful with that and we were soon, finally, mobile. On Monday we had met a very nice American Fulbright family, the Nitzas, who live a few flats down and had offered for the kids to come by and hang out if need be. I took them up on the offer knowing that the Department of Road Transportation and Safety would be nowhere for kids to hang out. That was a true godsend. Moses and I set out for there quite late (11 ish) only to be informed upon arrival that we needed a certified copy of the seller’s ID – not that that is stated anywhere on the form. So I called Francine at the Embassy and she was quite gracious enough to send her driver who brought the certified copy of the ID and the ID, just in case. But I was number 216 and they were just calling number 67. I somehow thought that if I returned in the afternoon (after the hour closing at lunchtime) I would still accomplish my task, but of course that was not the case. I realized that upon our return and decided to bag Road Transportation and Safety and see if I could at least do some of my business at UB. The kids were good for another couple of hours at the Nitzas’ house. At UB we had a wonderful experience, in strong contrast to the previous, thanks in large part to Leps Malete who, with John Holm via email, has been helping me out immeasurably. I think I was actually supposed to go by and see the Housing Manager before just moving in, but had been told that June 5th was the date and so had just moved in. It was not a problem as that had been the plan all along and I was given the formal letter allocating the flat to me for the grand sum of 2700 pula per month (about $350). This is a terrific price and will allow me to also hire some help a day or two a week which will be greatly appreciated. I also got letters of affiliation and letters for the library and IT office, so I am in great shape. This was a tremendous relief. I have been so impressed with UB in every interaction with them. With the allocation letter I could undertake another series of tasks, namely switching over the utilities.

After picking up the kids at the Nitzas, there was still time to go to Riverwalk although by that time we were all pretty hot and tired, not a good combination for shopping. We went to Mr. Price and got some nice bed sheets and pillows for the kids and a couple of coffee mugs though there is so much more we could get. We also went to Pick ‘n Pay for some groceries; we got quite a lot and that took quite a long time. At that point Mave wanted to go somewhere for dinner and the rest of us just wanted to go home, which we did. I was looking forward to a glass of wine which we had bought at the grocery store. Kuno had earnestly looked to find Yellow Tail for me and instead found something from South Africa called Tall Horse with a giraffe on a label that looked somewhat like the yellow tail labels. He only lamented that he could not find all the different colors. The Shiraz was quite good and I look forward to trying some others!

These first few days have been pretty hard on Kuno and Mave. The weather is very, very hot. We have only just moved into our flat after long travels and two hotels. They have been hearing for such a long time what a wonderful experience this is going to be and I think they are waiting for that wonderful experience. Instead there are just a million errands and so on to take care of with only the occasional fanta, appletiser or movie on the computer to help their moods. Kuno has been very concerned that everyone is staring and laughing at him. I assure him that they are just curious about me. I remind him that President Ian Khama, like Barack Obama and Kuno and Mave, is the child of a white European or American mother and African father. Ian Khama’s picture is everywhere and this can clearly be seen. That seems to help a little. This is something that Kuno will work through as we spend more time here.

Moving into our Flat

(Pictures taken after we were in the flat for a while.)

At around 11 on Monday, Moses’ friend Masters came to transport us from the hotel to the flat. It took two trips with his smallish car and our four large suitcases. The place seemed very nice enough. It is quite close to the University; indeed, it is University housing and seems to be occupied mostly by expatriates from the rest of Africa, Europe and the US. Our flat is at the end of a row of about five two storey ‘flats.’ There is a security system, razor wire and a big padlock on the gate so I think we shall be safe. Inside, a good sized kitchen, large living and dining area with sofas and dining table and cupboards, a bath with washer and dryer and couple of roomy closets on the first floor. Three ample bedrooms on the second floor and a full bath with shower. Even air conditioning in the living area downstairs and master bedroom upstairs. But it also looked like it had not been well cleaned in ages and there were leftover items everywhere: all of the lotions and shampoos that the last six occupants had used, all of the bits and pieces of school supplies that previous families had used and a million different kinds of converters and adapters. Still, I could see the potential of the place though there was a lot of work ahead.

In the meantime, the goal for the day was to finally get hold of my car. To make a long story short, a neighbor and friend (and noted Bessie Head scholar), Mary, whom I had met here a few years ago helped to drive me out to Francine’s house where the French Embassy driver was jump starting the car – all that was needed I was assured. Delighted I drove back home again to Moses and the kids who had been promised a trip to the mall and dinner out. Once home however it became clear that the battery was dead and that we were not going anywhere. Everyone was at their wit’s end and the first thing we did was turn on the air conditioning and walk over to Choppies, the neighborhood store, and buy whatever Kuno wanted (mostly an ice cream). Mave later was enterprising enough to call a pizza place for some delivered pizza and that helped too. I continued cleaning and rearranging and throwing things out as I had been all day and by bedtime had things more or less the way I wanted them, give or take several things that we still needed to buy. We don’t have a landline and I am not sure that we want one, though then we may not be able to have the internet at home. But there are at least two very cheap internet cafes just around the corner and I will surely have access at UB. There is a small TV though it is not hooked up to anything and seems only to play a game that Moses and the kids are really enjoying. We do have a microwave, an iron and a hair dryer and various radios in addition to those that we brought. Our neighbors, Nigerians to the left and Ethiopians to the right, were talkative all evening long until a terrific thunderstorm shut and cooled everything down. The kids watched a movie on the computer and we all got to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour – before midnight that is.

Trip to Mmankgodi

On Sunday afternoon we had a real treat. Around 3 Masters came back to pick us up to take us about 40 km outside of Gaborone to Mmankgodi where he is building a house, some shops and more. But first we had to do some shopping for the braai that we would hold out at Masters’ place. That meant some water and juice, lots of meat and a few rolls. As we were driving around town I had a fleeting feeling of homesickness for Namibia – which Mave later announced as well. Windhoek feels much more cosmopolitan than Gaborone and certainly more 'developed.' In Windhoek, of course, I know my way around so well and will always run into familiar faces in town. I am not sure that in Gaborone people even go ‘to town’ in the way that they do in Windhoek. Gaborone is much more African with everything kind of jumbled together and by that I mostly mean the different neighborhoods. Really, that is also why I am so happy to be here – to be somewhere like that - rather than somewhere in which the 'townships' and 'suburbs' (and all the baggage that go with them) are so clearly demarcated. The two countries, though neighbors, have such vastly different histories, which surely account for the many differences one notices even at first glance.

We were soon on the road to Mmankgodi, having turned off from the Lobatse Road which we recognized as the road to the Mokolodi Nature Reserve, past the big Game City mall and the baboons by the side of the road. The countryside was relaxing – quite green with all of the recent rain - with many hills surrounding us. We passed through villages and settlements, stopping at one point to purchase some firewood from the side of the road. It was sitting there in a pile and we pulled over to wait for the kid who was tending it to come and get his money. He asked for 25 pula and Masters gave him 20. The village of Mmankgodi is fairly populous – though not by Botswana standards where villages can actually have in the tens of thousands of people. Most of the houses were made of cement or brick with mabati or corrugated iron roofs; some more traditional huts with thatched roofs. We passed by one very impressive compound with a high stone wall and lovely open structure inside; turns out it was the village kgotla. This is the gathering space where for generations Tswana men have gathered with their chief to discuss and decide upon village matters. Women and children could attend to listen but not speak. The kgotlas continue to this day and are venues for discussing development, education and other such issues. People contend that they go some way toward explaining politics in Botswana today, for example, why there are so few women in formal political institutions. Once at his plot we found the two Zimbabweans whom Masters has hired to thatch his roof. He says that many Zimbabweans are multiskilled; they are all over Botswana these days, given the dreadful situation in Zimbabwe. These two live in Gabane and are doing the work for him on a job or piece basis as they do most of their work. In the background we could hear music and drums farther into the bush from an apostolic church. As on the farm in Namibia, Kuno was thrilled to run around and play with the insects and plants and sticks and bones. As it got darker it finally got cooler we could hear the clanging of the bells as the cows started coming home. We enjoyed a typical assortment of beef, kidneys (which even the kids enjoyed), chicken and sausage cooked over a ‘grill.’ Once we had finished eating and could hardly see anything anymore we headed back to Gaborone. There was a huge line of traffic headed in the same direction as the weekend and the Xmas holidays were coming to an end and people were heading home. Back in the hotel we could not get to sleep until the wee hours of the morning. We will have to start waking up at 7 in the morning and no naps during the day to finally get back on a regular schedule.

Our Weekend at Cresta Lodge

Our clocks have been way off with all of us likely to be up for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. Our first couple of days at the Cresta Lodge have been rather difficult. We decided to stay here again as this is where we had stayed during our August 2006 trip and we liked it. I think this time we may have suffered from the effects of the long Xmas holiday. We were first put in a room that was really hot and even though the maintenance guys came to check it a couple of times, no improvement. Finally, today we realized that we just needed to change rooms and were immediately much more comfortable in a room with air conditioning that worked. There have also been more flies and mosquitoes than we expected. The internet was not working anywhere in the hotel and the pool was a big disappointment; not as clean as we would have liked. The kids jumped in and quickly out again Saturday morning. We were also still quite exhausted and I was having a hard time getting hold of the people I needed to in order to arrange our Monday morning move and and and. On Saturday night Moses’ Namibian-Tswana friend Master Jacobs Moelenyane joined us for dinner at Chatters. This time Moses had oxtail with pap and Kuno thought it looked really good!

This morning we slept till 10 after being awake for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. We all took showers which helped our moods and then went to OK Foods to get some cool drinks and Russians and chips. When we got back to the hotel we saw that the Business Center had been opened up after the Xmas holiday and so we could finally get online for a bit. The free weekend wireless from the hotel was unfortunately still unavailable. That helped to lift our spirits; we could catch up on what was going on at home and also let people know that we had arrived safely. Then we made the room change which lifted our spirits again.

Our Flights to Gaborone

Look who we met at the Dulles Airport.....

We left Newark early for our largely uneventful drive to Dulles International Airport. We got there in plenty of time to have a bite to eat and enjoy the quiet, rather empty airport. Our flight to Amsterdam was about 6 or 7 hours and marked our first introduction to pretty terrible KLM food. They did come around with glasses of champagne early on in the flight to welcome in the New Year. That was a nice touch. We were late leaving Dulles, cutting down on our already short layover in Amsterdam.

At the airport in Amsterdam we had to go from one terminal to another and were given the impression that we should board our next flight immediately. Knowing how bad the food was we tried to pick up something to eat; used some remaining euros to buy pringles and orange fanta. On the 11 hour flight to Johannesburg we at first had miserable seats; a back row of four seats which meant that the seats could not lean back though those in front of us could lean back on us. Fortunately, the flight was not all that full and we were all told that we could move around once airborne. We were fabulously lucky to find seats in a nearly unoccupied front section where each of us was able to claim a row of two seats with lots of leg room. There were also windows from which to view our trip. We had a magnificent view of North Africa and the Sahara Desert, though cloud cover seemed to move in as we moved south. As we got farther south still it became dark and we could see little. Again, while the snacks were good and plentiful the meals were terrible and when we arrived in Johannesburg late at night, in the middle of torrential rain and thunder and lightning we were tired and hungry. It took quite a while to get through passport control but then our luggage was right there much to our relief. Next we had to locate the shuttle that we had reserved to take us to the Garden Court Hotel. There was no one there with a sign to ‘greet’ us but there were a small bus and driver waiting for us in the hotel shuttle area. People at the hotel were very welcoming; because it was so late the restaurant and room service were closed and since we had no rands we could not even buy snacks from the vending machine. We made some tea and coffee in the room and were happy to have showers and beds to spread out on. We were all awake and ready to go by 7 in the morning when the breakfast buffet, included with the room, opened up. There was a great spread, though not very good coffee, and we all filled up. The weather was gorgeous though we spent most of the morning in the hotel room just relaxing before the final leg of the journey.

The Johannesburg airport was quite busy in the morning and we had to pay about 250 rand for excess luggage, having just made it under the 50 lb per bag requirement at Dulles. Oh well. If we had flown South African Airways the whole way it would not have been a problem but we had tacked on the last portion of the flight at the end. The flight to Gaborone was one of those small express planes and took just about one hour. When we got off onto the tarmac at Seretse Khama International Airport the sun was blazing; definitely the low 90s that we had read about in the weather forecast. We passed easily through passport control with no questions asked and were again happy to see all of our bags. Again a shuttle to the hotel was waiting for us and we were off to the Cresta Lodge where we had stayed on our first and last visit to Gaborone. When we got to the Cresta Lodge we were truly exhausted. After a bit, Kuno and I ventured out to the shopping center around the corner to get some vital groceries like water, coffee, evaporated milk, rusks and bananas. Food prices, like everything else, seem pretty high though fruit and vegetables seemed pretty cheap. After hanging out some more we went to the hotel restaurant, again in the middle of a thunder storm and had some dinner; Moses ordered a Botswana favorite: seswaa with morogo (greens) and pap.