Manyelanong Vulture Colony at Otse

On Sunday exploring Gaborone’s environs took us to Otse, about 50 km south toward Lobatse and South Africa. There is a very nice place there called Camphill, a center for 'handicapped' children where they learn and make various arts and crafts which they then sell. There is also a lovely nursery with house and garden plants and vegetables as well as a café for lunch. We had lunch there and then headed into Oste village in search of the Manyelanong Game Reserve where Botswana’s largest vulture colony makes its home – a colony that has been dwindling in recent years. Most of the trip in to see the vultures is a gravel road, that becomes quite sandy the farther in one drives. I was a little worried whether we would make it with our small Toyota Tazz. Leloba was along with us and she saved the day as we were nearly stuck in the sand but she drove us out. We did see the vultures soaring high overhead as well as the caves in the side of the hills where they live and the guano covered cliffs everywhere. All along the way from Gaborone to Otse and back whenever we passed through a village there were lots of boys and young men out playing soccer in what looked to be municipal playing fields. It seemed to be quite organized with each side having its own shirts and so on. Oh, and in case you are wondering, Manyelanong means 'where vultures defecate' in Setswana - a reference to the white covered cliffs.

The rains seem to have abated for the moment - I am not sure whether they might actually be over – and hot is back. Over the weekend crews were out all over town repairing the roads, which desperately need it! With all the rain the grass is also impossibly high and again on the weekend there were crews out cutting the grass by hand. They don’t use machetes, rather a long instrument called a grass slasher. I realized that we have three of these at home in one of the closets and as soon as we got home Kuno grabbed one to go out and slash the grass in the backyard. It is really important for driving that the grass on the side of the road be slashed – otherwise you cannot see what is coming far ahead or what animals might be there ready to dart across the road.