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…..
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…..
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