Mokolodi Nature Reserve

We don’t come to southern Africa to see animals, but since we did not get to visit the Nata Bird Sanctuary, go into the Okavango Delta or make it to our favorite Khama Rhino Sanctuary I thought maybe we should do a two hour game drive at nearby Mokolodi Nature Reserve on Sunday morning. We have been there on a couple of occasions in the past and have not been so impressed; indeed the Gaborone Game Reserve in your own car is often better. Anyway, the most pleasant surprise was that our guide was Vivian, who was our guide on our two visits to Khama Rhino Sanctuary in 2009. It was great to see her again! The hippos and rhinos eluded us but we did manage to see a whole lot of other animals and birds: impala, warthogs, wildebeest, guinea fowl, kudu, fish eagles, Egyptian geese, zebra, ostrich, giraffe and baboons. Wildlife photos courtesy of Kuno.

Two Kombis to Game City

Mave realized recently that she had never ridden in a kombi – the ubiquitous white vans that efficiently and effectively provide most of the public transportation within Gaborone and also to some of the outlying areas (with large busses covering the more distant villages, towns and cities). So she proposed that late Saturday afternoon she would meet her friends Leoni and Mabedi at ‘their’ school, MAP, and they would take a kombi together to Game City Mall for an evening movie and dinner. We would then pick her up afterwards. Well, mission accomplished. It turns out, she said, that it takes two kombis to get to Game City – first one to the bus station and then another to the mall.

Thapong Visual Arts Centre

I dragged Mave and Kuno to the Thapong Visual Arts Centre today to see the exhibit of Batswana artists that opened last Friday. The art center is more or less right across from where we used to live in Village. There is always lots of activity going on with artists on the premises doing pottery, linocuts and other art forms. We saw lots of oil and acrylic on canvas as well as sculptures and lots of multimedia. Now looking forward to a last long weekend in Gabs before heading back to USA on Monday afternoon/evening.

Ramotswa

So this morning Leloba and I traveled to nearby Ramotswa, a village south of Gaborone on the Lobatse Road. Our destination was the kgotla and tribal office of the Balete where we met with Kgosi Mosadi Seboko, Botswana's first woman paramount chief. Her installation in late August 2003 was attended by royal representatives from neighboring countries as well as Botswana, the diplomatic community, members of parliament, current and past presidents and more. She is actually the one who gave me the idea for my current research project when I interviewed her two years ago. She is much admired by women and men chiefs and many others.

Thabantle

Our friends have a weekend cottage at a place called Thabantle about 50 kms south of Gaborone on the road to Lobatse. It is near the Nnywane Dam; it used to be a farm and has now been carved up into about 40 four acre pieces. Slowly people are building small houses and the land is even being stocked with wildlife like kudu and zebra. Mave and Kuno were able to spend part of the weekend or the whole weekend there while I had to attend to some other business, though I at least got to join them for lunch. Speaking of which, some of the items for lunch were ditloo, very nice Setswana beans, kudu and snoek. I understand that once I left there was other game like impala and eland.

Palo Batho: 2011 Census

Botswana truly is an amazing country. It is census time and so one can see census takers all over town smartly dressed in their census t shirts and hats (and black slacks it appears) and carrying large pale yellow cloth bags containing their census documents. They come into each house and sit down and enumerate the household. There are apparently 600 enumerators assigned to Gaborone’s many different neighborhoods. Each one has two weeks to reach an assigned set of households. And because we are living here at the moment, I, as head of our three person household, was interviewed as well. She thought she should skip over the questions about whether I had cattle or land but I wanted to hear them all. Censuses have led to conflict in Africa, especially the question about ethnicity (as it will reveal which group is larger, due more resources etc). This census asked what language is spoken at home, which is one way of getting at the ethnicity question. Also lots of questions about what the house is constructed of and access to electricity, toilets, and the internet. I hope the internet question will reveal the need for a major upgrade! The last population and household survey was in 2001.

School's Out!

As noted, Mave and Kuno have been attending their respective schools for the last two weeks, Maru a Pula and Thornhill, when we were not away. They would go in a couple of hours late and then attend classes and hang out with their friends. Well, now it is school break and so next week Kuno will attend a camp at Northside, which he has attended before, and Mave will attend Setswana Week back at Maru a Pula. Perfect! The University of Botswana is on the same academic calendar, more or less, as universities in the USA, but the primary and secondary schools are on a southern African schedule, namely, three months on and one month off – that is the rotation for the whole year. Above, some of Kuno’s friends at Thornhill.

Puppies and Friends in Gabs

As mentioned previously, we are staying in the ‘guest cottage’ (pictured above) in the garden/yard of a friend and colleague from UB. They have two daughters living at home a little younger than Mave and Kuno and the four of them get on famously. In addition, there are seven newly born puppies that provide amusement all afternoon. Kuno describes himself in this photo as the ‘puppy hotel.’

The first woman chief to have ever sat in the House of Chiefs, Kgosi Banika, is still Kgosi in Pandamatenga, in Chobe Region. She said it is not far from Gabs – a one hour plane ride to Kasane from Gabs and then a short car drive. I had decided that we would unfortunately not be able to travel there, and so I arranged a mobile phone interview with her which I conducted yesterday. Another impressive Kgosigadi!

Saturday was for Funerals

I have been reading a heartrending and also hopeful book called Saturday is for Funerals by Motswana novelist and Judge Unity Dow in collaboration with Max Essex from Harvard. The book is about how Botswana, with one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world (in a region with the highest infection rates in the world), managed to turn its epidemic around. Indeed across Africa infection rates are down and access to treatment is up, with Botswana at the forefront. Testing became an ‘opt-out’ rather than ‘opt-in’ procedure, government clinics were established, doctors and nurses were trained and ARVs are now available to all who need them. As the end of the book notes, forward thinking leadership was one of the key ingredients. The worry now is that government may not be able to sustain the access to treatment for all; the expenditures have already been described as ‘unsustainable.’ Then what?

2500 kms

By my calculations, we (I) drove about 2500 kms during our five days away. That is only about 500 kms per day and for the most part that is about what it was, but still this is driving that takes great concentration, as noted, given the narrow two lane roads, occasional potholes, frequent animals (with constant reminders of the danger in the form of skid marks and carcasses on the side of the road), huge trucks, high speeds, constant passing, many villages requiring slowing to 80 kms or else, and so on and so forth. We have a hired Toyota corolla (with a memorable number plate) that I thought might be too small for our travels, though it is a luxury vehicle compared to what I usually have. It has proved to be very hardy!

Still we saw many interesting things along the way: sadly, we never saw any elephants crossing, but on our way back from Maun to Nata we did watch as a ‘herd’ of 18 zebra crossed the road in front of us! During our early morning driving the birds were our stubborn companions. Hornbills in particular do not want to get out of the way of oncoming vehicles, but they are too big to be ignored. We also saw guinea fowl that can do great damage to windscreens and doves and other birds.

When not driving through the pans on the Francistown Maun route we saw an array of trees including mapani, marula, and the fattest baobabs I have ever seen. Once near the pans the soil – and the termite hills – all turned white.

Coming out of Maun on our return we saw lots of ipelegeng: people engaged in government sponsored low wage temporary work, including painting red and white curbs, cutting grass along the side of the road, mending fences, digging trenches, and collecting trash. Indeed, Botswana has to be one of the cleanest places; all the compounds that we passed were neat and tidy as well. We also saw one small settlement where people were collecting grass into bundles to sell for thatching roofs or had made it into brooms.

Francistown

On Sunday night after our visits to Sebina and Mosojane we arrived back in Francistown, for the last of our nights away. We stayed in a hotel rather than an inn or lodge and Mave and Kuno were delighted to have internet and dstv! Once again we had not managed to avoid some nighttime driving so were relieved to arrive safely at our destination. Francistown is located at the confluence of the Tati and Inchwe Rivers and near the Shashe River; indeed it seemed we drove over a dry Shashe River many times in our nearby travels.

In the morning, we had a glance at Francistown, mainly a drive up and down Blue Jacket Street, a genteel street that forms the core of the city center. This road runs east of and parallel to the railway line and has formed the town center since Francistown was founded at the turn of the 19th century. (Today Francistown, like other Botswana towns and cities, is full of modern malls that are the more likely shopping destinations.) Francistown is Botswana’s second largest city and very close to the border with Zimbabwe (from where it has received a serious influx of immigrants in the last decade or so, though has abated). It was founded as a gold mining and railway center, and mines and the rail line are still important to the area. Francistown is also home to the Supa Ngwao Museum, but I could not convince anyone to make a visit.

Mosojane

After our stopoff in Sebina we headed to Mosojane which was going to be a little bit more work. From Sebina we turned onto the road to Masunga which can barely accommodate the width of two cars; after Masunga we picked up a gravel road to Mosojane. Our destination was the home of Kgosi Fredah Mosojane, subchief and elected member of the House of Chiefs from 2004 to 2009. Mosojane relocated to Mosojane around 2002 when she became subchief. She rebuilt the home that had been her father's, who had been chief from 1945 to 1967. A very candid - and insightful - discussion. Although the area is so dry Mosojane has a garden full of kale, as well as other flowers and bushes.

Once on the gravel road one is traveling through the hills of the Dombo Shaba that house the ruins of the Kalanga Empire, somewhat like Great Zimbabwe in Zim. Indeed, there are massive boulders piled high all around. There is an annual festival that takes place around the beginning of October; we also passed a lodge and cultural village that facilitate outsiders' access. Once again, too bad we did not have more time.

Sebina

We were up early again on Sunday to head back toward Francistown, stopping off in Sebina and Mosojane for more interviews. Sebina is just off the main road to Francistown, not too far from Masunga which is the administrative capital of the North East District. This area is home to the Bakalanga. Our goal was to interview Kgosi Shatani Kgakanyane who has been a headman of arbitration since 2001 and served as a specially elected member of the House of Chiefs from 2007-2009. Another enlightening interview for sure!

Dinner at the ORL

On Saturday we were quite beat after our quick trip to Ghanzi and back, and so after another quick stop in town headed back to the Okavango River Lodge. Again, recognizing the clientele of an establishment such as this one, the place is very nice; the bungalows very comfortable, the kitchen good, and the outdoor seating very inviting. You can get some tiny feel for what it must be like to go out into the delta. For dinner we invited Godi’s daughter Koki, who had helped to arrange our stay here, and her and Leloba’s friend Bonty, both of whom live in Maun. Bonty is actually Bontumile Bontekanye who is, among other things, an accomplished author of children’s books which we will pick up at Botswanacraft.

We had a very enjoyable evening of bunny chow (beef curry from Durban) and drinks. It was a very nice way to end our short sojourn in Maun. We turned in early given that we had to rise early the next morning. At about 9 the music and dancing began. Mave lamented from our bungalow that they were playing all of her ‘favorite songs’ including, a speeded up Waka Waka.

Ghanzi

This morning we were up and out early to head south to Ghanzi – and back – to interview Kgosi Tsaxlae Xao, a specially elected chief in the House of Chiefs and headman of record in Grootlagte. We were very lucky to find her in Ghanzi. It was a very moving interview; for her the challenges of life are as much about being a Mosarwa, or San, as they are about being a woman and a woman chief.

On our family trips to and from Gaborone and Windhoek we have always seen the turnoff to Ghanzi but never been there. It is a small town, the administrative capital of Ghanzi District and ‘capital’ of the Kalahari; Afrikaners arrived in 1870 and they seem to dominate still today.

Maun

I was very happy to get off the road and finally reach Maun. Godi’s daughter Koki had recommended the Okavango River Lodge which is very reasonably priced. Many of the people staying here camp while the rest are in little bungalows. It is only tourists who stay here, mostly European and South African, but that would seem to represent Maun well in general. All over town we see the overland safari vans from one company or another. It is quite something! Our goal for the day was to interview Kgosi Kealetile Moremi and in that we were successful. We found her at her kogtla and had a lively discussion.

Maun is Botswana’s fifth largest town and the center of the Ngamiland District. It is clearly the headquarters for the tourist companies that serve the Okavango Delta; some of those people come overland but many fly right into the delta - indeed we saw many small planes overhead. There are dozens and dozens of camps and lodges in the delta. Maun was founded in 1915 as the capital of the Batawana people and that was what brought us to Maun – the (acting) paramount chief of the Batawana.

Nata

Nata is a small village in the Central District that lies along the Nata River. It is home to the community run Nata Bird Sanctuary but mainly a refueling and stopover place for tourists headed to Maun or Kasane, or more likely the mammoth lorries headed into Zambia. Indeed at the filling station there was hardly a Botswana number plate to be seen. In Nata we overnighted at the Nata Guest Inn - rudimentary. We were only there to sleep before heading off for Maun at around 9 after vetkoekies and biltong from the filling station and shakes and smoothies from Wimpy’s. Our drive to Maun was fairly uneventful, a much easier three hour drive than the night before from Francistown to Nata. At one point the Nxai Pan National Park was on our right and the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park to our left. We encountered more donkeys than cattle. After Gweta we saw several pairs of ostriches and even a lonely zebra. Just as often we would see the ubiquitous red and white solar powered cell phone towers. We arrived in Maun around midday; had to rush to the Okavango River Lodge to change into clothes suitable to interview Kgosigadi Moremi.

Elephants Crossing

On Thursday I had an appointment at the Department of Tribal Administration in the morning but we could not leave for Nata, en route to Maun, until around 2 pm when Leloba finished teaching. We knew that we were leaving late if the goal was to reach Nata by evening; indeed, the most optimistic scenario would put us into Nata around 8, four hours to Francistown and then two more to Nata, arriving in Francistown as it got dark and then driving in the dark to Nata.

Well, the drive on the A1 to Francistown was not bad; it is always a shame when already at Rasesa the four lanes become two and then all of the driving becomes about overtaking the mammoth lorries making their way from south to north (SA to Zambia or Zim) and slowing down to 80 km for each village along the way. Outside of the villages, the speed limit is 120 km per hour which is about what I was doing the whole way. Still I did manage to get a 500 pula speeding ticket in the way that everyone does in Botswana – by not slowing down fast enough when entering the next village. I was going 100 km in an 80 km zone. The police officer thought it was very funny that I am a professor.

Past Mahalapye and Palapye the traffic eased up a bit; the landscape changed – more sparsely populated and lots of Mopani trees – with lots of people selling the wood of the Mapani. We got to Francistown in the dark around 6:30 though it was well after that and a pit stop that we managed to get on the road to Nata.

At that point we might have been somewhat foolhardy. While we could have overnighted in Francistown we decided to push on to Nata. The road was the most narrow of two lane roads and seemed to drop off on either side. While there was not much traffic there was more than I would have liked, especially again the mammoth lorries. On the left where the road met the shoulder were inevitably deep potholes and on the right the trucks. And then of course the other nighttime driving worry: animals, in particular cattle. We found only one group in the road in front of us (black and grey to blend into the night) and for them we were given lots of warning from the drivers ahead of us. We found many groups grazing on the side of the road, enough to persuade me to slow down considerably. At Dukwi, home to a refugee camp and major truckstop, we were directed through a cattle dip; we had to wipe our shoes and then drive the car through. That was a first for me. Aside from some Kingfishers and Hornbills and hares (on the road to Francistown), we saw no other wildlife. We did, however, see an elephant crossing sign! There is apparently a herd around Nata, but that is more commonly encountered on the road out of Nata to Chobe.

Sparkling Pear Juice

And then there was peartiser…..first appletiser and then red and white grapetiser and now peartiser. But it is not selling in Botswana yet, only in SA. And so a can costs about 15 pula, at least twice what an apple or grapetiser would cost! Kuno found them at Delis when we went to the Craft Market in Broadhurst in search of gifts for the dikgosigadi. We found handbags locally crafted from German print cloth, blue and brown of course. I hope that they will be liked. Will also impart a book and my women mps article.

In the Garden

We have nice warm days though the evenings and early mornings are still quite chilly.

The garden where we are staying is lovely – full of cactus, in particular!

Mave and Kuno spend their mornings and sometimes afternoons at their respective schools, Maru a Pula and Thornhill, though they arrive only at the morning break, not at the start of the school day at 7. No one seems to mind in the slightest. I am then free (this week) to make appointments and arrangements for our first trip – to Maun and Ghanzi – to meet some of the women chiefs. Very excited!

Gaborone Roads Upgrade

A major project has been underway for some time to expand some of the most heavily trafficked roads in Gaborone – upgrading from single lanes in each direction to four lane thoroughfares. At the moment the road from town to Tlokweng and the Samora Machel which leads to Game City and Lobatse are under reconstruction. As all of the work takes place, roads are closed and for some reason robots (traffic lights) are out at many intersections. Yet drivers seem remarkably patient, even kombi drivers, taking turns to let each vehicle pass. I understand that people are seeing the benefits of the upgrades.