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Baking in Botswana

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

After entering Botswana, we drove to the town of Kasane located on the banks of the Chobe River. We found the lovely, Water Lily Lodge (private bath, tv, air con, balcony overlooking the pool and river, $85 US/night) and were relieved to get their last room.

After checking in, our first stop was to look for an ATM as once again, we were changing currencies. After visiting a couple of ATMs, we discovered they didn’t recognize Cirrus so it was off to the bank to get a cash advance on our Mastercard. After standing in line for 45 minutes, we were able to take out the maximum for the day – the equivalent of $325 US. Luckily, our lodge and safari tour company took credit cards (with a 5% surcharge) but at least there weren’t any more long lineups.

We were fortunate enough in Zambia and Namibia to be able to use the Rand that we still had from South Africa when we needed to. In Botswana, the currency is called the Pula with the highest currency note being 100 (the equivalent of about $12 US).

Our next item of business was booking a sunset boat safari which we did through the Chobe Marina Lodge. While we were awaiting being served, loud squealing came from the reception area, followed by an adult male warthog chasing a young male warthog across the lobby tiles. The manager was right on their tail, trying to chase off the adult male. She advised he was attempting to kill the young warthog in order to mate with the mother. Apparently, the warthogs had run straight for a couple of young ladies who quickly took refuge on top of a bench.

We cruised down the river from 3:30 p.m until 6:30 p.m on a very spacious pontoon boat with about 30 other nature lovers, and 5 people (mid-30s) who thought they were on a booze cruise. They brought their own cooler of alcohol on board and got totally ripped, to the point of extremely loud voices, swearing, and one even passed out on deck.

Here we were, trying to observe hippos semi-submerged in the water, or a herd of elephants crossing the river, and these rowdies were spoiling it for everyone. I eventually reached my saturation point and told the captain to ask those people to be quiet (etc…). Not to single them out, he did make an announcement requesting silence on board at which point, the most obnoxious man of them stated, “It’s too quiet. Let’s make some noise!” They proceeded to carry on despite the glares and stares of all the passengers. After Fred complaining again to the captain, with negative results, Fred finally turned around and yelled at them to “Shut Up!!!”. I was anticipating a donnybrook to break out (fist fights and people getting thrown overboard with the crocs and hippos!) but these people were so into themselves, they didn’t even hear Fred.

When we finally got back to the lodge, we immediately went to the Manager and complained about their obnoxious, inconsiderate, deplorable behaviour. We were joined by several other passengers and soon thereafter; the rowdies. We ended up being about 20 people in the small bookings office, arguing with the drunks who said that “we ruined their boat trip because we were too quiet”. Yeah right…. I think they were from Botswana or possibly Zambia, and are used to seeing wildlife because they definitely weren’t on that cruise taking in the sights, just themselves. The other passengers were too intimidated to complain in front of these guys so it was just Fred and I. Anyway, I got into it with the one guy (it reminded me of my old policing days dealing with obnoxious drunks). We cancelled our jeep safari we were supposed to be taking with that company the next morning in case these jerks went on it (they said they were going to go on just to spite us).

We spent the next day relaxing by the pool and shopping for supplies in the town. There were huge lineups in all the stores, apparently from all the Zimbabweans who cross the border to buy things because of the shortages in Zimbabwe. At dinner, we were fortunate to meet a terrific couple from Pretoria, South Africa and they invited us to join them for an all day jeep safari in the morning.

The next morning, we enjoyed the sights with Richard and his wife Ronel, from the backseat of their brand new Toyota Landcruiser from 9 a.m until 3 p.m. Since the river separates Namibia from Botswana in the Chobe National Park, Richard’s GPS was frequently speaking, saying “You have just crossed the border” – we must have crossed the GPS border about 20 times. Since the GPS has a female voice, I said to Fred it’s a good thing we don’t have one, or he’d have two women telling him how to drive!

Our jeep safari was quite exciting, especially driving through herds of elephants crossing the dirt roads in front of us. On a couple of occasions, the elephants came right up beside the vehicle and really checked us out. At 4 metres in height, they are quite intimidating up close, especially knowing their unpredictable behaviour. There were a lot of mothers with their little ones trotting alongside and you definitely don’t want to get in between them.

We also saw massive hippos, both in and out of the water, water buffalo (not the herd of 300 that Richard and Ronel had seen a couple of days before though), baboons, monkeys, a very large iguana, herds of red letchwe, impalas, pukus, and kudu, and a few warthogs trotting around with their tails stuck in the air. We stopped for a well-stocked picnic lunch under a beautiful tree in the shade and returned back at the hotel by 3 for a quick refreshment before our 3:30 p.m sunset boat cruise.

This time, we were on a much smaller boat that left from our hotel with only our hotel guests on board (8 of 12 seats were filled). Our guide was able to manouver the boat through small tributaries which allowed us to get closer to the animals and see them enjoying their habitat. At one point, we cut the motor and sat for at least half an hour (or enough time to drink a couple of beer) and marvelled at a herd of at least 50 elephants playing in the water and eating grass to our left, 20 hippos semi-submerged in the water only 15 metres away, a large croc waiting patiently at the water’s edge only 8 metres from our boat, a small herd of giraffes and pukus on the opposite side of the river, a troop of baboons coming down from the hill in the distance, and a small herd of water buffalo on our right side. This is AFRICA! All with the sun beating down on us and a sultry 35 degree heat filled with humidity.

The four French people sharing the boat with Richard, Ronel and us appeared to be birders so we also took opportunities to photograph many exotic birds up close. Our guide was very knowledgeable with identifying the different birds and at right at sunset, there must have been over 200 birds come in from all directions and land in the trees right in front of us. While we were witnessing this special evening ritual, we also noticed a few crocodiles that were laying in wait of the baby impalas and baboons who were nervously pacing the water’s edge, beckoning courage to take a drink. I am sure if we had stayed longer, it wouldn’t have been long before witnessing the food chain in action.

We arrived back at the hotel after 7 p.m, and gratefully acknowledged the guide with a generous tip for all his efforts. We enjoyed spending another dinner with Richard and Ronel (and sharing some of Ronel’s delicious red wine) and learning about life in South Africa. For our teacher and police officer friends out there, they only get paid $1500/month, and the professions don’t hold near the respect that they do in Canada. Also, a household cleaning lady gets $200/month (for a 40 hour workweek).

The next morning, we were on the road again, heading south to Nata, then west across to Gweta. We hit a terrible pothole section, which was even sign-posted warning of “severe potholes”. At many points, we had to stop the car and survey the road and decide which way was the lesser of two evils. Sometimes, we even drove on the dirt track alongside the road in the ditch which was better than the road!

After 6 hours in the car, we finally made it to Gweta where we stayed at Planet Baobob (a dark hut with only a floor fan/private bath, exorbitantly priced at $120 US. Our twin beds were at least 25 feet away from each other so the fan could only reach one of us…and since I have a harder time sleeping in the heat, I got the fan). Not that it helped much – the mosquito net ended up blocking the breeze. The temperature outside was at least 35 C and our room temperature must have matched it. Needless to say, I was so uncomfortable I only slept for a couple of hours. At least I had the Lonely Planet close by; I ended up reading it for a few hours that night. We had also gone earlier for a swim in their very merky pool, and some creature ended up crawling up Fred’s arm.

We were up and out of there by 7:30 a.m enroute to the tourist town of Maun. After consulting the Lonely Planet, we headed first to Croc Camp and were delighted to find they had a private room with bath (and fan), for $85 US/night. We ended up staying there for two nights in a bungalow close to the river’s edge.

We booked a Mokoro trip on the delta and left at 8 in the morning. The camp’s speed boat took us to the location where the “polers” operate from. Here, Sault took us 1.5 hours through the heavy reeds to the bank of the delta where we then took a 1.5 hour walk through the delta in search of game. Before our walk, we had our “safety talk”, in regards to what procedure we follow if we encounter an aggressive water buffalo, elephant, lion, leopard, or rhino (the “Big 5”, the most dangerous wild animals). We saw lots of evidence of game (tracks, excrement, broken branches, etc), but no game. Since it was almost noon, and @ 40 degrees C, most of the animals would have been under shade.

We returned to where we docked the mokoro and had our lunch. I asked Sault if he had ever been threatened by an animal and he said he had, about 3 weeks ago, with 7 tourists, they became between a mother elephant and her infant and she charged them. He and all the tourists high tailed it and luckily, escaped without further incident.

On our way back, we had the opportunity to go for a swim in the delta in a deep, sandy area. Given the temperature, I didn’t have to be asked twice if I wanted to go in (crocs, hippos, or not). Supposedly, there were none in this area . . . but you never know. Anyway, we spent about 20 minutes enjoying the refreshing delta waters.

We asked Sault about his position as a “poler”. He gets paid 150 Pula and the lodge charged us 575 Pula each. Good thing we tipped him 50 Pula as he is trying to afford a new mokoro (1200 Pula) and the current one leaked. I was envisioning having to get out, half way up the delta, and walk through the chest-high, croc infested waters. Sault took an empty plastic water bottle and dipped it in the delta then drank from it, so hopefully, this body of water doesn’t have Bilharzia in it.

He told us all about the procedure about becoming a poler (there are 600 in the village) and 65 Assistant “guides” which he is one of. They work on a rotation basis so he usually works 2 or 3 times a week. Sault is 37 years old, with a 25 year old girlfriend, and had 6 kids (one has died).

From Croc Camp in Maun, we drove 10 hours, over the Botswana border at Martin’s Drift into South Africa. While driving those many hours, we passed the Kalahari Desert area, and had to stop repeatedly for herds of goats, donkeys, and cattle. It was interesting to see the rural life of the Botswana people – housed in tiny, circular mud huts with thatched roofs.

Fast Facts about Botswana (from the 2007 Lonely Planet Edition)

achieved democracy in 1966
has very few roads
landlocked
roughly the same size as Kenya, Texas, or France
population 1.61 million
they have an easy-going and unhurried approach to life (Fred and I thought this was very evident, we were under the impression that all those in the service industry were on valium)
expensive to visit
highest ratio of AIDS vs. population in all of Africa
subsequently, their life expectancy is now projected at 27 years of age!

Bye from Botswana!

Lisa n Fred