Sunday, December 9, 2007 – squinting through bug guts looking for cows
Dear friends/family,
Well I’ve finally made it back to Maun but not without a little travel trauma, of course (didn’t I get stuck in an airport for 12 hours last time?). There I was Thursday morning innocently packing, debating a couple of B+ grades in stats that were teetering on A-, preparing to write my post-sabbatical project report (due the week before) when I get a call from the airlines saying my 2:30 PM flight to DC has been canceled but they booked me on a 10:30 AM one. Not a problem except… it’s 9:30 AM and impossible for me to be to the airport on time! Yikes!
The world spins into a frenzy… I’m hands free on the cell phone, shoving things in a suitcase, trapped in endless voice automated “assistances” (right!) trying to find another way north to catch my 5 PM departure to Johannesburg. Apparently, the “voice recognition system” doesn’t recognize a crazed mad woman on the other end because it (finally) boots me to a human who I am rude to (unreasonably rude…I apologize in the end) who ultimately re-books me with a different airline through another city only to first get disconnected (no I am not kidding) and second tell me that she cannot re-book me because her airline doesn’t “own” my ticket (I really don’t care who owns it…just FIX it!). So I skid into the a short term parking lot at the airport with 35 minutes until take off, throw a $20 bill in my glove compartment to (hopefully) cover the fee until me saintly landlords can come and retrieve my car later and I am on my way! Phew! That was close. Anyone out there ever end up leaving several hours BEFORE their scheduled flight?? This is a first for me.
So I fly from GSP to Charlotte to DC with plenty of time to spare but still wondering what I might have overlooked in the frantic packing frenzy. I guess I’ll just live without it.
There are many words you never want to hear a pilot say some of which include, “this is the second longest flight in the world.” Sixteen hours later, 3 movies, half an ambien, a few hours of cramped sleep, way too many screaming kids to count and I am finally there…Johannesburg. Paul is waiting in the masses of people and he whisks me off to the hotel where I promptly collapse.
We spend the night in Joburg before heading out for the 14 hour drive to Maun. Quick stop in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, where Paul picks up a car full of equipment for the internet company he’s started up and we’re on the road again. Unfortunately, I’m too buggered to drive so poor Paul has to do it himself (I simply couldn’t be trusted on the wrong side of the road, with a 4x4 full of computer equipment, and animals to dodge…too much responsibility, not enough sleep).
I did, however, do my copilot job of squinting through the squashed bug guts trying to spot cows to avoid hitting them once it got dark. This sounds like a simple task but don’t be fooled. I have never, in all my life, seen so many bugs smashed on a windshield as I did last night. Seriously, if you took every bug I had ever seen squashed on a windshield and multiplied by 1000, it still wouldn’t have equaled the carnage we saw last night. So I squinted through one marginally clear opening looking for cows (and donkeys) that might decide to walk across the pitch dark road. Donkey to your left. Cows crossing ahead. I felt like we were navigating a nuclear submarine around explosive (yet cheeky) whales. And you wouldn’t think it would matter if it was a donkey or a cow but it does. Donkeys typically stand still while cows (especially young ones) potentially jump out into on coming traffic…don’t know why…maybe it’s a death wish.
Fortunately, we made it. It took me 45 minutes to scrape the bugs off the front of the vehicle this morning while Paul packed the other vehicle for our trip to the Kalahari for the next couple of days. I’m really looking forward to getting back out into the bush. I’ll write more when I get back.
Kristy
Friday, December 14, 2007 – Kristy the cat woman
We’ve just returned from our three day camping trip in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR is about the size of Ireland!). This is Paul’s favorite area of Botswana, where he has spent many years of his life, a place that feels like home to him. In some ways it is not at all what I imagined it to be. When one thinks of the Kalahari you envision miles and miles of endless sand and what we actually encountered is a series of pans (flat areas with a small rise encircling it) filled with scrub brush and bright green new grass from the recent rains.
Our first camp site is unbelievably beautiful and peaceful. Situated on the edge of Tau Pan (meaning “lion’s pan”) we can see clear across it observing grazing herds of all types of animals: gemsbok (massive antelope like creatures with amazing black and white face markings and long 3-4 foot straight horns), springbok, wildebeest, and giraffes. On our early morning and later afternoon game drives we encounter curious jackals that have the sweetest slanty little eyes and the light footed trots of a long distance runner. They run a bit away from us then stop to turn around and give us a closer look. One of them stays with our vehicle for quite some time, running ahead a bit, then stopping in the middle of the road head cocked like a household dog as if to ask for a treat. At night they make the strangest haunting howl/cry that sounds like nothing I’ve heard before and would be very eerie and creepy if I hadn’t seen how cute they are in the daylight…the famous “cry of the Kalahari.” On our third night, one is even so cheeky as to walk right through camp (within 3 feet of us)! It was a little frightening to see movement out of the corner of my eye coming up from behind the tent in the pitch black but he just trotted right through not missing a step, glancing over at us as he went by.
On our second morning there, while squatting under an acacia tree (OK, how much detail do you really need?) I look across the way and think “hey, that kind of looks like a cheetah.” Trying to focus as much as I could (no binoculars, just toilet paper and matches) I think “no, no, must be a stump.” I continue to squat and watch “it” until it lies down and at which point I promptly pull myself together and quietly make my way back to the tent whispering “Paul, cheetah” which of course he doesn’t hear. Now that’s a first…I’ve never seen a cheetah 100 yards away while doing my morning business.
Paul has come to call me “Kristy the cat woman” as this was not my only big cat spotting on the trip. Still suffering a bit from jet lag I dozed off a little on our drive between the two camp sites we stayed at. Upon waking I immediately look off to an “island” of acacia trees about 500 yards away and say, “hey, are those lions?” Sure enough we drive over to get a closer look and there are six lions trying to escape the bloody hot Kalahari heat. The two adolescent cubs take one look at us and decide to “gap it” (run away in the other direction). Their poor overheated parents lethargically look at us, look at the cubs, look back at us and only after some consternation does the mom decide she better go and see where they ran off to (damn kids!). The other three yawn a bit and rest their heads back down exhausted from the heat.
The other animal highlight of the trip was seeing a meerkat colony. Paul knew of a place where, if you parked the vehicle and walked a ways out from the road and just waited, the cute little critters would start popping up their heads. Once they realized we were not a threat, they just resumed going about their normal activities: sentinel up watching, pups out playing, others digging out new holes. It was our own “Meerkat Manor” (just like on the Discovery Channel). Very cool!
Camping in the Kalahari is not for the uninitiated. To call it “remote” is an understatement. In three days we only saw two other vehicles. It is one of the few areas in the world where you can be sure you’re the only human being for a hundred miles in any direction. You must pack in all your necessary supplies including water and fuel. One afternoon it got up around 40 degrees Celsius (well over 100 degrees). One night the wind picks up so strong from an oncoming storm that I lie awake fearing we’ll be blown away and no one will know! Thunder booming, tent stakes holding on for dear life, side of the tent compressing up against my body and Paul snoring away like a baby! At night, with our one light on to see for cooking we attract a world of beetles and flying bugs. At dusk you can hear this low buzz off in the distance of millions and millions of bugs just humming away seemingly threatening to swarm at any minute. Despite my best attempts to acclimate, I occasionally let out a little squeal as rather large flying objects fly into me…aahh! While the camp sites we stayed at had a bucket shower and pit latrine, the latter was so infested with spiders that to squat under a tree was a better option. But it is beautiful, pristine, silent, untouched by many humans…the real Africa. It is worth the effort!
We return to Maun on Thursday to make an afternoon appointment for me with the regional AIDS coordinator (lest you think I am doing no work here at all!). While he is not there, despite the fact that Paul has set this meeting up weeks ago (welcome to Africa), we speak to the office staff about the possibility of assisting them in their efforts to combat the spread of this deadly disease. While appearing to me to be somewhat unenthusiastic, Paul’s read is that they are keen on having us help them with data collection, management and analysis. I find it so hard to read the differing cultural cues here but Paul felt it went very well and we were asked to come back on Monday to meet the director to discuss a possible pilot project for this summer. I was given a bunch of literature that is quite interesting regarding their efforts to encourage behavior change to reduce the spread of AIDS. I’ve spent most of Friday reading through the materials in preparation for Monday’s meeting. One interesting finding from a 2004 survey, for example, found that 28% of the population believed that witchcraft was a factor in HIV/AIDS. Fascinating!
More later,
Kristy
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 – my days in Maun
My days in Maun this visit are filled with reading, updating lectures and preparing for the Medicine class in the winter term. It is the rainy season here which means the glorious Botswana blue sky that I came to know and love this past summer is often riddled with white fluffy clouds and sometimes ominous looking storm clouds. We have had several “African rains” which means an unbelievable down pour which turns our sandy plot outside the house into “water front” property.
Since we now have internet at home, sometimes I stay there to work in the company of the ostriches, other days I come into the office to partake in the chaos that is Paul’s office block (e.g. someone at the desk next to me just shouted, “I don’t give a damn about F&*%ing dragon flies!!” – hate when conservationists get pissed off!). At home the bird population has shifted a bit. Not as many hornbills this time of year. My new favorites are the tiny little blue wax bills (slightly larger than my thumb with a bright blue underbelly). A small group of ostriches visit daily (about five of them) hoping for seed. One is very loyal and we’ve come to call her “Olivia”. Recently she seems to have hurt her right wing as it hangs down sadly as she walks. She still puts up a good fight, however, if the others hone in on her eats…opening her mouth and giving the others a blast of ostrich breathe (must be bad because they back away) and a good kick with her backwards bending leg (like a karate chop – “HUH! Step away from the bird seed”).
Much of Paul’s business life currently consists of trying to get his month old internet company up and functioning. Now, I would guess that most of you wouldn’t imagine that starting up an internet company requires climbing up 90 foot satellite towers to change out antennas and cards, etc. It is terrifying (for me to watch anyway!). Last night he was up there for about an hour swaying back and forth in the wind after hours so as not to disrupt anyone’s internet access. I could barely watch. My hands sweating, stomach feeling nauseous, wondering what the heck I would do if he fell in a town with no 911 service or a fire department with a truck ladder to retrieve his body from the tower! I’ve come to refer to it as “the tower of terror” and have insisted on some sort of safety rope so that he wouldn’t splatter on the ground if he fell (he has recently acquired a harness to “hook” himself in at the top while he works but it’s a free ascend and descend as he makes his way up and down like King Kong). Am I tough enough to live in this country?
Friday night we went to Audi Camp (the lodge/campground/restaurant that Paul used to co-own/run) to see a show. The current owner (a former dancer) and a local author had collaborated with “street kids” (teenagers who are not in school or employed) to put on a dance event. It took the story line of the author’s new book (“Patterns in the Sky” in which a young boy who wants to be an artist is forced to go into the wild and hunt to prove his manhood to his father) and choreographed dances to it. It was quite well done with creative costuming and local music. The event was followed by a buffet (all for a whopping 100 Pula…about $16).
Well, I’d better send this off. Paul has returned safely back from another trip up the tower of terror. I did get a bit of a fright when I heard a BANG while he was up there (I really can’t watch, I had to stay in the office). Fortunately it was just one of the safari guides from another office yelling at his wife (and co-worker) and slamming the door. Never a dull moment in Maun!
Friday, December 21, 2007 – nothing is easy here
Living in Africa surely makes you appreciate how “easy” everything is in the States. Here, every day something isn’t working and even the simplest tasks take on a whole new level of complexity. While I had achieved some comfort level over the summer with driving on the wrong side of the road and managing sand, I now have mud to contend with which is a whole new challenge! The trick now is picking between divergent spore (tracks in the sand paths) hoping the mud puddle up ahead (that you can’t see yet) is not as deep on the path you’ve chosen. Once upon it a quick assessment as to whether “through it” or “around it” is the wiser choice (sometimes around it is worse as you sink in the soft mud on the edges). All the while mud is splashing, the vehicle is gosling left and right, bucking through ruts and avoiding stumps (so as not to pop tires) and branches as you go.
The internet business continues to cause stress for Paul and his co-workers. It seems that the large amount of “static electricity” in the air from the weather is wreaking havoc on the system. Apparently Maun is one of the lightening capitals of the world, so the people Paul is coordinating with in Gabarone (the capital of Botswana) have not seen this type of problem before. One of their co-investors flew up yesterday to see if he could fix it. In true African fashion, however, his flight was canceled, then rescheduled, then delayed so he arrived several hours later than expected. When he got here, the new power source he thought had been loaded on the plane, hadn’t been, and to complicate things even more, when they went to go back up the tower at sunlight this morning at 5:30 AM (to work all morning before he departed at noon) it was “pissing down rain” so not much could be accomplished. He did manage to place, just before the sun set last night, a frayed copper wire at the top of the pole that kind of looked like an oversized chia head having a really bad hair day to “distract” the lightening. Their next task is to “earth” (read “ground”) the tower which is problematic as well since sand is impossible to “earth” in (they’ve developed some plan to dig trenches, bury things, wrap the bottom of the tower in matting…I don’t really know).
Today was even more challenging. Paul had to borrow a truck (“bakkie”) to borrow a ladder to remove a system (which he installed only 3 weeks ago but the people have decided to move to Australia…didn’t they know that 3 weeks ago??). When we picked up the bakkie it had a flat tire. We pumped it up. Loaded it up with poles, ladder, equipment, etc. Headed to the site for the next installation only to run out of gas (this vehicle is a real piece of work…among other things, it doesn’t have a functioning gas gauge or passenger side door handle for that matter). Once we found a jerry can, made our way back to the petrol station, refueled the vehicle with I siphon we were on our way again only to accidentally hit a branch with the poles to mount the satellite receiver and they promptly snapped in half! OK, I give up! How many things can go wrong in a day? We finally make it to the house for the installation. Get greeted by the requisite pack of dogs (most Maun residents own at least 4+ dogs), the workers climb up on the roof and after several hours of trying to pick up the signal realize the repairs Paul made to the antenna this morning at the office block may have slightly sent the signal in a different direction making it impossible to receive the signal from this location. So it’s close to 6 PM and he’s back up the tower of terror at the office block and I’m ready to collapse.
My attempt to make contacts with HIV/AIDS coordinators is comparably frustrating. After a failed attempt at the director with the meeting last week, we showed up Monday, when he was supposed to be in the office, but he wasn’t there. We got a phone number and called to schedule a meeting the next day, which he was late for and then politely asked us to come back later in the afternoon because he had missed a deadline in submitting his final yearly report and couldn’t talk to us then. When we did meet him, he have a very different story about the nature of data collection and analysis (his staff at the office last week said they needed lots of help with data collection, analysis, etc while he indicated that his office doesn’t do any of that but it comes from someone else??). Obviously someone is confused here. We have another appointment scheduled this afternoon with a different individual. We’ll see how that goes.
Monday, December 24, 2007 – happy festive season
Just a quick note to wish you all a happy “festive season” (that’s what they call the holiday season here…remember “holiday” means “vacation” so that wouldn’t work). It is a refreshingly non-commercialized Christmas here. No malls, no inundations of ads of the latest toys/products to buy, no rushing around to wrap a ton of gifts or mail out cards, and most employees get 2 ½ weeks of paid holiday leave for the festive season (pretty nice, huh?).
We’ve decided to forgo any big Christmas gift exchange between us and are giving what we might have spent on gifts for each other to the Zimbabwean refugees that live on the ostrich farm with us. We have purchases some small gifts for the 3 children of Joe’s who have come to visit him from Zimbabwe for the holiday (we didn’t even know he had kids!) and plan to give them cash for food, etc.
The “roll” of wrapping paper I purchased to wrap the gifts is a blatant reminder of the differences in our Christmases. It is the size of scrap paper most of us would simple discard as leftover paper. Being here at Christmas is a stark remind of how much we really have (and how little we really need).
Hope you all find some peace in the hustle and bustle.
Kristy
PS: I’ve written a modified Christmas song to suite Botswana (try singing it to jingle bells, I think I might have a hit here!)…
“trudging through the mud, in a 4x4 vehicle, on the spore we go, sliding all the way… bells on donkeys ring, making my nerves fray, what fun it is to buck and sway and in a muddy mess today – oh, donkeys here, stray dogs there, goats are in the way…”
Friday, December 28, 2007 – ex-pats, crime watch and dump(ed) kids
I hope you are having an enjoyable “festive season” (I actually think it is still going on up through New Year’s until about January 7…so keep enjoying!). We had a nice dinner with about 20 other ex-pats on Christmas eve and then spent a quiet Christmas day at home working on some projects around the house (Paul build a structure to fit in the back of the 4x4 that allows us to lay out the bedroll and sleep on top of it and store all of our camping equipment (tent, food, fridge, etc.) underneath it. It has been a rather wet rainy season here and we wanted to be self contained if we go out and get caught in a down pour (much of Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique are flooded limiting any travel plans we might have had to the north and east of us). We also built a nice outdoor shower...does one ever get used to showering and having ostriches parade by?
Christmas Eve dinner was quite an interesting experience. As I mentioned before, the ex-pat community is a fascinating group of people (all risk takers in some way). We included several Germans, a couple of Batswana, an Irish man, a couple of South Africans and of course me as the only real American (Paul is American by passport only in my opinion). The festivities began at about 1 PM and we didn’t eat until 7:30 PM (I should have had lunch before we arrived. I was so hungry even the chicken liver pate looked appetizing!). The meal, when it finally arrived, was delicious (turkey, gammon (which is ham), German potato salad, grilled vegetables, and tomato and feta salad). The only thing that was missing was stuffing and pumpkin pie (and my friends and family, of course).
Many conversations these days have turned to the rash of burglaries at homes and businesses in Maun. In the last week alone we have spoken to a liquor store owner, restaurant owner and several home owners who have been broken into. The consensus seems to be that the police are inept allowing the crooks to go on stealing with little recourse. We have installed a heat sensing voice activated system at the house which announces any type of “activity” at the front door or bedroom window, etc. So far we’ve tracked the late night activities of a pole cat, but nothing else.
The ex-pats have set up their own citizen crime watch group. Some have purchased short wave radio/walkie talkie type things that they report any suspicious activity on and other ex-pats come running (I believe they pay some sort of fee to be part of this). With police ineptitude at the level it is here, I guess it makes sense to pull together and protect oneself but it sadly invokes a feeling of “us against them” that just feels colonial or racist in some way.
Given weather constraints and work demands we decided to forgo our short camping trip north over Christmas for a longer trip south on the way back to Joburg to drop me at the airport. One of the projects we worked on over the last couple of days was cleaning out a storage container (literally the trailer of an 18 wheeler) at Paul’s office block to shift some things around and make some more room in his physical office. While not a particularly interesting job, the trip to the dump was eye opening.
After loading the pull behind camping trailer with discarded items (it was an historical journey through technological development with old versions of software dating back to the 1980s in there!), we headed to the dump. As we approached the site you could smell the burning trash. Unlike American dumps which tend to be massive heaps of garbage, without appropriate equipment to make a heap, Maun’s dump is a sprawling field of discarded items (about the size of 10 football fields). The first sign of life we see in the distance are giant storks picking through the rubble (the probably stand 4 feet tall!). Next comes the dogs… TWD or Third World Dogs as we call them, they all look quite similar…short haired, thin, with hungry eyes. Then I see them…the dozen or so kids that will soon descend on our trailer, climbing in to get first dibs on what ever is inside. They swarm like flies. They are filthy, most of them shoeless. They range in age from approximately 8 to 18. Most appear to be boys but with short hair cuts and pre-pubescent bodies it is hard to tell for sure. They dive in throwing trash here and there, occasionally snatching something that looks like it could be interesting (a colorful CD, which is part of a software package, but there is no way for them to know this). The first item snatched is a broken office chair. Others grab old plastic floppy disc containers. I can’t quite imagine what they will do with them. Although we are only there for a brief amount of time, there is clearly a pecking order here. The oldest kid arrives last, no need to hurry when you can simply take things from the younger ones. Paul asks the littlest one in Setswana if it is hard living here to which he replies, yes, sometimes it is rough. He openly stares at me. I can only imagine what he is thinking as he stares…white, pink, clean, privileged…
The memory of these kids haunts me a bit. Who are they? AIDS orphans? Do they live at the dump or are they just there to see what they might get? When is the last time they’ve eaten? Do they go to school? How many of them are HIV positive? What are their life chances? Can anything be done to help them?
Sometimes the inequities in the world are so stark and obvious it keeps you up at night.
Kristy
Saturday, December 29, 2007 – Kalahari dreaming
Well today is my last day in Maun for this trip. We delayed leaving until tomorrow and have spent the day shopping, packing and visiting people. The plan as it currently stands (things keep changing, perhaps there’s a lesson in here for me about letting go of the details and just going with it…I’m trying my best to embrace the African way) is to head south to the Transfrontier Park between Botswana and South Africa. We’ll spend several days camping and ultimately we’ll drive to Joburg to put me on the plane in a week (my flight leaves Saturday, January 5). The weather forecast looks clear so we’re hoping to avoid the rain and deep mud.
Just now the ostrich chicks have made their way up to our house and I can only imagine how big they will be the next time I visit. Currently they are chicken sized creatures with speckled feathers and slightly longer necks than an average bird (they look more like chickens than ostriches!) Sadly, I did not catch a glimpse of the monitor lizard reported to live under the storage container in the yard. I’ve seen the pattern of his tail in the sand but never seen him (rats!).
Fearing that my last email may have depressed you a bit, I’ve included a few pictures from our earlier trip to the Kalahari. Africa is stunning in both its poverty and its beauty. Hope you enjoy the attached.
I’m not sure when/if I’ll have internet access again so don’t worry if you don’t hear from me. I’ll be off camping somewhere. If I don’t contact you before then, I’ll let you know of my safe arrival back on American soil around January 6.
Cheers,
Kristy
PS: We’re hoping for a final attempt at a star show tonight using Paul’s new telescope. We’ve only had it out one other time due to the over cast skies but so far it is looking clear tonight so we are hopeful. If it stays clear we have a bunch of eager star gazers just a phone call away hoping to stop by. It would be a nice way to end my visit if the weather holds out.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
June - July 2007
June 15, 2007 – delayed in Paris
Ok, here's the latest update. I'm stuck in the airport in Paris until the red eye flight tonight (ugh!). I was delayed by 3 hours coming out of NYC and missed my connector. Now I'm trapped here all day and tired and starting to get cranky. But alas... all I can do is wait. And email until my computer battery dies (because why would I pack an adapter for Paris?? I'm only passing through, right?)
June 18, 2007 – made it!
OK friends, just wanted to let you know that I made it in one piece to Joburg and am now back on my way to Maun (currently in Gabarone - the capital of Botswana). Sorry for my delay in getting in touch. Apparently Saturday was a holiday in South Africa (Youth Day) so many things were closed (including each and every one of the internet cafes we saw) and then, Sunday was Sunday so apparently internet cafes aren't open then either.
In any case, all is well. We did quite a bit of shopping in Joburg for things for Paul's new house and some new camping gear so we have an SUV (which they call a "station wagon") full of stuff but didn't run into any trouble at the border crossing into Botswana (which I guess could be a problem as we were technically "importing" things purchased from one country to another and could have been charged at customs). In any case, we did fine but they only awarded me a 30 day visa for my visit (and I'll be here almost 2 months) so we'll have to "make a plan" to fix that one. Paul doesn't seem worried... but Paul rarely worries.
We saw beautiful landscapes on our ride from Joburg to Gabs with the most amazing sunset across the transvaal. The experience so far has been interesting as everything I think I knew some how seems different (summer is winter; miles are kilometers; 10 PM is 22; etc.). It is like I speak English but have got to learn a whole new system... everything is a bit upside down...kind of like an alter universe. But it's all good.
More later.
Kristy
PS: Happy Father's Day Dad...hope it was a good one.
June 20, 2007 – spent my birthday in a rhino preserve
Hello everyone,
Just writing to let you know that we made it back successfully to Maun yesterday. I'm currently sitting in Paul's office where he's set me up with internet access and a place to work (he's gone off to the bank and a man came in mumbling something about an impala... having an impala that Paul might want??? is it dead? alive? What? I'm so culturally incompetent here, it's pathetic!).
We ended up spending the night of my birthday in Khama Rhino Preserve. This is wild life conservation area where they have translocated rhinos so that they are safe from poachers (they kill the rhinos so they can sell their horns which are considered to be aphrodisiacs in the far east). We arrived at the campsite in time to set up the new tent and head out for a game drive before sun set. We were quite lucky and saw two rhinos (a baby and its mom). The mom was pretty huge and the baby quite cute and boy can they move fast when they get running. They also have the oddest shaped heads in that their ears are quite high at the top and eyes are about mid-way down their rather elongated head (quite strange looking).
We also saw wart hogs, impala, wildebeest, zebras and many interesting birds. It got incredibly cold (below freezing) at night but the stars were like nothing I had ever seen before...you could see the entire milky way. Absolutely stunning.
Just settling into the strangeness of it all. Feeling a little disoriented...there is so much I don't know (the language, the cultural norms of greeting people, the currency, how to drive in deep sand, etc., etc.) but I'm taking it one step at a time. Tonight - my first driving lesson!
More later.
Kristy
June 27, 2007 – twirls and slippery sand
Hi friends/family,
Just wanted to write and apologize from my email absence. After a bit of culture shock last week I was just starting to get my wits about me when I came down with a "massive" stomach yuck on Monday. I woke up feeling OK but quickly degenerated into what Paul referred to as the "twirls" (in that you kind of twirl around the toilet trying to figure out which end more urgently needs to expel something immediately and violently!). In short, it was awful for about 12 hours but once I was thoroughly drained of all liquids in my body from all potential routes, I started on the mend. I ran a temperature up around 102 (yes, I travel with a thermometer) but it finally broke. Yesterday I mostly slept and slowly tried to re-enter humanity. Not sure what it was but I'm sure glad that it's done and over with.
As per other more interesting things... my driving lessons are progressing. We started with attempting to have me find my way back from the tarmac road to the house which, on the surface, doesn't sound like that daunting of a task, but when you consider that it is about 3 miles of dirt tracks that often fork off in multiple directions... it can be a little confusing. Particularly when my teacher says things like, "pick the spore that looks most used." Do any of you out there have ANY idea what that means? I prefer to look for visual markers... go hard right at the coral that goats are sometimes in, bear left at the village with the kid who waves in the red shirt (if he's not out, I'm in trouble), go sharp left away from the fork with the white thing off in the distance... yes, tricky!! All the while you need to avoid stumps (which can pop your tires), dodge cattle/goats/donkey, try not to wound your passenger by getting too close to vicious thorn bushes, etc.
Once I mastered that, we moved on to "heavy sand" (what was that sand I was already driving in???). This lesson had a rough start. Partially because Paul's approach was to let me get stuck in the sand only to then tell me what I did wrong. Let's just say, he met my Irish temper! I sort of prefer to know what to do BEFORE I do it wrong. In any case, once I figured out that the "spore was my friend" and that I just shouldn't fight the sand I had to just go with it and really give it some gas (sorry, petrol) as I saw the deep sand coming it started to be kind of fun! All I can say, is thank God Paul bought an automatic because if I had to shift regularly while doing all the other things required, I'm not sure I'd make it! Just getting it into 4x4 means letting go of the wheel which could send you lurching out of the spore off the track!
FYI - Sand is kind of slippery like snow.
So by the time we got to driving on paved (tarmac) roads, the wrong side of the road issue and dodging wild donkeys seemed minor in comparison. The good news is, I haven't hit anything yet (except one curb... there's a lot of car to the left of you when you're positioned on the right side of the car) and I only ran over a few stumps (which I didn't realize I should be avoiding until after I hit one) but they haven't managed to pop a tire yet so all is good.
Friday we head off to safari for 7 days. Paul hadn't thought we would do any safaris while I was here but got an offer to go up to Moremi with a group this Friday for a week so it looks like we'll do that. Go ahead, twist my arm... if I MUST go on safari I will...
More later.
Kristy
Saturday, July 7, 2007 – back from safari
Hi everybody,
Just a quick note to let you know we have returned successfully from safari... and what a trip it was! We had a very nice group of 8 clients from a variety of places (4 from England, 1 from Ireland, 1 from Sri Lanka, 1 South African, 1 Swedish). And while Paul had told me that the safari we were on with the Furman group "wasn't a real safari" after being on this one I have a much better sense of what he meant. First of all, the staff either equaled or outnumbered the clients (depending on if you count me as "staff"). Each couple had their own tent with shower and bathroom. Upon each return to camp they were greeted with warm water for cleaning up and at night they had a hot water bottle in their bed for warmth... needless to say, it was a real nice operation! We stayed 4 nights at one sight near the Khwai River and 3 nights in Xakanaxa (I don't really remember how to spell that...also, you need to click your tongue in there a few times to pronounce it correctly).
We did game drives every day and saw tons of animals! I thought we had seen a lot in January/February but the numbers were much higher on this trip (as the water supply gets more concentrated during the dry season, more animals come in larger numbers to the water sources). We saw impala, tsesebee (odd looking deer like creatures), lechwee, kudu, elephants, hippos, giraffe, zebra, ostrich and ALL 3 of the big cats! That's right... lions, cheetah and a leopard (or at least a glimpse of one!). The bird activity was also stunning!
I have many many stories to tell but won't do it all today. I'll just give you one to peak your interest. Let's call it "One Dark Night on Elephant Alley"...
So there we are returning from sundowners on an evening drive (FYI - sundowners are a tradition in southern Africa where you have a drink and snacks as the sun goes down... great tradition! I highly recommend it). On our way out, we passed a large pool of water that elephants are routinely in and we had no problems. But on the way back, there were many MANY elephants in transition to and from the watering hole and while there was a full moon we could not fully see where exactly all the groups were located. All we knew is they were moving and there were lots of them (probably well over a hundred total). So I'm shining the spot light as Paul is slowing making his way down this stretch of land (maybe 3/4 of a mile long). As we are making our way we can see the moon light shining through the legs of elephants crossing the road ahead in the distance but can't see much on either side of us or behind us. The number is endless! They just keep coming. And because it's dark, and the vehicle (which I affectionately came to call "The Beast"... I'll send a picture) isn't exactly subtle, we sound like an angry animal. So, I'm getting a little nervous but have great faith in Paul to get us through so I'm not too concerned... that is UNTIL he looks over at me and says, "the clutch just died." What? the clutch died? Imagine this... elephants to the left, elephants to the right, elephants ahead of us AND behind... AND the clutch doesn't work (which means no backwards escape?? no forward movement??).
So Paul turns off the engine, pops it in second and takes off like a light! There will be no negotiating here. We are going through. He's driving like a bat out of hell on bumpy bumpy roads and he's saying "spot light that one" in either direction so that we can somewhat "blind" the potential attacker. Fortunately, we were not "charged" but only "rushed" on our mass exodus out of there. Elephant ears are flaring (a sign of aggression), there is lots of trumpeting (meaning they are really pissed off!). And we are barreling through... that was our close call. When Mary, the client who admitted she had her eyes closed during the elephant run, asked Paul on a scale of 1 to 10 how scary was it... he said maybe a 6 (but you need to bear in mind Paul's life experiences). Anyway... it made for a good bonding experience with the group and in the end we arrived safely back at camp!
OK, that's all for now. I'll write more later (about the pride of lions on the hippo kill, our flat tire in the dark not 50 yards from where we had spotted lions earlier in the day, and how on our final day the other vehicle we were with was charged by a lion that had just killed a zebra and didn't want us to have any of it!!!). Just another average day in the bush!!
Hope you are all well. I'll write more soon.
Kristy
Monday, July 9, 2007 – some pictures (finally)
So... many of you have been asking for pictures so I've decided to send a few. Hopefully they're not too huge and you can open them up. It was quite a challenge choosing which ones to send (since we probably took 400 pictures between us). I'll start with a few to correspond with the elephant run story and some from camp. I'll send more later...
Hope you enjoy!
Kristy
They include the following:
getting in the beast 2 - a picture of me climbing into "the beast" -- the safari vehicle we were in (note: I'm climbing in the driver's side, no I did not drive the beast... but I'm getting pretty good at the 4x4).
elephant in camp 2 - the first site we stayed in had a big male elephant that liked to wander through camp. here's one of me standing near our tent as he walks by the bathroom tent. kind of close, huh? but not nearly as scary as the multiple set of hyena eyes I noticed on the second night while brushing my teeth within about 10 feet from the toilet tent (those glowing yellow eyes watching me kind of freaked me out a bit)
elephant run - an example of one group of elephants coming in to the elephant pool. now...imagine this in the dark multiplied by 10 and a lot closer and you have a feel for what our run on elephant alley was like!
dinner - an example of our typical dinner set up. yes, it was cold (which is why I'm all bundled up) but the food was yummy!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007 – dead hippo lunch
OK... ready for Chapter 2?
So we're in the bathroom after just crossing the Khwai River bridge (see bridge crossing 3 photo), a vervet monkey has just stolen an entire pack of lemon cream cookies out of the safari vehicle when we weren't looking (damn, I LOVE lemon creams!), and a woman from South Africa starts asking where we're headed next. She informs us that she has just come from Xakanaxa (remember to pronounce with clicks at the 'x's) and there was a big hippo kill by lions on Dead Tree Island that we should go see...not kidding, the name of the place is Dead Tree Island (sounds like a good name for the next Johnny Depp movie "Return to Dead Tree Island" or something like that).
When we get to Xakanaxa, we head out to the island. Just as a pointer, if you're ever looking for a dead animal in the bush, look for the vultures in the trees (see waiting vultures photo) or smell for the stench of rotting flesh... either will get you there. It seems the vultures actually wait their turn to eat, until the lions are completely finished (that is unless they want to risk being eaten themselves). So they wait, looking like undertakers... grim, dark, waiting for death...
We find a total of 7 lions on the island in various stages of "full." Most are lying around exhausted from the hunt... the eating (see lion lunch 2 photo, she's licking her chops in this one)... I'm not sure which. It looks like your average American home post-Thanksgiving dinner. They are seriously "depressed" (maybe there's tryptophane in hippo like turkey that puts them to sleep). Here's one of my favorites (see close to sleeping cats photo). It not only shows how close we got to them but shows you how relaxed they are! All of us who have cats have seen this posture before, right?
Once the lions cleared out (after several days of gorging themselves), we found a couple of them off on their own and the vultures and crocodiles can move in (see crocodile lunch photo... can you see his eye in there?).
We were fortunate to not only have this big cat sighting but we also saw a leopard (just very lucky on this one, we were rounding a corner and he we crossing the road and we watched him until he faded into the bush...I have a new appreciation for camouflage). We also saw a cheetah (my first sighting in the wild) that the other safari vehicle we were with spotted (sorry about the pun) and we were able to come and see until it got nervous and hustled off in the bush.
Finally, on the way out of the area I was looking off and said, "hey, what's that over there?"... often times you see something that looks like an animal but could be a stump. This one, however, was the real deal... two male lions who had just killed a zebra (it was a "fresh kill" in that you could see they hadn't eaten anything yet but had just taken the animal "down" as per his bloodied hindquarters). Once we got closer we could see one of the guys was pretty agitated by our presence (flicking his tail like a ticked off house cat...) so we backed off a bit but the other vehicle we were with wanted a closer look... and they got one! The "cheeky" cat (as they would say here) got up and charged the vehicle...full out run... right at them!!! Sorry, didn't get a picture of that one... I was saying, "Paul, give me your camera and let's get out of here!!!!" No time for photos as we were next in line for a charge.
OK, that's all for now.
Hope you enjoy the pictures.
Kristy
PS: I was going to say that was it for the big cat stories but that would mean I overlooked the flat tire at night within yards of the lion pride we had seen earlier in the day. Later...
Thursday, July 12, 2007 – a day in the life
First...let me thank all of you who have written to me expressing your appreciation of my email ramblings. I always worry a bit that I'm boring you but it seems many of you are enjoying my stories so I'll continue...
I thought it might be interesting if I gave you a glimpse of a day in my life in Maun, Botswana. We start pretty early with a work out on the veranda. Actually the first thing we do is feed the suicidal horn bills who tend to fly into the windows if they don't get their birdseed and apples first thing in the morning. Paul has spoiled them and now they've come to expect it! They're a bit crazy but beautiful (see horn bill at home photo). We actually get lots of birds: buffalo weavers, black eyed boo boos, starlings, horn bills of varying colored bills (red, yellow and gray), white browed sparrow weavers, cape pigeons, and a random tree squirrel (who I keep inadvertently referring to as a "ground" squirrel because he's usually on the ground...he is much smaller then our squirrels and yellowish in color).
Once everyone is fed we head out to the veranda for our work out. We have 3 different workout routines with weights that we cycle through...I'm getting pretty strong (and can now move the gate to let us in and out of the ostrich farm without too much of a struggle. The gate keeps the ostriches in. We have to open and close it to get in and out.). Since it is winter here it's been quite chilly in the morning. This morning I brought out my travel clock with thermometer on it and it was 54 degrees as we were working out (but it is very dry so it doesn't feel that cold).
After we work out and breakfast, we head into the office. The drive in is 3 miles of dirt "tracks" before we hit tarmac (a total of 20 minute drive or so). The dirt tracks are getting quite bumpy as the winter progresses and I occasionally have the urge to just open my mouth and let the noise vibrate out of me (sounds kind of like when you were a kid and used to make noise through a big box fan and it would kind of "cut up" the sound...if you know what I mean). On the drive in we must watch for donkey (they are EVERYWHERE...crossing the road, eating out of trash cans, standing just staring into space), goats (herds of them... also eating trash, crossing the road, sometimes "running" for no apparent reason), on coming cars, little dust "tornados" that rip through, an occasional cart pulled by donkey, one crazy dog that always chases us... it's an adventure.
Most days are filled with "Botswana Blue" skies (not a cloud to be found) and temps in the 70s. Quite lovely really, but it is one dusty place. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I packed anything white and I've totally trashed a couple of pairs of sandals. My feet are always dirty. It's a way of life (after 30 years here, Paul's feet kind of look like elephant feet...now I understand why).
Some days I stay home and read and work on lectures (for my new first year seminar on global health) but often I go into work and keep busy there because I have internet access and can connect to the outside world (I regularly listen to NPR while reading the NY Times on line...makes me not miss home so much). Paul is busy buzzing around: making maps for hunters and pilots; working on a new project to make interpretive maps of the parks (nice slick things tourist would buy with maps of parks, pictures of animals/birds, etc.); fixing people's computers (he's kind of the resident IT guy and people come in daily with all sorts of computer dilemmas that he tries to help them with); or dealing with the latest scandal in town (like the hunter that shot a collared leopard that was part of a research project... said he didn't see the collar... a big scandal and because of Paul's work in conservation he's often asked in to mediate these types of conversations).
At some point in the day we inevitably have to go out and buy something. Shopping is quite an experience here. There are more stores than I expected but none of them seem to have everything you are looking for (grocery shopping usually requires going to at least 2 different stores) and all of them have a rather odd mix of items (a store selling kitchen utensils might also have shoes and power tools...but it's a small store, not a Walmart...just a little store with an odd collection of things...another may have clocks, lace underwear, pirated DVDs...it's strange).
And sometimes they are completely out of things... like milk. The entire city of Maun did not have milk for several weeks (no I'm not kidding).
Lunch usually consists of some type of "take away." My favorite is the Chinese restaurant. If you tend to have difficulty making choices, this is definitely the place for you and the Chinese take away place is a good example of this. For lunch there are 2 options: rice or noodles...you can have these either "mild" or "spicy" and with or without chicken. Simple. And all for $2.
One of the oddest things that I haven't gotten used to yet is being a very obvious numerical minority. One of my favorite pastimes is counting white people in a store (6 total in the grocery store, 1 other besides us in the Chinese food place, only 2 at the auto parts place). Occasionally a small child will become extremely excited pointing and shouting "lekowa" (which loosely translates to "white person" but seems to have the implication of "crazy alien like creature"). As you might imagine... I don't exactly "blend" here. I'm not sure if it's the blonde, the blue eyes, the pink skin...which ever, I stick out like a sore thumb. But I can now say hello (dumela) and ask how are you? (have no idea how to spell it...I usually mumble it a bit).
The interactions are a bit "unusual" too. There isn't much eye contact and the Africans tend to refer to Paul as "Mr. Paul"...they don't know what to do with me. One called me "Mrs. Paul" once... made me think of fish sticks! (remember Mrs. Paul brand fish sticks?). Seems like all the expatriates know each other (they are also an interesting breed of people: innovative risk takers, would be how I would describe most of the white people I've met who've come from other countries).
At night we try to get back in time to do sundowners (the sun sets around 6). We sometimes go over to see the ostriches (see ostrich photo) or we go down to see how the "flood" is doing (this took me a while to understand... in the dry season most of the water in the area is supplied from "the flood" coming down from Angola. My first thought was "flood, oh...that doesn't sound good" but in fact...the flood is very good as it supplies the water to the area when it is not raining (see near the flood photo).
For dinner, either Paul cooks (I clean up) or we go out with friends to one of the lodges. One of the nicest places is Audi Camp - the place that Paul used to co-own and run (about 10 years ago). He is always warmly greeted by all the staff there including the small dog named "Uffs" (because that's what he sounds like when he barks "uff, uff, uff"). He kind of looks like a mop without a handle and I would guess if he didn't live in the world of dust he might be white (but he's currently a moving dust ball...kind of like Pig Pen from the Peanuts, remember him?).
As I mentioned before, sometimes it really feels like "backwards world" - floods are good, donkey run around like squirrels, white is the minority...it's a bit of a mind bend but I'm adjusting.
I think we're heading off to Victoria Falls this weekend (it is a 4 day weekend...President's Day Holiday on Monday/Tuesday) we haven't quite decided where we're going yet. I'll write more when we return.
Kristy
Wednesday, July 18, 2007 – back from Victoria Falls
Hello All,
We've just returned from a 4 day weekend trip up to Victoria Falls. While we had originally planned to go to the Zambian side of the falls, given all that we had heard about the economic situation in Zimbabwe, after meeting an old friend of Paul's in Kasane we decided to try the Zimbabwe side and stay in Victoria Falls itself.
You'll be happy to hear that I successfully drove halfway on each leg of the 7 hour trip up to Vic Falls. The good news is that I didn't kill anything! You have to understand there are lots of things that could be killed out there. In addition to the donkey, goats, and cattle, which are common in Maun, as we left the more populated areas we encountered elephant, steenbok, zebras, ostrich and many many birds that seem to have suicidal tendencies (for some reason they like to fly right toward the windshield...). And some how, the long flat road makes it difficult to see what's coming up ahead (is that a mirage or an elephant?). At one point in time I looked up in the distance and saw what looked to be "tall brown bushes". In the end it was ostriches, with their heads down and Paul says, "Watch for them. They can be cheeky." Watch for them to do what? I've got to say, watching out for all those hazards sure makes driving an exhausting experience.
On Saturday we camped in Kasane and spent the afternoon in Chobe National Park. We saw lots and lots of elephants (see elephants at watering hole photo), kudu, impala, and a whole troop of baboons (see holding feet photo).
On Sunday we crossed in to Zimbabwe. There was a tremendous amount of paper work at the border... fees for a carbon tax, a visa permit, etc. and then just when we think we're set, we get in the 4x4 drive 20 feet only to be asked to get out of the car again to pay an "insurance" fee. It took about an hour to get through immigration and customs! But the people were very friendly...joking with us, etc.
We ended up staying two nights at a lovely lodge in the Zimbabwe Falls national park. For $50 a night we rented a two bedroom house with kitchen, living room, bath and lovely veranda right on the banks of the Zambezi river (see on the veranda photo). We had wart hogs, baboons, vervet monkeys and elephants in the front yard! It was amazing!!
One night as we are sitting having sundowners (yes, this is a regular thing), we hear what sounds like King Kong making his way through the trees and brush near our house. You hear the snapping of branches and crushing of bushes, then a brief pause, until you hear it again only this time closer and LOUDER than it was before. Finally, an absolutely huge male elephant emerges, as if from no where, out of the brush. Upon seeing us on the veranda he flares his ears and shakes his head (FYI - this is NOT a good sign, it means they are unhappy and could charge at any moment). Paul silently shuffles me toward the french doors leading into the living room, getting ready to shove me in if the need arises. But it doesn't and he quickly settles into munching on things. Soon two more arrives and they proceed to "shake" the large (50-60 feet tall) vegetable ivory pines by putting their trunks straight up the trunk of the tree and pushing with tremendous force until the palm nuts shake loose and hit the ground... dessert! Yum! The leave in the same way they arrive crunch, crush, snap until the disappear into the night leaving only the sound of their path but no visible cues what so ever. Amazing!
At night off in the distance we hear the roar of a male lion (I tried to record it for you on a tape recorder. Unfortunately, while we could hear it very clearly, it did not record well...bummer!).
On Monday morning we get up before dawn cracks and are the first ones into the Victoria Falls park. We literally have the whole place to ourselves for about and hour and a half. It was magical. Just as it is impossible to capture the awesome nature of the Grand Canyon unless you are standing at the edge of it, the same is true for Victoria Falls. The force of the water is tremendous. The mist rises out of the massive raven created by the water and it is sometimes so thick that you can't even see the falls. It is just a wall of white. But if you stand in one place long enough it clears out and you can get a view of fall (see Victoria Falls photo), catching a glimpse here and there of a rainbow (even a double rainbow) as the suns rays make their way through. It is amazing! All I can say is... if you ever get the chance, you must go see it for yourself. It is well worth the trip.
The only down side of going to the Zimbabwe side is that there was no fuel (which we anticipated) and they only took cash money (no VISA cards at most places) so, unfortunately, we ran out of cash and weren't able to do the white water rafting trip we had hoped to do. We did use the card once for a lunch at the Victoria Falls Hotel (very ritzy upscale restaurant - see at the Vic Falls hotel photo. I'm drinking a foo-foo drink with an umbrella called a "Pims". The white stuff you see off in the distance that looks like smoke is actually mist from the falls. Lovely!). The lunch cost us 4.8 million Zimbabwe dollars (if you haven't been keeping up with the news the inflation rate is officially reported to be 4500% but unofficially it is said to be as high as 6000%). We have no idea how much that will show up for on the VISA bill!
OK, that's enough for now. Hope you all are well.
Kristy
Thursday, July 19, 2007 – in the news
One of my favorite things to do in Maun is to read the local weekly newspaper. I actually get kind of excited when Friday comes as there's sure to be some interesting stories reported. Not only does it incorporate a creative use of commas and grammar but it often has articles and advertisements that just crack me up.
I couldn't resist sending you the attached from the Ngami Times. This first article (copied twice, sorry) is called, "Here we go again - another donkey 'lover'". This clearly rivals the best police log from my hometown paper (which often reports things like "a raccoon with its head stuck in a jar in the middle of the road" or "kids hitting the button on the traffic lights to cross the road... but then not crossing"). I particularly like the way they've talked about "taking a donkey as a 'mistress'" and how the man brought to court wanted to bring his donkey with him as evidence that they loved each other. Lastly, note the interesting use of the term "celebrated case."
The last item is an advertisement for Dr. Karibu...what a guy...just look at the list of things he can cure. My favorites are numbers 11, 12, and 20. And all this for only 30 Pula (about $5). Also note the location...classic Maun!
We're headed off to Nxai Pan this weekend for a couple of nights of camping. This is an area north of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve that Paul often goes to do his astronomy shows. Since we are between the new moon and quarter moon the viewing should be perfect. I'll write more when I return.
Kristy
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 – walking on the moon
This weekend we had a lovely trip to Nxai Pan (don't forget to click your tongue at the 'x'). We left Friday afternoon, later than expected, so the drive into our campsite was long, dark and "slippery." Lots of "heavy sand" which, as I mentioned before, is a bit like driving in snow but not...the closest I can come to describing it is that it feels similar to those simulated rides at places like Disney World. You know they type... you've read the necessary warnings about pregnant women, people with back and heart problems, you're strapped into a cart that hirky jerky shoves you around as you watch a movie screen in front of you that depicts you careening through the blood vessels of the human body (have you been on that ride?). So there's a lot of side way "shoving" and "back end fish tailing" if you know what I mean. It is unlike snow in that there are tracks or spoors that your tires are in that keep you from spinning wildly out of control (assuming you don't get "thrust" out of them unexpectedly).
The sky is filled with stars but our field of vision is limited to the headlights and we are surrounded on both sides by tall hay colored grass and an occasional deadly thorn bush that scrapes violently against the car (and who knows what else is out there in the dark?). The road seemed endless until the whole world opens up into this large salt pan that literally looks like the surface of the moon. Flat, flat, flat and wide open for as far as you can see (see view of the pan photo - that's me drinking coffee way out there).
We camped at a place called "Baines' Baobabs" in Kudiakam Pan (see Baines' Baobabs photo)- these trees were named after the famous painter and explorer who painted them in 1862 during his trips through Southern Africa. This group of trees is called the "Seven Sisters" and it is unusual in that these types of trees are rarely clustered together. It is commonly suggested that if Thomas Baines were to repaint these baobabs today there would be no discernible difference from when he painted them 145 years ago!
On Saturday we drove around the pan but didn't see as much wild life as the areas near water that we have been to previously. At the one watering hole, that still had water in it (remember this is the dry season here), we did see plenty of impala, zebra, springbok, and giraffe (see giraffes drinking photo - check out the flinging water). We also saw some amazing birds -- like the Marshall Eagle (see Marshall Eagle photo - he was looking right at us! check out his eyes!!) in the tree above our campsite and several very large kori bustards (they were every where walking around like mini pterodactyl!).
At night we would walk out to the pan with our chairs, sundowners and binoculars to look at the stars. There is so little ambient light that you can actually see the craters of the moon, the milky way, and if I could have held the binoculars still enough some of the moons of Jupiter. Walking on the pan is what I imagine it might be like to walk on the moon (minus the gravity issue, of course). The surface kind of crunches a bit like the top of snow after it first falls (not ice, but a thin crust on the top of the snow).
In addition to the unique landscape and the stars, the silence is deafening. It is so quiet it is hard to explain. I think in our day-to-day lives there is always a constant buzz of electricity that we are oblivious to most of the time but in its absence (like after the power goes out in an ice storm) it is just SO quiet!
Finally, as we walked back up from the pan after star gazing the air has gotten quite cool but as we approach the big baobab tree that lives in the center of our campsite (see baobab in campsite photo - look how big it is in comparison to the tent and 4x4!) I feel this warmth...amazingly it is this glorious tree...she has captured the warmth of the sun and is literally radiating heat (about 2 feet away from the tree) in the cool of the night...awesome!
Friday, July 27, 2007 – observations around town
Well it's been almost 6 weeks since I arrived in Maun and it is finally starting to feel a bit more "normal" (OK, maybe "routine" is a better word). But before I forget about all the daily interactions that once seemed strange, I wanted to write a little about them:
routine security checks - when you shop in stores after you check out there is another employee about 2 feet away from where they just rang up your purchases who re-checks the list of things on your receipt against everything in your bag. I mean... if you were going to steal something when would you have had time to do this? They just saw you check out?? It confuses me.
dust drifts in the middle of the road - there is so much dust and dirt here that it actually accumulates like fresh snow fall in the center of the road (you know when you are driving and it is just starting to snow and it kind of gets cleared off in the main path of traffic but gets pushed into the middle of the road where no one is driving).
chickens, goats, dogs, and donkeys - there is a regular array of stray animals in the streets, in the trash cans, in parking lots. Filling up your tank... there goes a flock of chickens. Coming out of the grocery store... oops, wait for the goats to walk by the back of your car before you back out.
pet lovers - while I haven't really encountered too many "pets" in my daily interactions, when I have (primarily in restaurants...can any one say "health code violation"?) their owners are soooo enthusiastic about their creatures. Tuesday night, for example, we stopped off at "Sports Bar" (yes, that's its official name) to get some dinner and the owner went on and on about his new cat "Gilbert" who had just found him (the owner) last week. While standing at the counter and stroking the cat (a small gray tabby kitten), he told us how smart Gilbert was and how Gilbert set off the alarm system because he trips the motion detectors at night. He continued by saying that most tourists who come in inevitably take a photograph of Gilbert and that he ends up being a "baby sitter" for people's kids while they eat. He even explained how Gilbert steals candies from the dish on the counter, etc., etc. I'm telling you it had to be a 15 minute conversation about his cat. Funny!
feral children - in my day-to-day interactions I don't have that many encounters with kids. We do see a lot of them walking to/from school in their school uniforms. Occasionally, however, I encounter some exact kids. They are in many ways unlike American kids. First, they look a bit "feral" - hair uncombed, feet filthy dirty and this kind of wild look in their eyes. Second, they pretty much do their own thing with very little supervision. At Sport's Bar, they were seriously torturing poor Gilbert the cat. Poking at him, pulling his tail, taunting him. I thought for sure Gilbert was going to whap them or someone would tell them to stop but it was an all out torture session (3 feral kids on one tiny cat) for quite some time. As we were leaving the place all three of the little bush rats jumped out of the men's bathroom as we passed it trying to scare the heck out of us.
the hand gesture for hitch hiking - if you are driving and someone wants a ride they kind of "flap" their hand at you (palm facing the ground, a listless pathetic wave toward the dirt). For the longest time I thought the were waving at us when in fact they were soliciting a ride...flap, flap, flap.
Finally I'll say that the expatriates I've met are a very interesting group of people. In fact, I think it would make for a fascinating book...who are these people? how did they get here? why Botswana? what have they done for work in the past, present and what do they plan to do in the future?
One thing I will say is they seem to all be risk takers and "dreamers." Last night at an open house/reception free wine art exhibit at a local store I met the most interesting people. One guy had run a touring company in South Africa where all the participants rode Harleys to see the country side. He is currently doing carpentry work but would really like to open up a "biker bar" in Maun (I think besides Paul's motorbike I've seen ONE other bike here...in six weeks!).
But he is not alone in his career meanderings or off the wall ambitions for the future. A few weeks back we met this couple that Paul has known for many years (every where we go we meet people Paul knows...in restaurants, in the bush, in town, out of town...literally everywhere... some are expats, some are hunters, others san bush people...he just breaks into whatever language is appropriate (and I'm here struggling with basic interactions with one new language!). Anyway, we met this couple who actually purchased a boat despite the fact that both of them are terrified of water (??). They were bemoaning the fact that they had to get rid of it because they were just too scared to go out on it (didn't they know that BEFORE they purchased?).
Well, it's my last weekend in Maun. No big plans. Friends over for dinner on Saturday night. Maybe a motorbike ride on Sunday. We leave for Joburg on Thursday (August 2), we'll spend a few days down there before I depart on Sunday evening (August 5).
Hope you have a great weekend.
Just received the Dean's annual email about important dates for the start of the term...guess summer is almost over (sob, sob).
Kristy
Tuesday, July 31, 2007 – glossary of terms and favorite signs
As I mentioned to you before, while I thought I spoke English fluently, there have been many circumstances in which I had no idea what other people speaking English were saying to me. I've decided to make a glossary of terms describing how English is used here. I've also attached some of my favorite signs from the trip (as some of you know, I love collecting photos of funny signs when I travel). Enjoy!
dicey - not a good idea; as in "crossing this bridge could be dicey" (i.e. we could fall in the water with the crocodiles)
dodgy - sketchy, hinky; as in "he's a little dodgy" (i.e. he shouldn't be trusted) or "that whole plan sounds a little dodgy"
hire - to rent; as in "chairs and tents for hire"
howzit - how is it going? comparable to the southern "hey" - an informal greeting, no real response required
just now - used as a measure of time indicating that the event you are referring to may occur in the next few days...maybe; as in "I'll be paying that bill just now" or "we'll eat lunch just now" (although it sounds like it's going to happen soon, it could be several hours from now).
finished - no longer have any; as in "the ice, she be finished" (this is what the convenience store woman said to me when I asked her if she had any ice; I thought that meant it was ready to be purchased, as in it was finished freezing).
laughing (or smiling) - things are good; we're set; as in "now we're laughing" or "then I'd be smiling."
Lost the plot - run amok; misdirected; as in "the guy has completely lost the plot" (i.e. he's out of his mind)
make a plan - figure out what to do to get out of bad situation; as in "the tire is flat, it is dark out, there are lions in the area...we need to make a plan"
now now - soon; in contrast to "just now" this indicates that the event might actually found pretty soon; as in "We're leaving now now" (in the next few minutes).
organize - order or get; as in "can you organize a round of drinks" (what do you mean? line them up according to size?)
Finally, some of my favorite descriptors include:
lovely - as in "that warthog steak was lovely"
stunning - as in "the southern cross was stunning over the pan"
sweet - as in "oh, but that big giant spider on the ceiling is sweet, she won't hurt you" (Paul thinks all creatures are "sweet" -- in fact on Sunday, we spent an hour conducting a humane spider removal program. I can take one or two in the house but up over 40 and they need to go...we carefully removed all of them and relocated them outside)
Wednesday, August 01, 2007 – last day in Maun
Well it is my last day in Maun. It is hard to believe that almost 2 months have passed. We head to Johannesburg tomorrow early morning. It will take us about 14 hours to drive down there. We’ll spend the weekend in Joburg shopping for things for Paul’s work (products for the giant laminating machine, new software for the GIS projects, etc.) and re-acclimating me to a developed country so that the culture shock won’t be so overwhelming when I return to the states. We’re plan to find some good Thai food one night and maybe sushi the next (things you can’t exactly find in the bush). We also hope to see a few films and hit a good book store. While the pirated Chinese DVDs that somehow squeeze 8 movies on one DVD and cost about $5 have kept us busy…I’m missing my independent films.
My flight leaves Sunday night about 7:45 PM and after 24 hours plus of traveling (back through Paris and then New York City) I should be back at my sister’s house in Massachusetts sometime late Monday afternoon.
For our final day here we’re in the office trying to get invoicing out for the end of the month (Paul owns an office block and all of the tenants need to be billed) and trying to get things in order for Paul’s 6-day-absence. Laundry is hanging to dry and I’ll try to squeeze everything into the suitcase tonight in preparation for our pre-dawn departure.
Later this afternoon we are planning to take a small 3-seater plane for a flight out over the delta. Paul really wants me to see the area from the air so we hired a pilot yesterday to take us out later this afternoon. Should be exciting… I’ll take lots of pictures!
This summer I’ve been reading a book by Elizabeth Gilbert called “Eat, Pray, Love” that my friend Kathy gave me for my birthday. There are several memorable quotes but one has resonated with me all summer. In it she describes her love of travel, it reads:
“…traveling is the great true love of my life. I always felt… that to travel is worth any cost or sacrifice. I am loyal and constant in my love for travel…I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless newborn baby – I just don’t care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it’s mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to – I just don’t care.”
I thought this would be an appropriate way to end my little African travelogue in that she expresses so well my love of traveling. Not sure how much email access I’ll have over the next few days. I’ll let you know when I arrive safely at home. Thanks so much for coming along with me…I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my adventures as much as I’ve enjoyed writing about them.
Kristy
Tuesday, August 07, 2007 – I’m baaaack
Friends,
Just a quick note to let you know that I'm back in the states. I made it safely back to my sister's house after more than 24 hours traveling yesterday afternoon. No major delays (although we did have to wait an extra half hour on the plane in NYC so that they could take the wrong luggage off our plane and put the right luggage on!). Biggest event was stepping in a giant wad of florescent green gum somewhere in the JFK airport. Don't know were it came from but it got hopelessly lodged in the bottom of my shoe...welcome home!
Thanks again for sharing in my adventure. I've gotten lots of positive feedback about my emails and I'm so glad you've enjoyed them.
I've attached two final pictures from the trip...many of you have asked to see a picture of Paul so here is one from our flight over the delta -- which, by the way, was absolutely stunning! Amazing views of lush green grasses in flowing patterns for miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers as they case may be). We saw elephants making their way through the flood waters and zebras and cape buffalo standing knee deep grazing on the grasses. We say the "polers" navigating in their mokoros (hollowed out logs made into boats). I've attached one picture of a view from the plane.
If Paul's intent was to leave me with an impression of the Botswana that I would find hard to forget and a desire to return as quickly as possible....I think he succeeded.
Missing the bush already,
Kristy
Ok, here's the latest update. I'm stuck in the airport in Paris until the red eye flight tonight (ugh!). I was delayed by 3 hours coming out of NYC and missed my connector. Now I'm trapped here all day and tired and starting to get cranky. But alas... all I can do is wait. And email until my computer battery dies (because why would I pack an adapter for Paris?? I'm only passing through, right?)
June 18, 2007 – made it!
OK friends, just wanted to let you know that I made it in one piece to Joburg and am now back on my way to Maun (currently in Gabarone - the capital of Botswana). Sorry for my delay in getting in touch. Apparently Saturday was a holiday in South Africa (Youth Day) so many things were closed (including each and every one of the internet cafes we saw) and then, Sunday was Sunday so apparently internet cafes aren't open then either.
In any case, all is well. We did quite a bit of shopping in Joburg for things for Paul's new house and some new camping gear so we have an SUV (which they call a "station wagon") full of stuff but didn't run into any trouble at the border crossing into Botswana (which I guess could be a problem as we were technically "importing" things purchased from one country to another and could have been charged at customs). In any case, we did fine but they only awarded me a 30 day visa for my visit (and I'll be here almost 2 months) so we'll have to "make a plan" to fix that one. Paul doesn't seem worried... but Paul rarely worries.
We saw beautiful landscapes on our ride from Joburg to Gabs with the most amazing sunset across the transvaal. The experience so far has been interesting as everything I think I knew some how seems different (summer is winter; miles are kilometers; 10 PM is 22; etc.). It is like I speak English but have got to learn a whole new system... everything is a bit upside down...kind of like an alter universe. But it's all good.
More later.
Kristy
PS: Happy Father's Day Dad...hope it was a good one.
June 20, 2007 – spent my birthday in a rhino preserve
Hello everyone,
Just writing to let you know that we made it back successfully to Maun yesterday. I'm currently sitting in Paul's office where he's set me up with internet access and a place to work (he's gone off to the bank and a man came in mumbling something about an impala... having an impala that Paul might want??? is it dead? alive? What? I'm so culturally incompetent here, it's pathetic!).
We ended up spending the night of my birthday in Khama Rhino Preserve. This is wild life conservation area where they have translocated rhinos so that they are safe from poachers (they kill the rhinos so they can sell their horns which are considered to be aphrodisiacs in the far east). We arrived at the campsite in time to set up the new tent and head out for a game drive before sun set. We were quite lucky and saw two rhinos (a baby and its mom). The mom was pretty huge and the baby quite cute and boy can they move fast when they get running. They also have the oddest shaped heads in that their ears are quite high at the top and eyes are about mid-way down their rather elongated head (quite strange looking).
We also saw wart hogs, impala, wildebeest, zebras and many interesting birds. It got incredibly cold (below freezing) at night but the stars were like nothing I had ever seen before...you could see the entire milky way. Absolutely stunning.
Just settling into the strangeness of it all. Feeling a little disoriented...there is so much I don't know (the language, the cultural norms of greeting people, the currency, how to drive in deep sand, etc., etc.) but I'm taking it one step at a time. Tonight - my first driving lesson!
More later.
Kristy
June 27, 2007 – twirls and slippery sand
Hi friends/family,
Just wanted to write and apologize from my email absence. After a bit of culture shock last week I was just starting to get my wits about me when I came down with a "massive" stomach yuck on Monday. I woke up feeling OK but quickly degenerated into what Paul referred to as the "twirls" (in that you kind of twirl around the toilet trying to figure out which end more urgently needs to expel something immediately and violently!). In short, it was awful for about 12 hours but once I was thoroughly drained of all liquids in my body from all potential routes, I started on the mend. I ran a temperature up around 102 (yes, I travel with a thermometer) but it finally broke. Yesterday I mostly slept and slowly tried to re-enter humanity. Not sure what it was but I'm sure glad that it's done and over with.
As per other more interesting things... my driving lessons are progressing. We started with attempting to have me find my way back from the tarmac road to the house which, on the surface, doesn't sound like that daunting of a task, but when you consider that it is about 3 miles of dirt tracks that often fork off in multiple directions... it can be a little confusing. Particularly when my teacher says things like, "pick the spore that looks most used." Do any of you out there have ANY idea what that means? I prefer to look for visual markers... go hard right at the coral that goats are sometimes in, bear left at the village with the kid who waves in the red shirt (if he's not out, I'm in trouble), go sharp left away from the fork with the white thing off in the distance... yes, tricky!! All the while you need to avoid stumps (which can pop your tires), dodge cattle/goats/donkey, try not to wound your passenger by getting too close to vicious thorn bushes, etc.
Once I mastered that, we moved on to "heavy sand" (what was that sand I was already driving in???). This lesson had a rough start. Partially because Paul's approach was to let me get stuck in the sand only to then tell me what I did wrong. Let's just say, he met my Irish temper! I sort of prefer to know what to do BEFORE I do it wrong. In any case, once I figured out that the "spore was my friend" and that I just shouldn't fight the sand I had to just go with it and really give it some gas (sorry, petrol) as I saw the deep sand coming it started to be kind of fun! All I can say, is thank God Paul bought an automatic because if I had to shift regularly while doing all the other things required, I'm not sure I'd make it! Just getting it into 4x4 means letting go of the wheel which could send you lurching out of the spore off the track!
FYI - Sand is kind of slippery like snow.
So by the time we got to driving on paved (tarmac) roads, the wrong side of the road issue and dodging wild donkeys seemed minor in comparison. The good news is, I haven't hit anything yet (except one curb... there's a lot of car to the left of you when you're positioned on the right side of the car) and I only ran over a few stumps (which I didn't realize I should be avoiding until after I hit one) but they haven't managed to pop a tire yet so all is good.
Friday we head off to safari for 7 days. Paul hadn't thought we would do any safaris while I was here but got an offer to go up to Moremi with a group this Friday for a week so it looks like we'll do that. Go ahead, twist my arm... if I MUST go on safari I will...
More later.
Kristy
Saturday, July 7, 2007 – back from safari
Hi everybody,
Just a quick note to let you know we have returned successfully from safari... and what a trip it was! We had a very nice group of 8 clients from a variety of places (4 from England, 1 from Ireland, 1 from Sri Lanka, 1 South African, 1 Swedish). And while Paul had told me that the safari we were on with the Furman group "wasn't a real safari" after being on this one I have a much better sense of what he meant. First of all, the staff either equaled or outnumbered the clients (depending on if you count me as "staff"). Each couple had their own tent with shower and bathroom. Upon each return to camp they were greeted with warm water for cleaning up and at night they had a hot water bottle in their bed for warmth... needless to say, it was a real nice operation! We stayed 4 nights at one sight near the Khwai River and 3 nights in Xakanaxa (I don't really remember how to spell that...also, you need to click your tongue in there a few times to pronounce it correctly).
We did game drives every day and saw tons of animals! I thought we had seen a lot in January/February but the numbers were much higher on this trip (as the water supply gets more concentrated during the dry season, more animals come in larger numbers to the water sources). We saw impala, tsesebee (odd looking deer like creatures), lechwee, kudu, elephants, hippos, giraffe, zebra, ostrich and ALL 3 of the big cats! That's right... lions, cheetah and a leopard (or at least a glimpse of one!). The bird activity was also stunning!
I have many many stories to tell but won't do it all today. I'll just give you one to peak your interest. Let's call it "One Dark Night on Elephant Alley"...
So there we are returning from sundowners on an evening drive (FYI - sundowners are a tradition in southern Africa where you have a drink and snacks as the sun goes down... great tradition! I highly recommend it). On our way out, we passed a large pool of water that elephants are routinely in and we had no problems. But on the way back, there were many MANY elephants in transition to and from the watering hole and while there was a full moon we could not fully see where exactly all the groups were located. All we knew is they were moving and there were lots of them (probably well over a hundred total). So I'm shining the spot light as Paul is slowing making his way down this stretch of land (maybe 3/4 of a mile long). As we are making our way we can see the moon light shining through the legs of elephants crossing the road ahead in the distance but can't see much on either side of us or behind us. The number is endless! They just keep coming. And because it's dark, and the vehicle (which I affectionately came to call "The Beast"... I'll send a picture) isn't exactly subtle, we sound like an angry animal. So, I'm getting a little nervous but have great faith in Paul to get us through so I'm not too concerned... that is UNTIL he looks over at me and says, "the clutch just died." What? the clutch died? Imagine this... elephants to the left, elephants to the right, elephants ahead of us AND behind... AND the clutch doesn't work (which means no backwards escape?? no forward movement??).
So Paul turns off the engine, pops it in second and takes off like a light! There will be no negotiating here. We are going through. He's driving like a bat out of hell on bumpy bumpy roads and he's saying "spot light that one" in either direction so that we can somewhat "blind" the potential attacker. Fortunately, we were not "charged" but only "rushed" on our mass exodus out of there. Elephant ears are flaring (a sign of aggression), there is lots of trumpeting (meaning they are really pissed off!). And we are barreling through... that was our close call. When Mary, the client who admitted she had her eyes closed during the elephant run, asked Paul on a scale of 1 to 10 how scary was it... he said maybe a 6 (but you need to bear in mind Paul's life experiences). Anyway... it made for a good bonding experience with the group and in the end we arrived safely back at camp!
OK, that's all for now. I'll write more later (about the pride of lions on the hippo kill, our flat tire in the dark not 50 yards from where we had spotted lions earlier in the day, and how on our final day the other vehicle we were with was charged by a lion that had just killed a zebra and didn't want us to have any of it!!!). Just another average day in the bush!!
Hope you are all well. I'll write more soon.
Kristy
Monday, July 9, 2007 – some pictures (finally)
So... many of you have been asking for pictures so I've decided to send a few. Hopefully they're not too huge and you can open them up. It was quite a challenge choosing which ones to send (since we probably took 400 pictures between us). I'll start with a few to correspond with the elephant run story and some from camp. I'll send more later...
Hope you enjoy!
Kristy
They include the following:
getting in the beast 2 - a picture of me climbing into "the beast" -- the safari vehicle we were in (note: I'm climbing in the driver's side, no I did not drive the beast... but I'm getting pretty good at the 4x4).
elephant in camp 2 - the first site we stayed in had a big male elephant that liked to wander through camp. here's one of me standing near our tent as he walks by the bathroom tent. kind of close, huh? but not nearly as scary as the multiple set of hyena eyes I noticed on the second night while brushing my teeth within about 10 feet from the toilet tent (those glowing yellow eyes watching me kind of freaked me out a bit)
elephant run - an example of one group of elephants coming in to the elephant pool. now...imagine this in the dark multiplied by 10 and a lot closer and you have a feel for what our run on elephant alley was like!
dinner - an example of our typical dinner set up. yes, it was cold (which is why I'm all bundled up) but the food was yummy!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007 – dead hippo lunch
OK... ready for Chapter 2?
So we're in the bathroom after just crossing the Khwai River bridge (see bridge crossing 3 photo), a vervet monkey has just stolen an entire pack of lemon cream cookies out of the safari vehicle when we weren't looking (damn, I LOVE lemon creams!), and a woman from South Africa starts asking where we're headed next. She informs us that she has just come from Xakanaxa (remember to pronounce with clicks at the 'x's) and there was a big hippo kill by lions on Dead Tree Island that we should go see...not kidding, the name of the place is Dead Tree Island (sounds like a good name for the next Johnny Depp movie "Return to Dead Tree Island" or something like that).
When we get to Xakanaxa, we head out to the island. Just as a pointer, if you're ever looking for a dead animal in the bush, look for the vultures in the trees (see waiting vultures photo) or smell for the stench of rotting flesh... either will get you there. It seems the vultures actually wait their turn to eat, until the lions are completely finished (that is unless they want to risk being eaten themselves). So they wait, looking like undertakers... grim, dark, waiting for death...
We find a total of 7 lions on the island in various stages of "full." Most are lying around exhausted from the hunt... the eating (see lion lunch 2 photo, she's licking her chops in this one)... I'm not sure which. It looks like your average American home post-Thanksgiving dinner. They are seriously "depressed" (maybe there's tryptophane in hippo like turkey that puts them to sleep). Here's one of my favorites (see close to sleeping cats photo). It not only shows how close we got to them but shows you how relaxed they are! All of us who have cats have seen this posture before, right?
Once the lions cleared out (after several days of gorging themselves), we found a couple of them off on their own and the vultures and crocodiles can move in (see crocodile lunch photo... can you see his eye in there?).
We were fortunate to not only have this big cat sighting but we also saw a leopard (just very lucky on this one, we were rounding a corner and he we crossing the road and we watched him until he faded into the bush...I have a new appreciation for camouflage). We also saw a cheetah (my first sighting in the wild) that the other safari vehicle we were with spotted (sorry about the pun) and we were able to come and see until it got nervous and hustled off in the bush.
Finally, on the way out of the area I was looking off and said, "hey, what's that over there?"... often times you see something that looks like an animal but could be a stump. This one, however, was the real deal... two male lions who had just killed a zebra (it was a "fresh kill" in that you could see they hadn't eaten anything yet but had just taken the animal "down" as per his bloodied hindquarters). Once we got closer we could see one of the guys was pretty agitated by our presence (flicking his tail like a ticked off house cat...) so we backed off a bit but the other vehicle we were with wanted a closer look... and they got one! The "cheeky" cat (as they would say here) got up and charged the vehicle...full out run... right at them!!! Sorry, didn't get a picture of that one... I was saying, "Paul, give me your camera and let's get out of here!!!!" No time for photos as we were next in line for a charge.
OK, that's all for now.
Hope you enjoy the pictures.
Kristy
PS: I was going to say that was it for the big cat stories but that would mean I overlooked the flat tire at night within yards of the lion pride we had seen earlier in the day. Later...
Thursday, July 12, 2007 – a day in the life
First...let me thank all of you who have written to me expressing your appreciation of my email ramblings. I always worry a bit that I'm boring you but it seems many of you are enjoying my stories so I'll continue...
I thought it might be interesting if I gave you a glimpse of a day in my life in Maun, Botswana. We start pretty early with a work out on the veranda. Actually the first thing we do is feed the suicidal horn bills who tend to fly into the windows if they don't get their birdseed and apples first thing in the morning. Paul has spoiled them and now they've come to expect it! They're a bit crazy but beautiful (see horn bill at home photo). We actually get lots of birds: buffalo weavers, black eyed boo boos, starlings, horn bills of varying colored bills (red, yellow and gray), white browed sparrow weavers, cape pigeons, and a random tree squirrel (who I keep inadvertently referring to as a "ground" squirrel because he's usually on the ground...he is much smaller then our squirrels and yellowish in color).
Once everyone is fed we head out to the veranda for our work out. We have 3 different workout routines with weights that we cycle through...I'm getting pretty strong (and can now move the gate to let us in and out of the ostrich farm without too much of a struggle. The gate keeps the ostriches in. We have to open and close it to get in and out.). Since it is winter here it's been quite chilly in the morning. This morning I brought out my travel clock with thermometer on it and it was 54 degrees as we were working out (but it is very dry so it doesn't feel that cold).
After we work out and breakfast, we head into the office. The drive in is 3 miles of dirt "tracks" before we hit tarmac (a total of 20 minute drive or so). The dirt tracks are getting quite bumpy as the winter progresses and I occasionally have the urge to just open my mouth and let the noise vibrate out of me (sounds kind of like when you were a kid and used to make noise through a big box fan and it would kind of "cut up" the sound...if you know what I mean). On the drive in we must watch for donkey (they are EVERYWHERE...crossing the road, eating out of trash cans, standing just staring into space), goats (herds of them... also eating trash, crossing the road, sometimes "running" for no apparent reason), on coming cars, little dust "tornados" that rip through, an occasional cart pulled by donkey, one crazy dog that always chases us... it's an adventure.
Most days are filled with "Botswana Blue" skies (not a cloud to be found) and temps in the 70s. Quite lovely really, but it is one dusty place. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I packed anything white and I've totally trashed a couple of pairs of sandals. My feet are always dirty. It's a way of life (after 30 years here, Paul's feet kind of look like elephant feet...now I understand why).
Some days I stay home and read and work on lectures (for my new first year seminar on global health) but often I go into work and keep busy there because I have internet access and can connect to the outside world (I regularly listen to NPR while reading the NY Times on line...makes me not miss home so much). Paul is busy buzzing around: making maps for hunters and pilots; working on a new project to make interpretive maps of the parks (nice slick things tourist would buy with maps of parks, pictures of animals/birds, etc.); fixing people's computers (he's kind of the resident IT guy and people come in daily with all sorts of computer dilemmas that he tries to help them with); or dealing with the latest scandal in town (like the hunter that shot a collared leopard that was part of a research project... said he didn't see the collar... a big scandal and because of Paul's work in conservation he's often asked in to mediate these types of conversations).
At some point in the day we inevitably have to go out and buy something. Shopping is quite an experience here. There are more stores than I expected but none of them seem to have everything you are looking for (grocery shopping usually requires going to at least 2 different stores) and all of them have a rather odd mix of items (a store selling kitchen utensils might also have shoes and power tools...but it's a small store, not a Walmart...just a little store with an odd collection of things...another may have clocks, lace underwear, pirated DVDs...it's strange).
And sometimes they are completely out of things... like milk. The entire city of Maun did not have milk for several weeks (no I'm not kidding).
Lunch usually consists of some type of "take away." My favorite is the Chinese restaurant. If you tend to have difficulty making choices, this is definitely the place for you and the Chinese take away place is a good example of this. For lunch there are 2 options: rice or noodles...you can have these either "mild" or "spicy" and with or without chicken. Simple. And all for $2.
One of the oddest things that I haven't gotten used to yet is being a very obvious numerical minority. One of my favorite pastimes is counting white people in a store (6 total in the grocery store, 1 other besides us in the Chinese food place, only 2 at the auto parts place). Occasionally a small child will become extremely excited pointing and shouting "lekowa" (which loosely translates to "white person" but seems to have the implication of "crazy alien like creature"). As you might imagine... I don't exactly "blend" here. I'm not sure if it's the blonde, the blue eyes, the pink skin...which ever, I stick out like a sore thumb. But I can now say hello (dumela) and ask how are you? (have no idea how to spell it...I usually mumble it a bit).
The interactions are a bit "unusual" too. There isn't much eye contact and the Africans tend to refer to Paul as "Mr. Paul"...they don't know what to do with me. One called me "Mrs. Paul" once... made me think of fish sticks! (remember Mrs. Paul brand fish sticks?). Seems like all the expatriates know each other (they are also an interesting breed of people: innovative risk takers, would be how I would describe most of the white people I've met who've come from other countries).
At night we try to get back in time to do sundowners (the sun sets around 6). We sometimes go over to see the ostriches (see ostrich photo) or we go down to see how the "flood" is doing (this took me a while to understand... in the dry season most of the water in the area is supplied from "the flood" coming down from Angola. My first thought was "flood, oh...that doesn't sound good" but in fact...the flood is very good as it supplies the water to the area when it is not raining (see near the flood photo).
For dinner, either Paul cooks (I clean up) or we go out with friends to one of the lodges. One of the nicest places is Audi Camp - the place that Paul used to co-own and run (about 10 years ago). He is always warmly greeted by all the staff there including the small dog named "Uffs" (because that's what he sounds like when he barks "uff, uff, uff"). He kind of looks like a mop without a handle and I would guess if he didn't live in the world of dust he might be white (but he's currently a moving dust ball...kind of like Pig Pen from the Peanuts, remember him?).
As I mentioned before, sometimes it really feels like "backwards world" - floods are good, donkey run around like squirrels, white is the minority...it's a bit of a mind bend but I'm adjusting.
I think we're heading off to Victoria Falls this weekend (it is a 4 day weekend...President's Day Holiday on Monday/Tuesday) we haven't quite decided where we're going yet. I'll write more when we return.
Kristy
Wednesday, July 18, 2007 – back from Victoria Falls
Hello All,
We've just returned from a 4 day weekend trip up to Victoria Falls. While we had originally planned to go to the Zambian side of the falls, given all that we had heard about the economic situation in Zimbabwe, after meeting an old friend of Paul's in Kasane we decided to try the Zimbabwe side and stay in Victoria Falls itself.
You'll be happy to hear that I successfully drove halfway on each leg of the 7 hour trip up to Vic Falls. The good news is that I didn't kill anything! You have to understand there are lots of things that could be killed out there. In addition to the donkey, goats, and cattle, which are common in Maun, as we left the more populated areas we encountered elephant, steenbok, zebras, ostrich and many many birds that seem to have suicidal tendencies (for some reason they like to fly right toward the windshield...). And some how, the long flat road makes it difficult to see what's coming up ahead (is that a mirage or an elephant?). At one point in time I looked up in the distance and saw what looked to be "tall brown bushes". In the end it was ostriches, with their heads down and Paul says, "Watch for them. They can be cheeky." Watch for them to do what? I've got to say, watching out for all those hazards sure makes driving an exhausting experience.
On Saturday we camped in Kasane and spent the afternoon in Chobe National Park. We saw lots and lots of elephants (see elephants at watering hole photo), kudu, impala, and a whole troop of baboons (see holding feet photo).
On Sunday we crossed in to Zimbabwe. There was a tremendous amount of paper work at the border... fees for a carbon tax, a visa permit, etc. and then just when we think we're set, we get in the 4x4 drive 20 feet only to be asked to get out of the car again to pay an "insurance" fee. It took about an hour to get through immigration and customs! But the people were very friendly...joking with us, etc.
We ended up staying two nights at a lovely lodge in the Zimbabwe Falls national park. For $50 a night we rented a two bedroom house with kitchen, living room, bath and lovely veranda right on the banks of the Zambezi river (see on the veranda photo). We had wart hogs, baboons, vervet monkeys and elephants in the front yard! It was amazing!!
One night as we are sitting having sundowners (yes, this is a regular thing), we hear what sounds like King Kong making his way through the trees and brush near our house. You hear the snapping of branches and crushing of bushes, then a brief pause, until you hear it again only this time closer and LOUDER than it was before. Finally, an absolutely huge male elephant emerges, as if from no where, out of the brush. Upon seeing us on the veranda he flares his ears and shakes his head (FYI - this is NOT a good sign, it means they are unhappy and could charge at any moment). Paul silently shuffles me toward the french doors leading into the living room, getting ready to shove me in if the need arises. But it doesn't and he quickly settles into munching on things. Soon two more arrives and they proceed to "shake" the large (50-60 feet tall) vegetable ivory pines by putting their trunks straight up the trunk of the tree and pushing with tremendous force until the palm nuts shake loose and hit the ground... dessert! Yum! The leave in the same way they arrive crunch, crush, snap until the disappear into the night leaving only the sound of their path but no visible cues what so ever. Amazing!
At night off in the distance we hear the roar of a male lion (I tried to record it for you on a tape recorder. Unfortunately, while we could hear it very clearly, it did not record well...bummer!).
On Monday morning we get up before dawn cracks and are the first ones into the Victoria Falls park. We literally have the whole place to ourselves for about and hour and a half. It was magical. Just as it is impossible to capture the awesome nature of the Grand Canyon unless you are standing at the edge of it, the same is true for Victoria Falls. The force of the water is tremendous. The mist rises out of the massive raven created by the water and it is sometimes so thick that you can't even see the falls. It is just a wall of white. But if you stand in one place long enough it clears out and you can get a view of fall (see Victoria Falls photo), catching a glimpse here and there of a rainbow (even a double rainbow) as the suns rays make their way through. It is amazing! All I can say is... if you ever get the chance, you must go see it for yourself. It is well worth the trip.
The only down side of going to the Zimbabwe side is that there was no fuel (which we anticipated) and they only took cash money (no VISA cards at most places) so, unfortunately, we ran out of cash and weren't able to do the white water rafting trip we had hoped to do. We did use the card once for a lunch at the Victoria Falls Hotel (very ritzy upscale restaurant - see at the Vic Falls hotel photo. I'm drinking a foo-foo drink with an umbrella called a "Pims". The white stuff you see off in the distance that looks like smoke is actually mist from the falls. Lovely!). The lunch cost us 4.8 million Zimbabwe dollars (if you haven't been keeping up with the news the inflation rate is officially reported to be 4500% but unofficially it is said to be as high as 6000%). We have no idea how much that will show up for on the VISA bill!
OK, that's enough for now. Hope you all are well.
Kristy
Thursday, July 19, 2007 – in the news
One of my favorite things to do in Maun is to read the local weekly newspaper. I actually get kind of excited when Friday comes as there's sure to be some interesting stories reported. Not only does it incorporate a creative use of commas and grammar but it often has articles and advertisements that just crack me up.
I couldn't resist sending you the attached from the Ngami Times. This first article (copied twice, sorry) is called, "Here we go again - another donkey 'lover'". This clearly rivals the best police log from my hometown paper (which often reports things like "a raccoon with its head stuck in a jar in the middle of the road" or "kids hitting the button on the traffic lights to cross the road... but then not crossing"). I particularly like the way they've talked about "taking a donkey as a 'mistress'" and how the man brought to court wanted to bring his donkey with him as evidence that they loved each other. Lastly, note the interesting use of the term "celebrated case."
The last item is an advertisement for Dr. Karibu...what a guy...just look at the list of things he can cure. My favorites are numbers 11, 12, and 20. And all this for only 30 Pula (about $5). Also note the location...classic Maun!
We're headed off to Nxai Pan this weekend for a couple of nights of camping. This is an area north of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve that Paul often goes to do his astronomy shows. Since we are between the new moon and quarter moon the viewing should be perfect. I'll write more when I return.
Kristy
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 – walking on the moon
This weekend we had a lovely trip to Nxai Pan (don't forget to click your tongue at the 'x'). We left Friday afternoon, later than expected, so the drive into our campsite was long, dark and "slippery." Lots of "heavy sand" which, as I mentioned before, is a bit like driving in snow but not...the closest I can come to describing it is that it feels similar to those simulated rides at places like Disney World. You know they type... you've read the necessary warnings about pregnant women, people with back and heart problems, you're strapped into a cart that hirky jerky shoves you around as you watch a movie screen in front of you that depicts you careening through the blood vessels of the human body (have you been on that ride?). So there's a lot of side way "shoving" and "back end fish tailing" if you know what I mean. It is unlike snow in that there are tracks or spoors that your tires are in that keep you from spinning wildly out of control (assuming you don't get "thrust" out of them unexpectedly).
The sky is filled with stars but our field of vision is limited to the headlights and we are surrounded on both sides by tall hay colored grass and an occasional deadly thorn bush that scrapes violently against the car (and who knows what else is out there in the dark?). The road seemed endless until the whole world opens up into this large salt pan that literally looks like the surface of the moon. Flat, flat, flat and wide open for as far as you can see (see view of the pan photo - that's me drinking coffee way out there).
We camped at a place called "Baines' Baobabs" in Kudiakam Pan (see Baines' Baobabs photo)- these trees were named after the famous painter and explorer who painted them in 1862 during his trips through Southern Africa. This group of trees is called the "Seven Sisters" and it is unusual in that these types of trees are rarely clustered together. It is commonly suggested that if Thomas Baines were to repaint these baobabs today there would be no discernible difference from when he painted them 145 years ago!
On Saturday we drove around the pan but didn't see as much wild life as the areas near water that we have been to previously. At the one watering hole, that still had water in it (remember this is the dry season here), we did see plenty of impala, zebra, springbok, and giraffe (see giraffes drinking photo - check out the flinging water). We also saw some amazing birds -- like the Marshall Eagle (see Marshall Eagle photo - he was looking right at us! check out his eyes!!) in the tree above our campsite and several very large kori bustards (they were every where walking around like mini pterodactyl!).
At night we would walk out to the pan with our chairs, sundowners and binoculars to look at the stars. There is so little ambient light that you can actually see the craters of the moon, the milky way, and if I could have held the binoculars still enough some of the moons of Jupiter. Walking on the pan is what I imagine it might be like to walk on the moon (minus the gravity issue, of course). The surface kind of crunches a bit like the top of snow after it first falls (not ice, but a thin crust on the top of the snow).
In addition to the unique landscape and the stars, the silence is deafening. It is so quiet it is hard to explain. I think in our day-to-day lives there is always a constant buzz of electricity that we are oblivious to most of the time but in its absence (like after the power goes out in an ice storm) it is just SO quiet!
Finally, as we walked back up from the pan after star gazing the air has gotten quite cool but as we approach the big baobab tree that lives in the center of our campsite (see baobab in campsite photo - look how big it is in comparison to the tent and 4x4!) I feel this warmth...amazingly it is this glorious tree...she has captured the warmth of the sun and is literally radiating heat (about 2 feet away from the tree) in the cool of the night...awesome!
Friday, July 27, 2007 – observations around town
Well it's been almost 6 weeks since I arrived in Maun and it is finally starting to feel a bit more "normal" (OK, maybe "routine" is a better word). But before I forget about all the daily interactions that once seemed strange, I wanted to write a little about them:
routine security checks - when you shop in stores after you check out there is another employee about 2 feet away from where they just rang up your purchases who re-checks the list of things on your receipt against everything in your bag. I mean... if you were going to steal something when would you have had time to do this? They just saw you check out?? It confuses me.
dust drifts in the middle of the road - there is so much dust and dirt here that it actually accumulates like fresh snow fall in the center of the road (you know when you are driving and it is just starting to snow and it kind of gets cleared off in the main path of traffic but gets pushed into the middle of the road where no one is driving).
chickens, goats, dogs, and donkeys - there is a regular array of stray animals in the streets, in the trash cans, in parking lots. Filling up your tank... there goes a flock of chickens. Coming out of the grocery store... oops, wait for the goats to walk by the back of your car before you back out.
pet lovers - while I haven't really encountered too many "pets" in my daily interactions, when I have (primarily in restaurants...can any one say "health code violation"?) their owners are soooo enthusiastic about their creatures. Tuesday night, for example, we stopped off at "Sports Bar" (yes, that's its official name) to get some dinner and the owner went on and on about his new cat "Gilbert" who had just found him (the owner) last week. While standing at the counter and stroking the cat (a small gray tabby kitten), he told us how smart Gilbert was and how Gilbert set off the alarm system because he trips the motion detectors at night. He continued by saying that most tourists who come in inevitably take a photograph of Gilbert and that he ends up being a "baby sitter" for people's kids while they eat. He even explained how Gilbert steals candies from the dish on the counter, etc., etc. I'm telling you it had to be a 15 minute conversation about his cat. Funny!
feral children - in my day-to-day interactions I don't have that many encounters with kids. We do see a lot of them walking to/from school in their school uniforms. Occasionally, however, I encounter some exact kids. They are in many ways unlike American kids. First, they look a bit "feral" - hair uncombed, feet filthy dirty and this kind of wild look in their eyes. Second, they pretty much do their own thing with very little supervision. At Sport's Bar, they were seriously torturing poor Gilbert the cat. Poking at him, pulling his tail, taunting him. I thought for sure Gilbert was going to whap them or someone would tell them to stop but it was an all out torture session (3 feral kids on one tiny cat) for quite some time. As we were leaving the place all three of the little bush rats jumped out of the men's bathroom as we passed it trying to scare the heck out of us.
the hand gesture for hitch hiking - if you are driving and someone wants a ride they kind of "flap" their hand at you (palm facing the ground, a listless pathetic wave toward the dirt). For the longest time I thought the were waving at us when in fact they were soliciting a ride...flap, flap, flap.
Finally I'll say that the expatriates I've met are a very interesting group of people. In fact, I think it would make for a fascinating book...who are these people? how did they get here? why Botswana? what have they done for work in the past, present and what do they plan to do in the future?
One thing I will say is they seem to all be risk takers and "dreamers." Last night at an open house/reception free wine art exhibit at a local store I met the most interesting people. One guy had run a touring company in South Africa where all the participants rode Harleys to see the country side. He is currently doing carpentry work but would really like to open up a "biker bar" in Maun (I think besides Paul's motorbike I've seen ONE other bike here...in six weeks!).
But he is not alone in his career meanderings or off the wall ambitions for the future. A few weeks back we met this couple that Paul has known for many years (every where we go we meet people Paul knows...in restaurants, in the bush, in town, out of town...literally everywhere... some are expats, some are hunters, others san bush people...he just breaks into whatever language is appropriate (and I'm here struggling with basic interactions with one new language!). Anyway, we met this couple who actually purchased a boat despite the fact that both of them are terrified of water (??). They were bemoaning the fact that they had to get rid of it because they were just too scared to go out on it (didn't they know that BEFORE they purchased?).
Well, it's my last weekend in Maun. No big plans. Friends over for dinner on Saturday night. Maybe a motorbike ride on Sunday. We leave for Joburg on Thursday (August 2), we'll spend a few days down there before I depart on Sunday evening (August 5).
Hope you have a great weekend.
Just received the Dean's annual email about important dates for the start of the term...guess summer is almost over (sob, sob).
Kristy
Tuesday, July 31, 2007 – glossary of terms and favorite signs
As I mentioned to you before, while I thought I spoke English fluently, there have been many circumstances in which I had no idea what other people speaking English were saying to me. I've decided to make a glossary of terms describing how English is used here. I've also attached some of my favorite signs from the trip (as some of you know, I love collecting photos of funny signs when I travel). Enjoy!
dicey - not a good idea; as in "crossing this bridge could be dicey" (i.e. we could fall in the water with the crocodiles)
dodgy - sketchy, hinky; as in "he's a little dodgy" (i.e. he shouldn't be trusted) or "that whole plan sounds a little dodgy"
hire - to rent; as in "chairs and tents for hire"
howzit - how is it going? comparable to the southern "hey" - an informal greeting, no real response required
just now - used as a measure of time indicating that the event you are referring to may occur in the next few days...maybe; as in "I'll be paying that bill just now" or "we'll eat lunch just now" (although it sounds like it's going to happen soon, it could be several hours from now).
finished - no longer have any; as in "the ice, she be finished" (this is what the convenience store woman said to me when I asked her if she had any ice; I thought that meant it was ready to be purchased, as in it was finished freezing).
laughing (or smiling) - things are good; we're set; as in "now we're laughing" or "then I'd be smiling."
Lost the plot - run amok; misdirected; as in "the guy has completely lost the plot" (i.e. he's out of his mind)
make a plan - figure out what to do to get out of bad situation; as in "the tire is flat, it is dark out, there are lions in the area...we need to make a plan"
now now - soon; in contrast to "just now" this indicates that the event might actually found pretty soon; as in "We're leaving now now" (in the next few minutes).
organize - order or get; as in "can you organize a round of drinks" (what do you mean? line them up according to size?)
Finally, some of my favorite descriptors include:
lovely - as in "that warthog steak was lovely"
stunning - as in "the southern cross was stunning over the pan"
sweet - as in "oh, but that big giant spider on the ceiling is sweet, she won't hurt you" (Paul thinks all creatures are "sweet" -- in fact on Sunday, we spent an hour conducting a humane spider removal program. I can take one or two in the house but up over 40 and they need to go...we carefully removed all of them and relocated them outside)
Wednesday, August 01, 2007 – last day in Maun
Well it is my last day in Maun. It is hard to believe that almost 2 months have passed. We head to Johannesburg tomorrow early morning. It will take us about 14 hours to drive down there. We’ll spend the weekend in Joburg shopping for things for Paul’s work (products for the giant laminating machine, new software for the GIS projects, etc.) and re-acclimating me to a developed country so that the culture shock won’t be so overwhelming when I return to the states. We’re plan to find some good Thai food one night and maybe sushi the next (things you can’t exactly find in the bush). We also hope to see a few films and hit a good book store. While the pirated Chinese DVDs that somehow squeeze 8 movies on one DVD and cost about $5 have kept us busy…I’m missing my independent films.
My flight leaves Sunday night about 7:45 PM and after 24 hours plus of traveling (back through Paris and then New York City) I should be back at my sister’s house in Massachusetts sometime late Monday afternoon.
For our final day here we’re in the office trying to get invoicing out for the end of the month (Paul owns an office block and all of the tenants need to be billed) and trying to get things in order for Paul’s 6-day-absence. Laundry is hanging to dry and I’ll try to squeeze everything into the suitcase tonight in preparation for our pre-dawn departure.
Later this afternoon we are planning to take a small 3-seater plane for a flight out over the delta. Paul really wants me to see the area from the air so we hired a pilot yesterday to take us out later this afternoon. Should be exciting… I’ll take lots of pictures!
This summer I’ve been reading a book by Elizabeth Gilbert called “Eat, Pray, Love” that my friend Kathy gave me for my birthday. There are several memorable quotes but one has resonated with me all summer. In it she describes her love of travel, it reads:
“…traveling is the great true love of my life. I always felt… that to travel is worth any cost or sacrifice. I am loyal and constant in my love for travel…I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless newborn baby – I just don’t care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it’s mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to – I just don’t care.”
I thought this would be an appropriate way to end my little African travelogue in that she expresses so well my love of traveling. Not sure how much email access I’ll have over the next few days. I’ll let you know when I arrive safely at home. Thanks so much for coming along with me…I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my adventures as much as I’ve enjoyed writing about them.
Kristy
Tuesday, August 07, 2007 – I’m baaaack
Friends,
Just a quick note to let you know that I'm back in the states. I made it safely back to my sister's house after more than 24 hours traveling yesterday afternoon. No major delays (although we did have to wait an extra half hour on the plane in NYC so that they could take the wrong luggage off our plane and put the right luggage on!). Biggest event was stepping in a giant wad of florescent green gum somewhere in the JFK airport. Don't know were it came from but it got hopelessly lodged in the bottom of my shoe...welcome home!
Thanks again for sharing in my adventure. I've gotten lots of positive feedback about my emails and I'm so glad you've enjoyed them.
I've attached two final pictures from the trip...many of you have asked to see a picture of Paul so here is one from our flight over the delta -- which, by the way, was absolutely stunning! Amazing views of lush green grasses in flowing patterns for miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers as they case may be). We saw elephants making their way through the flood waters and zebras and cape buffalo standing knee deep grazing on the grasses. We say the "polers" navigating in their mokoros (hollowed out logs made into boats). I've attached one picture of a view from the plane.
If Paul's intent was to leave me with an impression of the Botswana that I would find hard to forget and a desire to return as quickly as possible....I think he succeeded.
Missing the bush already,
Kristy
Thursday, January 11, 2007
January-February 2007 - Furman Trip
January 11, 2007 - in DC
Hi All,
Just wanted to let you know we made is successfully to Washington, DC and are now waiting to go to the airport and get on our very long flight. Just thought I'd say 'hi!' while I have access to the internet. I'll write again when we get there (and when I find internet access again)...
Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
Kristy
January 13, 2007 – arrived safely
Hi All,
Just wanted to let you know that we arrived safely after our 15 and 1/2 hour flight from DC to Johannesburg and an additional 2 hour flight to Windhoek the capital of Namibia. After checking the students in to the CGE house we (Don, Erik and I) made our way down to the Riverdell house where we will be staying. We were greeted by Tessa the very big guard dog who keeps us "safe" at night from the local machete wielding hoodlums. No worries, though, we travel in groups.
Today we spent the day touring Windhoek including the rather large shanty town which can only be described with pictures...haven't seen poverty like this since Caracas in the late 1980s. No electricity, one central water pump where people have to pay for water and an endless sea of "houses" made of corrugated aluminum. It is a little overwhelming to see poverty of that magnitude and yet we were greeted so warmly by the gaggles of little children coming to see the odd looking people who have arrived in their neighborhood. They especially liked seeing pictures of themselves on the digital cameras the students have.
The weather is quite hot (probably high nineties) and we're all doing our best to stay hydrated (I've had 2 liters of water already today and 1 trip to the bathroom so that gives you a sense of how much we are sweating without knowing it because it is quite dry). It's the rainy season so we're likely to get a shower this afternoon. Hopefully it will cool things off a bit.
That's all for now. Just wanted to let you know we made it and the adventure has officially started.
Kristy
January 14, 2007 – Making Contacts
Hi All,
Just finishing up the end of our second full day. Managed to make contact today with a friend of Bonnie Mullinax's from her time working in Namibia who may turn out to be a very helpful contact for my TB project. He is going to try to put me in touch with the Dean of Students at the University he works at that just coordinated an HIV/AIDS public awareness campaign for the students at their university, the director of a Center for Disease Control (CDC) funded project on AIDS/TB, and a woman who works for a non-governmental organization (NGO) on AIDS. So while I was unable to make any contacts successfully from home, I seem to be making some progress here. He also offered to drive me places since he is on "summer holiday" from the university, so that alleviates any fears I might have had about trying to make my way around the city alone.
Interestingly we ate lunch today (this guy Mike and I) at a mall that was very different from the mall we were in yesterday. While about only 10% of the people in the mall yesterday were white (I actually sat and counted people as they walked about of the food market in the mall...sociologists never sleep), today only about 10% were black (although maybe not an objective count because I had to chew and count today at lunch ;o) So while the apartheid era may have ended in 1990, some of the racial divides still seem to be apparent.
Tessa the guard dog still continues to protect me at night and actually sleeps right outside my door. Maybe it was the piece of "ham" (or what I presume to be ham) that I fed her at breakfast the other morning.
That's all for now.
Kristy
January 15, 2007
Had an interesting meeting today with the Dean of Students at the Polytechnic University who gave me a presentation about HIV/AIDS education that they do for their student body and some statistics including health stats from their annual report (they actively treat students with TB). One of the myths that Namibians have about HIV/AIDS is that if you sleep with a virgin that will cure AIDS. They also describe sex with a condom like eating a candy with the wrapper on. You'll be happy to know, however, that while Furman University does not have condoms available on campus, the Polytechnic University in Namibia does. They were quite informative and willing to just talk with me (over tea, of course) on a variety of topics including the war in Iraq and the next presidential election. They were shocked when I said I wasn't sure if many Americans were "ready" for a woman president...how could this be from one of the most developed countries in the world?????
I'm not quite sure why this guy Mike is being so helpful but he's really going out of his way to make contacts for me and shuttle me around to different appointments, etc. I currently don't have anything else set up but he had at least 3 more people he was going to try to put me in touch with before we leave town.
Half of the students are off to their overnight home stays tonight. They seemed exited but anxious. After the orientation lecture about "goat head soup" and Namibian customs of eating all of what is served to you, some were a bit freaked.
Well... I'd better go. While the CGE house has 4 computers with internet access, someone just came in who wants to use one so I'll sign off.
Kristy
January 16, 2007 – sex with virgins cures AIDS
OK, so let's see if your spam filter lets that subject line through.
This was one of the many things I learned yesterday when I met with the Dean of Students at the Polytechnic University. She said that part of her education on HIV/AIDS for the students includes dispelling myths like the idea that if you are HIV positive and sleep with a virgin, it will cure you of AIDS.
It was a very informative discussion where she explained that most of her college students do not have a basic awareness about how one gets AIDS or how to prevent it. This is especially troubling give that about 20-25% of Namibians are HIV positive. You will also be glad to know that while Furman University does not have condoms on campus; the Polytechnic in Namibia gives them out free. She also gave me their annual report from their health services showing the number of pregnancies there are and how many active cases of TB they're treating. One other interesting thing was regarding the successful campaign they had to get people tested to find out their HIV status... they gave out free t-shirts (with a local banks name on it) in order to encourage testing. It's amazing what a free t-shirt can inspire...
Today we challenged our students to think about where global inequities come from, when they really developed in the modern world and why they exist. I led a small group discussion and Ching did an inspiring lecture on Robert Marks book on the rise of the west (has anyone read this one? it sounded worth the read). This afternoon we had a speaker from the U.S. Embassy come to speak. He was quite candid and at one point in time, when discussing the Iraq war, said he had a response he was "supposed to give" about the war but even he wasn't convinced by it so he wasn't going to say it. He also said that 40-50% of what they do is trying to improve the HIV/AIDS situation.
This afternoon a few of us went with one of the locals to buy supplies for an orphanage we will do our service learning project at later in the week. We bought diapers, formula, food, cleaning supplies to donate to an orphanage that houses 20 kids whose parents died of AIDS. At least we can try to give them some supplies and help out a bit.
Haven't made any more contacts for the TB project but we still have a few more days in Namibia so hopefully something will work out.
I've got to go eat dinner.
I'll write more soon.
km
January 17, 2007 – wild baboons and tongue clicking
Just a quick update to let you know what's been happening today. We started the day with student presentations. They are quite good and Ching is keeping them on their toes with challenging questions (all of those who haven't presented yet are totally panicked). Next we took a quick field trip up to the Hero's Acre which as a pretty big memorial to all those in Namibia who died during their freedom struggle. Oddly it was built by North Koreans. We went all the way to the top of it (many many stairs) which was a challenge for some of our students (given that the city is at 5000 feet altitude so the air is much thinner). The most interesting part of the trip was the pack (or what ever you call a group) of wild baboons just running around in a field as we drove by. They were on a soccer field for a local sports club just running and beating on each other. One of them was even swinging from the goal post like a little kid. Maybe they were playing shirts and "hairs".
Our students have been enjoying their home stays. One set of boys, however, did have to share a twin bed last night... I dubbed that one, "brokeback home stay." But they've been real troopers with very few complaints even when food has been sparse or temperatures high or... beds small. Seems like a good group so far.
After lunch we went to the Catholic Aids Outreach Center. They are an organization that provides aid to the Katutura in a variety of forms including AIDS testing, after school programs for kids, and home health care for those suffering with (dying from) HIV/AIDS. We spent the afternoon bombarded by little kids who wanted their pictures taken, etc. I had a pretty interesting experience with a little girl; she looked to be maybe 3 but could have been older since, due to malnutrition, the kids are quite small. She sat down near me and we started looking at a picture book with pictures. When I asked her if she knew what the pictures were she would nod but not really say anything. So I would go through and say in English, "cat, pencil, horse, fork, etc." She would just kind of look at me. Finally, I she started to respond but in her own native language, Damara, which has lots of tongue clicking involved. So she would say what it was in her language and I would say English. It was pretty cute. I had no idea what
she was saying and she probably had no idea what I was saying. The Namibians are divided into ethnic groups each with their own distinctive language. Under apartheid, they were taught Afrikaans in school and so for older people, that becomes the universal language between the different ethnic groups. Now they teach English in schools so most Namibians speak 3 languages: their native language, Afrikaans and English. They seem to go easily between all three of these (except for this little girl, she was probably too young to be in school). Some of the languages are quite beautiful with all that tongue clicking.
That's all for now.
Kristy
January 19, 2007 – hunting for glass
While my family hunts for sea glass on Old Lyme shores every summer, I had the opportunity to hunt for glass of a different sort today as half of us spent the day at an orphanage cleaning up, bathing, feeding and playing with the 20+ kids that live there. While I typically suck at finding glass at the beach, I was pretty good today, probably due to the large amount of garbage in the back yard of this woman's home that she has opened to street children and AIDS orphans that have no where else to go. The story has it that this woman, Maria, was sick and tired of seeing all these kids wandering the streets with no food or place to stay so she took one in. Word spread and people kept bringing them by. Those whose parents had died of AIDS, some whose parents didn't want them and still others who were fleeing situations of abuse. Their ages range from a few weeks to teen years. We're not quite sure how she manages to care for them all on her own since she has no official funding (relies primarily on donations) or
regular help but somehow she does. She was thrilled with the large donation of supplies our group gave to her and happy to have help feeding them all (some nasty white corn based mash potato looking substances made in a huge pot over an open flame in the back yard) and bathing them. We had a real assembly line going with the baths but it didn't take them too long to get filthy again in the all dirt and rock back yard. They especially enjoyed the tire swing that one of our kids rigged up for them. They spent hours and hours taking turns spinning on it. At one point Maria sat against the back wall of the house in the shade on what looked to be carpet padding and started calling all of them one by one. They all gathered around her sitting on the ground calling her mama. Well over 20 were there since several of the local kids wander in for food and/or attention too. It was a sight to see them all piled up. While we took pictures, they certainly can't capture the gravity of the moment. She was truly their life line.
Kristy
January 22, 2007 – in Swakopmund
Yesterday we drove across Namibia west toward the Atlantic Ocean. It took us about 4 hours to get to Swakopmund. It was certainly a type of landscape I had never seen before. A mass expanse of dry desert with river beds with no sign of water and very tall termite towers as one of the only things that mark the landscape. The termite towers are made of sand and who knows what else (termite saliva?) matted into a type of clay substance that reach over 10 feet in some cases toward the sky. They are very strange looking and seem to pop out of no where. Beyond that we saw a couple of baboons and lots and lots of sand. At one point it was so hot in the van I was in that it seemed like we were standing in front of a blow dryer with hot air blasting through the windows. Fortunately, as we descended toward the coast the air cooled and by the time we reached the coast we had to change in to jeans and fleece jackets to go to dinner. It felt nice to feel the cooler weather for a change, but I don't think any of us are looking forward to the drive back on Wednesday. The most remarkable sight was the massive sand dunes that rise out of the horizon. You literally look down the street and see a huge sand dune (kind of orangey red in color) off in the distance. Tomorrow we'll have the opportunity to climb one (and then slide down...I'll let you know how that goes). We had a nice dinner last night and did a tour of the city today. It is primarily a tourist destination (where Brad and Angelina came to have their baby, for all those who keep up with pop culture). Lots of shops and restaurants and nice views of the Atlantic Ocean. Our accommodations were...interesting but once I washed the bugs down the drain, the shower was hot anyway...
Got to run. Erik is waiting on me to walk back up from town to our place.
More later must get back to the desert...
Kristy
January 24, 2007 – Dune 7 and a bug in my ear
Yesterday I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life in Swakopmund/Walvis Bay (not too far from where Brad and Angelina had their baby). We spend the afternoon climbing one of the biggest sand dunes in all of Africa. The thing was massive. The entire time there we kept driving by dunes and asking our drivers, is Dune 7 bigger than that? yep! that one's huge, is it bigger than that? yep! And then we see this massive sand dune off in the distance rising out of the horizon (rumored to be higher than the Eiffel tower - see if you can Google it and find out)... DUNE 7. And our plan for the afternoon... to go up it! OK...so we start climbing and the sand is hotter than hell, burning my little toes as it pours into my Teva's. For every twelve inch step you make you sink back down about 6 of those inches. It's like a stair climber from hell. You keep trudging and trudging but only make half the progress you should make. If you find yourself directly behind some one you end up in this cascading avalanche of sand just flowing down the mountain like water. Best to move out of the path of others. One step up, slide half way back and it is hot. No rest for the weary... I will make it up this thing. I can hear myself gasping for air. If you stop and look back down you see how steep this think really is. You can stand with you feet mostly buried about parallel to the side of the mountain. Let's try all fours... the spidery things escorting me up there seem to do pretty well on all their legs so, let's give it a try. Keep going... almost there... and wha la! one of the top 5 to make it up there... collapse at the top of the dune and catch my breath.
It was a very hard trek but definitely worth doing if not simply for the view from the top. Miles and miles of open desert with a several smaller dunes rippling off in one direction. The sand is orangey, yellow is... like I've never seen. Several of our students went up and down multiple times (the record was 6) but I preferred to stay on top and wonder around (it was like you were on another planet). You could walk at the very top of a given dune all across the "edge" (the wind actually blows a perfectly straight edge of sand at the very top... it's pretty cool). The way down is fun too... you can just run like crazy and the deep sand almost slows you down a bit (although one kid did take a total digger when he hit the bottom).
The other highlight of yesterday (for different reasons) was the bug flying in my ear in the middle of the night (5 AM to be exact). There I was peacefully sleeping under my damp and nasty comforter when I was rudely awakened by this buzzing in my ear, which I, unfortunately, promptly stabbed with my finger thus causing the little bugger to go deeper into my ear. I had however, wounded him because his buzz (while louder) sounded a bit pathetic in my ear canal... buzz... bbbbbuuuzzzzz... flap (I assume that was wings)...bzzzzz... OK, so now what do I do? Get up and hop on one foot hoping he'll come out (like pool water), no luck... hate to do it but I've got to try a q-tip... I get a little blood and what appears to be a leg!
Fortunately, I had the chance to go to a doctor today because we had a student with what looks like bug bits getting worse so I had the doctor look in my ear while we were there... all's clear, no bug parts or bite! That's good to know. No care from the doctor either (I think he liked my story!).
Finally, on our drive back to Windhoek today, I earned the award for spotting the most animals including a wart hog and (once I referenced my travel guide's animal section I realized) a black backed jackal. We also saw "troops" of baboons (learned that's what you call a group of baboons) including a baby riding on its mom's back... cool!
Got to run to go class.
Kristy
January 25, 2007 – Today I got peed on
Today we went back to the "orphanage". I've put it in quotes because it really isn't a formal orphanage but rather a house full of kids taken in by a saintly woman named Maria. Last time we were there we cleaned up the yard, washed the kids, fed them lunch and played. Somehow when we returned today, the yard needed cleaning again and the tire swing we managed to hang was already broken (less than a week). I guess that's what happens when you've got over 20 kids living there.
Today we helped with laundry which is quite the feat with so many kids and no washing machine. It is literally scrubbing clothes in a bucket and hanging then on the fence to dry. They get especially creative with the blankets and rugs. They put them in a big wash bucket and step on them with their feet (like making wine out of grapes). Then they get the water out of it by pushing it down on a grate that is about a foot and a half of the ground. It is quite the project.
I spent most of my day holding the cutest little 4 month old baby girl. She is the daughter of one of the older girls that lives there and it is unclear who the father is or how she got pregnant (there's some rumor that she might have been raped). The girl looks to be about 14 but claims to be 18. Unfortunately she isn't the best at being a mom. She seems pretty much disinterested in her and she basically lies around or is held by one of the older children. The baby also has developed a pretty significant case of diaper rash. As such, it's best to carry her around with her diaper a bit open to air out the inflamed area... hence, I got peed on today but at least I noticed her intense look while pooping and moved quickly to avoid that mess!
There are probably 7 or 8 kids there under the age of 2 who just really cling to our students if given the opportunity. They are clearly starving for attention so much so that they are unnaturally quite for such little kids. It is almost as if they figured out that crying doesn't get them anywhere so they've simply stopped doing it. Sorry if I already mentioned that to you in an earlier e-mail but it is truly remarkable and sad. Today one of our students actually got one of them to laugh and it was sadly an uncommon sound in a back yard full of dirt.
Our students have been incredibly generous with their time (they have an exam tonight but over half of them spent most of the day with the kids today) and their money (one of them paid for all the kids to have Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch out of her own pocket - probably close to $90). There have also been rumblings of trying to get a group on campus to take the house on as a charity and send regular intervals of money. Let's hope that happens.
Also say the family cat trotting off with a mouse in its mouth (yum) and the scrawniest looking chickens I've ever seen just walking around.
Well, we leave for Botswana tomorrow morning at 6 AM (ugh!) so this will be my last e-mail until we get to Joburg (Feb. 5). Hope you all stay well until I talk to you again soon.
Love,
Kristy
January 25, 2007
It is fun to have Cat here with us. I'm glad she's here. We're really looking forward to the safari part.
The students for the most part are quite good. They have an exam tonight so when we went up to the "box" (there are a few of them staying up the street at a place called the "card board box" because they don't all fit in the CGE house), many of them were studying in the bar. Drinking and studying...but studying.
We're going back to the orphanage today (the one with the woman Maria and the twenty kids). We're going to help out with laundry, cooking, bathing the kids and cleaning up. I'm sure it doesn't take long for it to all get dirty again. Should be fun and it feels good to help out, even if it's a little.
We are preparing to leave for Botswana early tomorrow AM. We probably won't have e-mail until we get to Joburg.
I'll try to e-mail again tonight before we go.
January 25, 2007 – Until Joburg
Just wanted to write my last e-mail to you before I head to Botswana tomorrow AM dark and early (as opposed to bright and early). You've probably read the other e-mail about my adventures at the orphanage today. It was really heart breaking... sure you don't want to adopt an African baby (you can tell Barbara and Debbie that I can get them for them too if they're interested because sadly there are lots of orphans to go around)? This little girl today was totally cute and she is clearly not getting the attention she needs. Her mom barely acknowledges her and the "house mom" sort of leaves her to be cared for by her own mother (which is understandable given the number of kids there are to watch). If I could have packed her in my suitcase today...
We are all eagerly anticipating the next leg of our trip. We have properly stocked up on wine and beer (we have 9 bottles of wine and a flat of beer (24)) for the trip.
Kartikeya said the bag we got (that we thought would be so great) is actually pretty cheaply made so I hope it holds up now that the traveling will be getting harder. I've already lost two of the zipper pulls and it has a small rip in the back of it. I should have traveled with duct tape!
I'll be on line for the next few minutes so e-mail if you get this. Otherwise, I'll chat with you again in Joburg.
Take care of Shelby.
Kristy
January 29, 2007 – in Maun
Just a quick note from Maun, Botswana as we re-fuel the vehicles and buy supplies for our next few days. I've just got to say the safari camping portion of this trip has been awesome so far. We are in far more remote campsites than expected (as in... no fences, animals walking through the campsites at night, no running water and truly out in the wild). Early this morning we had jackals in camp making quite a lot of noise. Yesterday we were within 10-15 feet of a lion. He was amazing and I have the best pictures. I've got to run but wanted you to know I am safe and having a great time (I've not showered in couple days but who’s counting). I'll write more when I can.
Love,
Kristy
February 6, 2007 – arrived safely in Joburg
Yebo! That's hello in Southern African speak.
We have arrived safely back in South Africa after what has been one of the best adventures of my life. It was everything I thought it would be and more. We traveled around in muddy 4x4s through dirt roads in the middle of the Kalahari for 11 days setting up and breaking down camp most days in the most remote locations in the world. We occasionally had access to running water (toilets and showers a short walk away) but often we situated in areas unaffected by humans, the side of Tsau Mountain with kudu (antelope like creatures with curly horns) walking on the mountain behind our camp or at elephant sands camp ground where we actually had elephants within 20 feet of where we were camping just wondering by.
Our days were filled with travel between locations in 110 degree heat. Some days were unbearable hot and long but for the most part we did well. One day I got a bit overheated and felt like I was going to pass out because I was in a 4x4 with an out top and basically cooked for several hours while we traveled. We moved me to a covered vehicle and I recovered with no problem.
Dawn and dusk were times for game drives which involved basically going out into the bush to see what we could find. We saw everything elephants, giraffe, kudu, impala, hippos, crocks, zebra, African bulls, etc. It was amazing. Our big find were the cats and we were able to see both lions and a leopard in the wild. Joe, a native of Botswana was our key cat finder as he looked for foot prints, smelled the air and examined poop on the ground to see if we could track the cats. We finally found the leopard on our last day when he spotted a dead impala way up in a tree, the leopard's kill from the day before. We waited for him to return and he was absolutely the most beautiful creature I've ever seen...
Our nights were filled with strange noises of all kinds. Woops of hyena and guttural moans of the lions calling to each other. We were also fortunate to have traveled with Manu, our French cook, who cooked us fabulous dinners (there was no weight loss on this part of the trip for sure). Every night we had a rousing fork banging thank you for our chef. This woman single handedly made some of the best meals I've ever eaten over an open camp fire. Amazing!
In the mornings we were greeted by the sounds of tons of birds of all kinds. There were the most amazing birds I've ever seen. My favorites were the lilac breasted roller (with its turquoise blue wings) and the carmine bee eater which often escorted our 4x4s as we went through the bush. One day one of our guides actually reached out and grabbed on and brought it into the car.
Our days usually started by 5:30 or 6:00 AM and I've gotten into such a habit of it that today I was up by 6:30 AM even though we didn't have to meet until 9:30 AM. On that note I have to run. We go to the apartheid museum soon.
More later,
Kristy
February 7, 2007 – Apartheid Museum and Sandton
Spent the day yesterday at the Apartheid Museum and the Hector Pieterson Museum (named after the first school kid killed in the 1976 Soweto riots when kids protested about the use of the Afrikaans language in schools). I really enjoyed the layout of both museums with news clips, video footage, black and white pictures and many "object lessons" to learn from (i.e. pass books used by blacks during apartheid logging that they had permission to move throughout the city, or not). The experience was a little overwhelming when attempting to absorb the amount of violence that occurred and the sheer brutality of people against each other. Worth seeing but a little difficult to process.
Juxtaposed to this is our hotel's location in one of the wealthiest kilometers in all of Africa, called Sandton. We are in walking distance of several malls (I'm thrilled - not really!), and our students who have been shocked in the past 4 weeks by the level of poverty we've seen in places like Katatura in Namibia and the realization of how little we actually need to survive (by our time in the bush) have bounced right back into the materialism of American culture (many went for pedicures and massages today... which, of course, I'm not opposed to but seems sort of 'odd' under the circumstances).
Currently I'm finding the traffic noise a little disruptive.
Longing for the bush... (do you think I could manage a summer job here???),
Kristy
February 11, 2007 –given a goat in sheep’s clothes
Today was one of the more interesting days to date. We visited a Zulu village in Ulundi. We started the day with a walk through the village where we stopped with our local guides and chatted with people living there. We met a woman with her six children whose husband has just died and a hut full of young boys (maybe 8-18 years old) whose parents had gone to Joburg to find work and left them there to fend for themselves. We also visited their health clinic where the ubiquitous box of free condoms was found in the front entrance (that makes Namibia, Botswana and South Africa that all offer free condoms and you STILL can't get them on FU's campus!). We also saw a half naked woman in the laboring room (top half, our students were a bit freaked out) and our nurse/guide had a TB Awareness t-shirt on so I had a nice chat with her about TB (at least I got some research done today).
Once we left this small village and visited Shaka Zulu's father's grave, we went to the royal kraal where the royal zulu family lives. We were greeted by the elder and invited into a round hut with thatch roof house. We had to take off our shoes when we entered and sit girls on one side and boys on the other. It was fairly unclear as to what the purpose of the whole meeting. Lots of introductions as to who was a descendent of which Zulu king, all in translation of course and then toward the end. They went outside and brought in what looked to be a goat with a sheep's coat on (I swear it had a goat's head and they had thrown a sheep’s pelt over the top of it). Anyway... they asked Erik and I to stand up and they presented us with this gift of a life "sheep" as a sign of their welcoming us to their village. They also named us the "mama" and "papa" of the student group. Apparently my dismay was visible on my face as the students were all cracking up after the fact. I desperately feared they were going to make us
slaughter it or something.
Once we left the hut we were faced with the real dilemma as we could not, obviously, take the "sheep" on the bus with us but it would be rude to deny the gift, so Erik somehow negotiated with them to have it slaughtered on our behalf and fed to them (and us). Some of our students totally freaked while others wanted to see the "kill" but were prevented from doing so because it is rude to stare at the animal before it is slaughter. A couple hours later we were served up some tasty morsels. I felt obligated to eat some of it as they had sacrificed it on our behalf.
Needless to say, I've never been given a live animal before so it was quite the experience.
That's all for now. Hope your day was as interesting as mine.
Kristy
February 13, 2007 – scrawny
This morning we went to visit the Mayor of Ulundi. An articulate, competent, charismatic and "abundant" woman. At the end of the meeting she was presenting us with polo shirts as gifts from the city. She started with Erik stating how tall he was and needed a large shirt. Then Don went up, with no comment. Next was my turn and she looked at me and said "S" for small and then proceeded to pull on the front of my shirt near my stomach and spin me around a little and publicly commented that in Zululand I was much to scrawny and that I needed to be more like her if I wanted to get a man. I, as you might image, proceeded to turn completely red... what an adventure. I've never before been publicly called "scrawny" and by "her worship the mayor" no less. What an adventure.
We had noticed the Zulu preference for heavier women. In the village the other day, the heaviest of us, were a real hit with the locals. They especially liked the big butted ones and there were many offers of cattle for women for the more "abundant" ones of our group.
Off to Durban. More when I have internet access again.
Kristy
February 15, 2007 - Off to Cape Town
Just a quick note before we head off to Cape Town this morning. We'll take a flight (a little over two hours) and be there by this afternoon. Hard to believe we're on the last leg of our trip.
Our time in Durban has been fun. Met an author of a book we read and had the chance to swim in the Indian Ocean yesterday afternoon. The waves were wicked!
More from Cape Town once I find internet there.
Hope you all had a happy Valentine's day (I had 3 dates for dinner last night - Don, Erik and Peter our tour coordinator, so how bad can that be). The students also wrote each of us a poem.
Mine was:
Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
If we were Zulus
We'd slaughter a sheep for you too.
Kristy
February 17, 2007 – Cape Town
We've been having a great time in Cape Town. Yesterday we went to Cape Point and saw the penguins and had a nice lunch and drove up and down the cape of hope area. It is truly a beautiful area with great mountains to view and oceans (Indian and Atlantic). This morning we hiked up Lion's Head Mountain. It was a beautiful morning and the weather was perfect for a hike. It got a little tricky in parts (with chains used to pull yourself up in certain spots!) but worth the haul for the views at the top. Tuesday morning we go up Table Mountain which is suppose to be much tougher. Hope I can make it. I'm feeling today's hike in my thighs this evening. This afternoon we went to Robben Island (the prison where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were held for years). The ferry ride out was quite the adventure, lots of big swells (only a couple of students turned green). Really enjoyed to tour of the prison, especially the fact that our guide was an ex-political prisoner who served 7 years there.
That's all for now.
More later,
Kristy
February 19, 2007
Things are coming to a close here. Today we had 3 separate speakers and now they have to do 2 student presentations and their final quiz. I'm not sticking around for that. I think I need a nap, I might be getting a cold. Hope I feel well enough for the big hike tomorrow AM. It’s supposed to be quite tough (like Table Rock at home) but I really want to do it. Then in the afternoon we are suppose to go on a 'cruise' of the harbor. It got cancelled Saturday due to bad wind so it was too choppy to go out. Hope that doesn't happen again.
Got to run. Running out of minutes. See you Thursday.
Kristy
February 21, 2007 – Last Day, On Our Way
It's been a crazy last day in Cape Town. Started out at 8 AM for a hike up Table Mountain which was fabulous and exhausting and wonderful and inspiring. Supposedly there is more flora and fauna between Table Mountain and the rest of the Cape than there is in all of Europe. The biodiversity is second only to the Amazon Rain forest. As such, there were a tremendous amount of interesting plants and flowers to see once we ascended the 3000+ feet to the top (using ladders building in the side of the mountain and climbing on all four over a rock boulder gorge). It was a tough climb but definitely worth it.
From there, got back to the hotel and showered and then it was off to buy some last minute gifts, grab a quick beer and some lunch at Mitchell's and meet the bus again at 4:30 pm to go for our harbor cruise. Had a lovely sunset cruise with lots of seals and dolphins and a beautiful sun set. The dolphins were really putting on quite a show as they sprung into the air seemingly playing with our boat. From there we went to dinner at the African Cafe which was great but took way too long. Didn't get back until 11:45 PM.
So my bags are packed. Today we have a final debriefing with the students then it's off to the airport to begin our marathon travel day. Cape Town to Joburg (2 hours), Joburg to Washington DC with a stop in Dakar (17 hours!) and ultimately DC to GSP. If all goes well should be in by 11 AMish on Thursday (with the 7 hour time difference).
I'll let you know when I arrive.
Thanks for sharing in my adventure via e-mail.
See you soon.
Kristy
February 23, 2007 – home safely
Just wanted to let you know, in case I haven't talked to you in person yet that I made it home safely from the trip. 36 hours of travel and I'm a little jet lagged (was up in the middle of the night last night around 3 am and am now exhausted at 4:45 PM because it feels like 11:45 PM). Saw the most amazing African sunset from the plane...when can I go back?
Kristy
Hi All,
Just wanted to let you know we made is successfully to Washington, DC and are now waiting to go to the airport and get on our very long flight. Just thought I'd say 'hi!' while I have access to the internet. I'll write again when we get there (and when I find internet access again)...
Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
Kristy
January 13, 2007 – arrived safely
Hi All,
Just wanted to let you know that we arrived safely after our 15 and 1/2 hour flight from DC to Johannesburg and an additional 2 hour flight to Windhoek the capital of Namibia. After checking the students in to the CGE house we (Don, Erik and I) made our way down to the Riverdell house where we will be staying. We were greeted by Tessa the very big guard dog who keeps us "safe" at night from the local machete wielding hoodlums. No worries, though, we travel in groups.
Today we spent the day touring Windhoek including the rather large shanty town which can only be described with pictures...haven't seen poverty like this since Caracas in the late 1980s. No electricity, one central water pump where people have to pay for water and an endless sea of "houses" made of corrugated aluminum. It is a little overwhelming to see poverty of that magnitude and yet we were greeted so warmly by the gaggles of little children coming to see the odd looking people who have arrived in their neighborhood. They especially liked seeing pictures of themselves on the digital cameras the students have.
The weather is quite hot (probably high nineties) and we're all doing our best to stay hydrated (I've had 2 liters of water already today and 1 trip to the bathroom so that gives you a sense of how much we are sweating without knowing it because it is quite dry). It's the rainy season so we're likely to get a shower this afternoon. Hopefully it will cool things off a bit.
That's all for now. Just wanted to let you know we made it and the adventure has officially started.
Kristy
January 14, 2007 – Making Contacts
Hi All,
Just finishing up the end of our second full day. Managed to make contact today with a friend of Bonnie Mullinax's from her time working in Namibia who may turn out to be a very helpful contact for my TB project. He is going to try to put me in touch with the Dean of Students at the University he works at that just coordinated an HIV/AIDS public awareness campaign for the students at their university, the director of a Center for Disease Control (CDC) funded project on AIDS/TB, and a woman who works for a non-governmental organization (NGO) on AIDS. So while I was unable to make any contacts successfully from home, I seem to be making some progress here. He also offered to drive me places since he is on "summer holiday" from the university, so that alleviates any fears I might have had about trying to make my way around the city alone.
Interestingly we ate lunch today (this guy Mike and I) at a mall that was very different from the mall we were in yesterday. While about only 10% of the people in the mall yesterday were white (I actually sat and counted people as they walked about of the food market in the mall...sociologists never sleep), today only about 10% were black (although maybe not an objective count because I had to chew and count today at lunch ;o) So while the apartheid era may have ended in 1990, some of the racial divides still seem to be apparent.
Tessa the guard dog still continues to protect me at night and actually sleeps right outside my door. Maybe it was the piece of "ham" (or what I presume to be ham) that I fed her at breakfast the other morning.
That's all for now.
Kristy
January 15, 2007
Had an interesting meeting today with the Dean of Students at the Polytechnic University who gave me a presentation about HIV/AIDS education that they do for their student body and some statistics including health stats from their annual report (they actively treat students with TB). One of the myths that Namibians have about HIV/AIDS is that if you sleep with a virgin that will cure AIDS. They also describe sex with a condom like eating a candy with the wrapper on. You'll be happy to know, however, that while Furman University does not have condoms available on campus, the Polytechnic University in Namibia does. They were quite informative and willing to just talk with me (over tea, of course) on a variety of topics including the war in Iraq and the next presidential election. They were shocked when I said I wasn't sure if many Americans were "ready" for a woman president...how could this be from one of the most developed countries in the world?????
I'm not quite sure why this guy Mike is being so helpful but he's really going out of his way to make contacts for me and shuttle me around to different appointments, etc. I currently don't have anything else set up but he had at least 3 more people he was going to try to put me in touch with before we leave town.
Half of the students are off to their overnight home stays tonight. They seemed exited but anxious. After the orientation lecture about "goat head soup" and Namibian customs of eating all of what is served to you, some were a bit freaked.
Well... I'd better go. While the CGE house has 4 computers with internet access, someone just came in who wants to use one so I'll sign off.
Kristy
January 16, 2007 – sex with virgins cures AIDS
OK, so let's see if your spam filter lets that subject line through.
This was one of the many things I learned yesterday when I met with the Dean of Students at the Polytechnic University. She said that part of her education on HIV/AIDS for the students includes dispelling myths like the idea that if you are HIV positive and sleep with a virgin, it will cure you of AIDS.
It was a very informative discussion where she explained that most of her college students do not have a basic awareness about how one gets AIDS or how to prevent it. This is especially troubling give that about 20-25% of Namibians are HIV positive. You will also be glad to know that while Furman University does not have condoms on campus; the Polytechnic in Namibia gives them out free. She also gave me their annual report from their health services showing the number of pregnancies there are and how many active cases of TB they're treating. One other interesting thing was regarding the successful campaign they had to get people tested to find out their HIV status... they gave out free t-shirts (with a local banks name on it) in order to encourage testing. It's amazing what a free t-shirt can inspire...
Today we challenged our students to think about where global inequities come from, when they really developed in the modern world and why they exist. I led a small group discussion and Ching did an inspiring lecture on Robert Marks book on the rise of the west (has anyone read this one? it sounded worth the read). This afternoon we had a speaker from the U.S. Embassy come to speak. He was quite candid and at one point in time, when discussing the Iraq war, said he had a response he was "supposed to give" about the war but even he wasn't convinced by it so he wasn't going to say it. He also said that 40-50% of what they do is trying to improve the HIV/AIDS situation.
This afternoon a few of us went with one of the locals to buy supplies for an orphanage we will do our service learning project at later in the week. We bought diapers, formula, food, cleaning supplies to donate to an orphanage that houses 20 kids whose parents died of AIDS. At least we can try to give them some supplies and help out a bit.
Haven't made any more contacts for the TB project but we still have a few more days in Namibia so hopefully something will work out.
I've got to go eat dinner.
I'll write more soon.
km
January 17, 2007 – wild baboons and tongue clicking
Just a quick update to let you know what's been happening today. We started the day with student presentations. They are quite good and Ching is keeping them on their toes with challenging questions (all of those who haven't presented yet are totally panicked). Next we took a quick field trip up to the Hero's Acre which as a pretty big memorial to all those in Namibia who died during their freedom struggle. Oddly it was built by North Koreans. We went all the way to the top of it (many many stairs) which was a challenge for some of our students (given that the city is at 5000 feet altitude so the air is much thinner). The most interesting part of the trip was the pack (or what ever you call a group) of wild baboons just running around in a field as we drove by. They were on a soccer field for a local sports club just running and beating on each other. One of them was even swinging from the goal post like a little kid. Maybe they were playing shirts and "hairs".
Our students have been enjoying their home stays. One set of boys, however, did have to share a twin bed last night... I dubbed that one, "brokeback home stay." But they've been real troopers with very few complaints even when food has been sparse or temperatures high or... beds small. Seems like a good group so far.
After lunch we went to the Catholic Aids Outreach Center. They are an organization that provides aid to the Katutura in a variety of forms including AIDS testing, after school programs for kids, and home health care for those suffering with (dying from) HIV/AIDS. We spent the afternoon bombarded by little kids who wanted their pictures taken, etc. I had a pretty interesting experience with a little girl; she looked to be maybe 3 but could have been older since, due to malnutrition, the kids are quite small. She sat down near me and we started looking at a picture book with pictures. When I asked her if she knew what the pictures were she would nod but not really say anything. So I would go through and say in English, "cat, pencil, horse, fork, etc." She would just kind of look at me. Finally, I she started to respond but in her own native language, Damara, which has lots of tongue clicking involved. So she would say what it was in her language and I would say English. It was pretty cute. I had no idea what
she was saying and she probably had no idea what I was saying. The Namibians are divided into ethnic groups each with their own distinctive language. Under apartheid, they were taught Afrikaans in school and so for older people, that becomes the universal language between the different ethnic groups. Now they teach English in schools so most Namibians speak 3 languages: their native language, Afrikaans and English. They seem to go easily between all three of these (except for this little girl, she was probably too young to be in school). Some of the languages are quite beautiful with all that tongue clicking.
That's all for now.
Kristy
January 19, 2007 – hunting for glass
While my family hunts for sea glass on Old Lyme shores every summer, I had the opportunity to hunt for glass of a different sort today as half of us spent the day at an orphanage cleaning up, bathing, feeding and playing with the 20+ kids that live there. While I typically suck at finding glass at the beach, I was pretty good today, probably due to the large amount of garbage in the back yard of this woman's home that she has opened to street children and AIDS orphans that have no where else to go. The story has it that this woman, Maria, was sick and tired of seeing all these kids wandering the streets with no food or place to stay so she took one in. Word spread and people kept bringing them by. Those whose parents had died of AIDS, some whose parents didn't want them and still others who were fleeing situations of abuse. Their ages range from a few weeks to teen years. We're not quite sure how she manages to care for them all on her own since she has no official funding (relies primarily on donations) or
regular help but somehow she does. She was thrilled with the large donation of supplies our group gave to her and happy to have help feeding them all (some nasty white corn based mash potato looking substances made in a huge pot over an open flame in the back yard) and bathing them. We had a real assembly line going with the baths but it didn't take them too long to get filthy again in the all dirt and rock back yard. They especially enjoyed the tire swing that one of our kids rigged up for them. They spent hours and hours taking turns spinning on it. At one point Maria sat against the back wall of the house in the shade on what looked to be carpet padding and started calling all of them one by one. They all gathered around her sitting on the ground calling her mama. Well over 20 were there since several of the local kids wander in for food and/or attention too. It was a sight to see them all piled up. While we took pictures, they certainly can't capture the gravity of the moment. She was truly their life line.
Kristy
January 22, 2007 – in Swakopmund
Yesterday we drove across Namibia west toward the Atlantic Ocean. It took us about 4 hours to get to Swakopmund. It was certainly a type of landscape I had never seen before. A mass expanse of dry desert with river beds with no sign of water and very tall termite towers as one of the only things that mark the landscape. The termite towers are made of sand and who knows what else (termite saliva?) matted into a type of clay substance that reach over 10 feet in some cases toward the sky. They are very strange looking and seem to pop out of no where. Beyond that we saw a couple of baboons and lots and lots of sand. At one point it was so hot in the van I was in that it seemed like we were standing in front of a blow dryer with hot air blasting through the windows. Fortunately, as we descended toward the coast the air cooled and by the time we reached the coast we had to change in to jeans and fleece jackets to go to dinner. It felt nice to feel the cooler weather for a change, but I don't think any of us are looking forward to the drive back on Wednesday. The most remarkable sight was the massive sand dunes that rise out of the horizon. You literally look down the street and see a huge sand dune (kind of orangey red in color) off in the distance. Tomorrow we'll have the opportunity to climb one (and then slide down...I'll let you know how that goes). We had a nice dinner last night and did a tour of the city today. It is primarily a tourist destination (where Brad and Angelina came to have their baby, for all those who keep up with pop culture). Lots of shops and restaurants and nice views of the Atlantic Ocean. Our accommodations were...interesting but once I washed the bugs down the drain, the shower was hot anyway...
Got to run. Erik is waiting on me to walk back up from town to our place.
More later must get back to the desert...
Kristy
January 24, 2007 – Dune 7 and a bug in my ear
Yesterday I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life in Swakopmund/Walvis Bay (not too far from where Brad and Angelina had their baby). We spend the afternoon climbing one of the biggest sand dunes in all of Africa. The thing was massive. The entire time there we kept driving by dunes and asking our drivers, is Dune 7 bigger than that? yep! that one's huge, is it bigger than that? yep! And then we see this massive sand dune off in the distance rising out of the horizon (rumored to be higher than the Eiffel tower - see if you can Google it and find out)... DUNE 7. And our plan for the afternoon... to go up it! OK...so we start climbing and the sand is hotter than hell, burning my little toes as it pours into my Teva's. For every twelve inch step you make you sink back down about 6 of those inches. It's like a stair climber from hell. You keep trudging and trudging but only make half the progress you should make. If you find yourself directly behind some one you end up in this cascading avalanche of sand just flowing down the mountain like water. Best to move out of the path of others. One step up, slide half way back and it is hot. No rest for the weary... I will make it up this thing. I can hear myself gasping for air. If you stop and look back down you see how steep this think really is. You can stand with you feet mostly buried about parallel to the side of the mountain. Let's try all fours... the spidery things escorting me up there seem to do pretty well on all their legs so, let's give it a try. Keep going... almost there... and wha la! one of the top 5 to make it up there... collapse at the top of the dune and catch my breath.
It was a very hard trek but definitely worth doing if not simply for the view from the top. Miles and miles of open desert with a several smaller dunes rippling off in one direction. The sand is orangey, yellow is... like I've never seen. Several of our students went up and down multiple times (the record was 6) but I preferred to stay on top and wonder around (it was like you were on another planet). You could walk at the very top of a given dune all across the "edge" (the wind actually blows a perfectly straight edge of sand at the very top... it's pretty cool). The way down is fun too... you can just run like crazy and the deep sand almost slows you down a bit (although one kid did take a total digger when he hit the bottom).
The other highlight of yesterday (for different reasons) was the bug flying in my ear in the middle of the night (5 AM to be exact). There I was peacefully sleeping under my damp and nasty comforter when I was rudely awakened by this buzzing in my ear, which I, unfortunately, promptly stabbed with my finger thus causing the little bugger to go deeper into my ear. I had however, wounded him because his buzz (while louder) sounded a bit pathetic in my ear canal... buzz... bbbbbuuuzzzzz... flap (I assume that was wings)...bzzzzz... OK, so now what do I do? Get up and hop on one foot hoping he'll come out (like pool water), no luck... hate to do it but I've got to try a q-tip... I get a little blood and what appears to be a leg!
Fortunately, I had the chance to go to a doctor today because we had a student with what looks like bug bits getting worse so I had the doctor look in my ear while we were there... all's clear, no bug parts or bite! That's good to know. No care from the doctor either (I think he liked my story!).
Finally, on our drive back to Windhoek today, I earned the award for spotting the most animals including a wart hog and (once I referenced my travel guide's animal section I realized) a black backed jackal. We also saw "troops" of baboons (learned that's what you call a group of baboons) including a baby riding on its mom's back... cool!
Got to run to go class.
Kristy
January 25, 2007 – Today I got peed on
Today we went back to the "orphanage". I've put it in quotes because it really isn't a formal orphanage but rather a house full of kids taken in by a saintly woman named Maria. Last time we were there we cleaned up the yard, washed the kids, fed them lunch and played. Somehow when we returned today, the yard needed cleaning again and the tire swing we managed to hang was already broken (less than a week). I guess that's what happens when you've got over 20 kids living there.
Today we helped with laundry which is quite the feat with so many kids and no washing machine. It is literally scrubbing clothes in a bucket and hanging then on the fence to dry. They get especially creative with the blankets and rugs. They put them in a big wash bucket and step on them with their feet (like making wine out of grapes). Then they get the water out of it by pushing it down on a grate that is about a foot and a half of the ground. It is quite the project.
I spent most of my day holding the cutest little 4 month old baby girl. She is the daughter of one of the older girls that lives there and it is unclear who the father is or how she got pregnant (there's some rumor that she might have been raped). The girl looks to be about 14 but claims to be 18. Unfortunately she isn't the best at being a mom. She seems pretty much disinterested in her and she basically lies around or is held by one of the older children. The baby also has developed a pretty significant case of diaper rash. As such, it's best to carry her around with her diaper a bit open to air out the inflamed area... hence, I got peed on today but at least I noticed her intense look while pooping and moved quickly to avoid that mess!
There are probably 7 or 8 kids there under the age of 2 who just really cling to our students if given the opportunity. They are clearly starving for attention so much so that they are unnaturally quite for such little kids. It is almost as if they figured out that crying doesn't get them anywhere so they've simply stopped doing it. Sorry if I already mentioned that to you in an earlier e-mail but it is truly remarkable and sad. Today one of our students actually got one of them to laugh and it was sadly an uncommon sound in a back yard full of dirt.
Our students have been incredibly generous with their time (they have an exam tonight but over half of them spent most of the day with the kids today) and their money (one of them paid for all the kids to have Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch out of her own pocket - probably close to $90). There have also been rumblings of trying to get a group on campus to take the house on as a charity and send regular intervals of money. Let's hope that happens.
Also say the family cat trotting off with a mouse in its mouth (yum) and the scrawniest looking chickens I've ever seen just walking around.
Well, we leave for Botswana tomorrow morning at 6 AM (ugh!) so this will be my last e-mail until we get to Joburg (Feb. 5). Hope you all stay well until I talk to you again soon.
Love,
Kristy
January 25, 2007
It is fun to have Cat here with us. I'm glad she's here. We're really looking forward to the safari part.
The students for the most part are quite good. They have an exam tonight so when we went up to the "box" (there are a few of them staying up the street at a place called the "card board box" because they don't all fit in the CGE house), many of them were studying in the bar. Drinking and studying...but studying.
We're going back to the orphanage today (the one with the woman Maria and the twenty kids). We're going to help out with laundry, cooking, bathing the kids and cleaning up. I'm sure it doesn't take long for it to all get dirty again. Should be fun and it feels good to help out, even if it's a little.
We are preparing to leave for Botswana early tomorrow AM. We probably won't have e-mail until we get to Joburg.
I'll try to e-mail again tonight before we go.
January 25, 2007 – Until Joburg
Just wanted to write my last e-mail to you before I head to Botswana tomorrow AM dark and early (as opposed to bright and early). You've probably read the other e-mail about my adventures at the orphanage today. It was really heart breaking... sure you don't want to adopt an African baby (you can tell Barbara and Debbie that I can get them for them too if they're interested because sadly there are lots of orphans to go around)? This little girl today was totally cute and she is clearly not getting the attention she needs. Her mom barely acknowledges her and the "house mom" sort of leaves her to be cared for by her own mother (which is understandable given the number of kids there are to watch). If I could have packed her in my suitcase today...
We are all eagerly anticipating the next leg of our trip. We have properly stocked up on wine and beer (we have 9 bottles of wine and a flat of beer (24)) for the trip.
Kartikeya said the bag we got (that we thought would be so great) is actually pretty cheaply made so I hope it holds up now that the traveling will be getting harder. I've already lost two of the zipper pulls and it has a small rip in the back of it. I should have traveled with duct tape!
I'll be on line for the next few minutes so e-mail if you get this. Otherwise, I'll chat with you again in Joburg.
Take care of Shelby.
Kristy
January 29, 2007 – in Maun
Just a quick note from Maun, Botswana as we re-fuel the vehicles and buy supplies for our next few days. I've just got to say the safari camping portion of this trip has been awesome so far. We are in far more remote campsites than expected (as in... no fences, animals walking through the campsites at night, no running water and truly out in the wild). Early this morning we had jackals in camp making quite a lot of noise. Yesterday we were within 10-15 feet of a lion. He was amazing and I have the best pictures. I've got to run but wanted you to know I am safe and having a great time (I've not showered in couple days but who’s counting). I'll write more when I can.
Love,
Kristy
February 6, 2007 – arrived safely in Joburg
Yebo! That's hello in Southern African speak.
We have arrived safely back in South Africa after what has been one of the best adventures of my life. It was everything I thought it would be and more. We traveled around in muddy 4x4s through dirt roads in the middle of the Kalahari for 11 days setting up and breaking down camp most days in the most remote locations in the world. We occasionally had access to running water (toilets and showers a short walk away) but often we situated in areas unaffected by humans, the side of Tsau Mountain with kudu (antelope like creatures with curly horns) walking on the mountain behind our camp or at elephant sands camp ground where we actually had elephants within 20 feet of where we were camping just wondering by.
Our days were filled with travel between locations in 110 degree heat. Some days were unbearable hot and long but for the most part we did well. One day I got a bit overheated and felt like I was going to pass out because I was in a 4x4 with an out top and basically cooked for several hours while we traveled. We moved me to a covered vehicle and I recovered with no problem.
Dawn and dusk were times for game drives which involved basically going out into the bush to see what we could find. We saw everything elephants, giraffe, kudu, impala, hippos, crocks, zebra, African bulls, etc. It was amazing. Our big find were the cats and we were able to see both lions and a leopard in the wild. Joe, a native of Botswana was our key cat finder as he looked for foot prints, smelled the air and examined poop on the ground to see if we could track the cats. We finally found the leopard on our last day when he spotted a dead impala way up in a tree, the leopard's kill from the day before. We waited for him to return and he was absolutely the most beautiful creature I've ever seen...
Our nights were filled with strange noises of all kinds. Woops of hyena and guttural moans of the lions calling to each other. We were also fortunate to have traveled with Manu, our French cook, who cooked us fabulous dinners (there was no weight loss on this part of the trip for sure). Every night we had a rousing fork banging thank you for our chef. This woman single handedly made some of the best meals I've ever eaten over an open camp fire. Amazing!
In the mornings we were greeted by the sounds of tons of birds of all kinds. There were the most amazing birds I've ever seen. My favorites were the lilac breasted roller (with its turquoise blue wings) and the carmine bee eater which often escorted our 4x4s as we went through the bush. One day one of our guides actually reached out and grabbed on and brought it into the car.
Our days usually started by 5:30 or 6:00 AM and I've gotten into such a habit of it that today I was up by 6:30 AM even though we didn't have to meet until 9:30 AM. On that note I have to run. We go to the apartheid museum soon.
More later,
Kristy
February 7, 2007 – Apartheid Museum and Sandton
Spent the day yesterday at the Apartheid Museum and the Hector Pieterson Museum (named after the first school kid killed in the 1976 Soweto riots when kids protested about the use of the Afrikaans language in schools). I really enjoyed the layout of both museums with news clips, video footage, black and white pictures and many "object lessons" to learn from (i.e. pass books used by blacks during apartheid logging that they had permission to move throughout the city, or not). The experience was a little overwhelming when attempting to absorb the amount of violence that occurred and the sheer brutality of people against each other. Worth seeing but a little difficult to process.
Juxtaposed to this is our hotel's location in one of the wealthiest kilometers in all of Africa, called Sandton. We are in walking distance of several malls (I'm thrilled - not really!), and our students who have been shocked in the past 4 weeks by the level of poverty we've seen in places like Katatura in Namibia and the realization of how little we actually need to survive (by our time in the bush) have bounced right back into the materialism of American culture (many went for pedicures and massages today... which, of course, I'm not opposed to but seems sort of 'odd' under the circumstances).
Currently I'm finding the traffic noise a little disruptive.
Longing for the bush... (do you think I could manage a summer job here???),
Kristy
February 11, 2007 –given a goat in sheep’s clothes
Today was one of the more interesting days to date. We visited a Zulu village in Ulundi. We started the day with a walk through the village where we stopped with our local guides and chatted with people living there. We met a woman with her six children whose husband has just died and a hut full of young boys (maybe 8-18 years old) whose parents had gone to Joburg to find work and left them there to fend for themselves. We also visited their health clinic where the ubiquitous box of free condoms was found in the front entrance (that makes Namibia, Botswana and South Africa that all offer free condoms and you STILL can't get them on FU's campus!). We also saw a half naked woman in the laboring room (top half, our students were a bit freaked out) and our nurse/guide had a TB Awareness t-shirt on so I had a nice chat with her about TB (at least I got some research done today).
Once we left this small village and visited Shaka Zulu's father's grave, we went to the royal kraal where the royal zulu family lives. We were greeted by the elder and invited into a round hut with thatch roof house. We had to take off our shoes when we entered and sit girls on one side and boys on the other. It was fairly unclear as to what the purpose of the whole meeting. Lots of introductions as to who was a descendent of which Zulu king, all in translation of course and then toward the end. They went outside and brought in what looked to be a goat with a sheep's coat on (I swear it had a goat's head and they had thrown a sheep’s pelt over the top of it). Anyway... they asked Erik and I to stand up and they presented us with this gift of a life "sheep" as a sign of their welcoming us to their village. They also named us the "mama" and "papa" of the student group. Apparently my dismay was visible on my face as the students were all cracking up after the fact. I desperately feared they were going to make us
slaughter it or something.
Once we left the hut we were faced with the real dilemma as we could not, obviously, take the "sheep" on the bus with us but it would be rude to deny the gift, so Erik somehow negotiated with them to have it slaughtered on our behalf and fed to them (and us). Some of our students totally freaked while others wanted to see the "kill" but were prevented from doing so because it is rude to stare at the animal before it is slaughter. A couple hours later we were served up some tasty morsels. I felt obligated to eat some of it as they had sacrificed it on our behalf.
Needless to say, I've never been given a live animal before so it was quite the experience.
That's all for now. Hope your day was as interesting as mine.
Kristy
February 13, 2007 – scrawny
This morning we went to visit the Mayor of Ulundi. An articulate, competent, charismatic and "abundant" woman. At the end of the meeting she was presenting us with polo shirts as gifts from the city. She started with Erik stating how tall he was and needed a large shirt. Then Don went up, with no comment. Next was my turn and she looked at me and said "S" for small and then proceeded to pull on the front of my shirt near my stomach and spin me around a little and publicly commented that in Zululand I was much to scrawny and that I needed to be more like her if I wanted to get a man. I, as you might image, proceeded to turn completely red... what an adventure. I've never before been publicly called "scrawny" and by "her worship the mayor" no less. What an adventure.
We had noticed the Zulu preference for heavier women. In the village the other day, the heaviest of us, were a real hit with the locals. They especially liked the big butted ones and there were many offers of cattle for women for the more "abundant" ones of our group.
Off to Durban. More when I have internet access again.
Kristy
February 15, 2007 - Off to Cape Town
Just a quick note before we head off to Cape Town this morning. We'll take a flight (a little over two hours) and be there by this afternoon. Hard to believe we're on the last leg of our trip.
Our time in Durban has been fun. Met an author of a book we read and had the chance to swim in the Indian Ocean yesterday afternoon. The waves were wicked!
More from Cape Town once I find internet there.
Hope you all had a happy Valentine's day (I had 3 dates for dinner last night - Don, Erik and Peter our tour coordinator, so how bad can that be). The students also wrote each of us a poem.
Mine was:
Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
If we were Zulus
We'd slaughter a sheep for you too.
Kristy
February 17, 2007 – Cape Town
We've been having a great time in Cape Town. Yesterday we went to Cape Point and saw the penguins and had a nice lunch and drove up and down the cape of hope area. It is truly a beautiful area with great mountains to view and oceans (Indian and Atlantic). This morning we hiked up Lion's Head Mountain. It was a beautiful morning and the weather was perfect for a hike. It got a little tricky in parts (with chains used to pull yourself up in certain spots!) but worth the haul for the views at the top. Tuesday morning we go up Table Mountain which is suppose to be much tougher. Hope I can make it. I'm feeling today's hike in my thighs this evening. This afternoon we went to Robben Island (the prison where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were held for years). The ferry ride out was quite the adventure, lots of big swells (only a couple of students turned green). Really enjoyed to tour of the prison, especially the fact that our guide was an ex-political prisoner who served 7 years there.
That's all for now.
More later,
Kristy
February 19, 2007
Things are coming to a close here. Today we had 3 separate speakers and now they have to do 2 student presentations and their final quiz. I'm not sticking around for that. I think I need a nap, I might be getting a cold. Hope I feel well enough for the big hike tomorrow AM. It’s supposed to be quite tough (like Table Rock at home) but I really want to do it. Then in the afternoon we are suppose to go on a 'cruise' of the harbor. It got cancelled Saturday due to bad wind so it was too choppy to go out. Hope that doesn't happen again.
Got to run. Running out of minutes. See you Thursday.
Kristy
February 21, 2007 – Last Day, On Our Way
It's been a crazy last day in Cape Town. Started out at 8 AM for a hike up Table Mountain which was fabulous and exhausting and wonderful and inspiring. Supposedly there is more flora and fauna between Table Mountain and the rest of the Cape than there is in all of Europe. The biodiversity is second only to the Amazon Rain forest. As such, there were a tremendous amount of interesting plants and flowers to see once we ascended the 3000+ feet to the top (using ladders building in the side of the mountain and climbing on all four over a rock boulder gorge). It was a tough climb but definitely worth it.
From there, got back to the hotel and showered and then it was off to buy some last minute gifts, grab a quick beer and some lunch at Mitchell's and meet the bus again at 4:30 pm to go for our harbor cruise. Had a lovely sunset cruise with lots of seals and dolphins and a beautiful sun set. The dolphins were really putting on quite a show as they sprung into the air seemingly playing with our boat. From there we went to dinner at the African Cafe which was great but took way too long. Didn't get back until 11:45 PM.
So my bags are packed. Today we have a final debriefing with the students then it's off to the airport to begin our marathon travel day. Cape Town to Joburg (2 hours), Joburg to Washington DC with a stop in Dakar (17 hours!) and ultimately DC to GSP. If all goes well should be in by 11 AMish on Thursday (with the 7 hour time difference).
I'll let you know when I arrive.
Thanks for sharing in my adventure via e-mail.
See you soon.
Kristy
February 23, 2007 – home safely
Just wanted to let you know, in case I haven't talked to you in person yet that I made it home safely from the trip. 36 hours of travel and I'm a little jet lagged (was up in the middle of the night last night around 3 am and am now exhausted at 4:45 PM because it feels like 11:45 PM). Saw the most amazing African sunset from the plane...when can I go back?
Kristy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)