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