cheetahs and lions and bushmen - oh my!

The trans-Kalahari trip with the group of Spanish tourists was a great success. In our final dinner with them last night we asked what was the most memorable part of their five days with us. Several stated it was the amazing cheetah sighting at Deception Pan on our final night of the trip. It was my first time seeing more than one cheetah at a time when we observed the interactions of four cheetahs as the sun was setting on the pan. Paul explained that there is a family group of cheetahs that have lived in this area for years. Despite claims by researchers that cheetahs are solitary animals, he has seen as many as seven at one time. We watched them for quite a long time as they elegantly walked across the pan, their long sleek yet powerful bodies in full view, their trademark tear drop marking under their eyes fully visible. They are stunning animals built for speed.  Unfortunately, all the vehicles observing them probably put a damper on any dusk hunting session of the nearby springbok they may have hoped for.

Other guests pointed to the wide open landscapes of the Kalahari Desert. While they had preconceived notions of the “desert” being vast sand dunes, they were surprised to learn that the Central Kalahari is actually bush veldt (open plains of scrub brush and acacia trees). One client remarked how it was breath taking to be able to look in all directions and not see a building or mountain… just ever expanding flatness.

For some, it was the classic views of lions in the open field as the sun was rising on our final morning. We had heard them roaring all night (or at least I heard them, Paul slept through it). I listened as they traveled past our campsite. I could distinctly hear two males making their territorial roars. They seemed to be calling “over” each other meaning you normally hear one call in one location and the next call from a different location. That night they seemed to be very close to each other. One starting his roar only to be followed in an overlapping way by the other male’s roar. Our early morning drive (at 6:30 AM) revealed the cause of this unusual pattern.  

The first morning light revealed two male lions and one female lion in heat. It seems they were both vying for mating rights with her. When we arrived the dominant male was with the female on one side of the road and the other male (the one who lost out) waited and watched from across the dirt track. Every time she got up to move, her male suitor stuck to her like glue. He occasionally tried to “make his move” at which point she would turn around and let about a growl in his face bearing her large white teeth and give him a quick swat with her giant clawed paw. Following this rebuff she would roll over coyly on the ground in a playful way --sending some mixed messages if you ask me. This happened multiple times before we had to leave, never successfully proceeding beyond the foreplay. Perhaps our three vehicles observing them put a damper on the mood.

Finally, the real highlight of the trip for most of our guests was a visit to a bushmen village. The Batswana government has had a somewhat contentious relationship with the bushmen resulting in their relocation into created towns outside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in the mid-1990s. Ultimately a court case against the government reversed the decision in late 2006 allowing some of the bushmen to move back to the Central Kalahari. We stopped at two of these villages where bushmen have returned.

Unfortunately, in order to return, the bushmen were required to live “traditionally” at which point bore holes supplying water were removed by the government leaving them with almost no access to water in the dry season (in the rainy season they can gather rain waters and store it in barrels). Despite these difficult living conditions, many have returned to what they consider “their” lands. This, for them, seems like a better option than living in the government created towns where there are high rates of alcohol abuse, fighting and they often face discrimination from others.

Paul and Roy Sesana

Having visited the village in June to see if a stop with the Spanish tourists would work, word had spread that Paul had been there and his old friend and colleague in the struggle for bushmen rights, Roy Sesana, was waiting for his return. It had been over ten years since Paul and Roy had seen each other and they had a nice reunion before Paul gave him some money for fuel in exchange for a tour of their village with his wife and Roy headed off on the five hour drive, one way, to get fuel and supplies.

For the rest of the afternoon we were escorted on a walk through the bush, learning about native plants and their uses, finally arriving at our host’s homestead to see their outdoor kitchen, sleeping huts, and storage hut. It was quite a privilege to see an authentic bushmen village. This was not a “canned” touristy activity set up for outsiders, but rather, a brief glimpse into the world of a culture that has existed for over (an estimated) 40,000 years. One of their dogs, who seemed to have a face of a jackal to me, spent the evening at camp hoping for leftovers. I think he was sad to see us go!  

 

We head off to Gabarone on Sunday and then Johannesburg on Monday and my flight to the States departs on Tuesday arriving Wednesday morning. Couldn’t help but think how odd my life on two continents is…on one Thursday morning I’m out looking for lions and only a week later I’ll be headed to a department meeting and faculty retreat!

excuse me, there's a spotted hyena in your toilets

Yesterday we decided to take a quick trip up to Moremi Game Reserve (about a two hour drive from Maun). My time in Botswana is quickly coming to an end and we thought one more quick trip up the National Park was in order. We also needed to scout out a location for an upcoming star show on Thursday night.

We stop at South Gate to check into the park and I run into the toilets for a quick pee. Toilet paper in hand (there is never toilet paper in public restrooms in Botswana), I round the corner and see the door wide open. I think, “Ugh! Why do people always leave the doors open? Don’t they know that creatures can walk in?” Having just passed two women, who say nothing to me, I figure the coast is clear and notice a recently swept out dead bat and owl bullous (the hairball like balls of animal hair, bones, mouse skulls, etc. that owls cough up). Someone must have swept the place out this morning.

I chuckle to myself when I round the corner looking to my right and see that one of the three sinks is out of order and another one is dripping non-stop. These “new” arrival gates to the parks and toilets have only been open for the last couple of years and they are already in disrepair. Typical.

As I walk past the first of two toilet stalls on my left I see something on the ground between the toilet and the wall. It looks like a large fur blanket. People sometimes leave things in public restrooms for use later so I don’t think much of it as I enter the second stall (e.g. the night watchman at Paul’s office block often leaves a pair of shoes, hat, a large bag, a blanket under the pedestal sink, tucked between the pedestal and the wall at the toilets at work).

I give the door a good shove and it makes a horrible scrapping noise as it resists closing. It is misaligned and hits the tile floor. I leave it about a third open so I have some natural light coming in to the otherwise pitch black cement cell I’m in. There are no overhead lights so the entire restroom is like a little cave. As I’m squatting my mind goes back to the “blanket” in the next stall and I start this internal conversation with myself.

Me – “Who would leave a blanket here in a public rest room? Maybe it was a dog?”

Myself – “There aren’t any dogs near the national parks, there are too many dangerous wild animals that would eat them. Plus…it had spots. Dogs don’t have spots.”

Me – “Well what kinds of animals have spots?”

Me and Myself – “Crap, I think I’m in a toilet stall next to a spotted hyena!”

Myself – “Now what do I do? When I open the door again it’s going to make that horrible scrapping noise and wake him up!”

Me – “Well you can’t just stay in this stall!!”

So I quickly zip up my pants and yank open the door. I ever so slowly peer around my stall door into his stall at which point he picks up his giant head, which has previously been wrapped around the back of the toilet and looks at me with one of his pitch black soulless eyes of evil and I scramble past him and out the door as fast as I can hoping he doesn’t chase me.

I quickly walk over to the office where Paul is checking in and say, “Excuse me, do you know that you have a spotted hyena in your toilets?” To which the woman replies “eeeh” in a high pitched sqwack – a typical Motswana response. Paul looks at me, at first thinking I might be kidding and then he sees how red my face is (I had no idea my face turned colors so often but apparently it does, particularly when I’m excited, agitated, embarrassed or hot). One of the other park rangers goes in and confirms (as if I don’t know what a spotted hyena looks like when he looks me in the eye!) that there is, in fact, a spotted hyena in the toilets just as several safari vehicles are pulling up with clients. They get wind of what’s going on and a Japanese tourist (no, I’m not kidding) grabs his camera to go in and take a picture. This is an extremely bad idea, as there is only one way in and out, and if the hyena gets agitated and charges, this tourist is sushi!

We don’t hang around to figure out what they are going to do about it. The women from the desk gently taps on the window, but that isn’t going to work! It doesn’t dawn on me until later what danger I was probably in. Not many people can say they’ve peed in a toilet stall next to a hyena! (not many people want to say that, I suppose!) The entire encounter probably took less than two minutes and fortunately I moved faster than him in finishing my business.

The rest of the trip was (relatively) uneventful. It was a nice warm day in the park. We had a quiet picnic lunch near the ever expanding Khwai River. We saw elephants, kudu, impala, wildebeest, zebra, vervet monkeys, etc. Just a couple of weeks left to my adventure here (this time). We’ve got a star show on Thursday night (assuming the skies are clear, it has been quite cloudy lately) and on Saturday we leave for a five night trans-Kalahari safari. From there it’s just a few days to pack and head down to Johannesburg for my international flight on August 17.