The things we do for love.

One of the things I do for love is…come to Botswana in December! It certainly isn’t for the temperate climate. In fact, it’s hotter than stink in Botswana in December. And this girl, with Yankee roots, dreams of a white Christmas. If I squint, the sand in our yard looks a little white. But then again, maybe not…

Don’t get me wrong. I love certain things about Botswana. Last week, for example, we took a five day trip up to Moremi and Savuti Game Reserves. Pristine wilderness areas teaming with elephants, wildebeest, giraffe, zebra… and with the rainy seasons comes much needed rains. We had a horrible drought last year and are partially recovering with the arrival of late rains but much more is needed to fully recover. It also means babies…baby wildebeest, baby warthogs, baby zebras… lots of babies! Births are often timed with the start of the rainy season so that the little ones have a better chance of survival. It’s called “synchronized birthing” where babies “drop” at the same time to ensure the survival of the species. Paul once mentioned this to friends of mine in Greenville who happen to have their children within a few days of each other…you can imagine how well that went over.

Baby warthog

Baby warthogs with Mom

Baby wildebeest

Baby zebra

Baby zebra and Mom

Baby giraffe

Baby ellie under foot

Me, splattered with mud from a puddle

 Within a little over an hour’s drive from our house on the ostrich farm in Maun we are into the bush and already seeing elephants. It is a tremendous privilege to be able to visit “their” space. Our “campsites” have no fences, no running water, no electricity. We are totally self-sufficient with built in water tank on the vehicle and lots of fuel. We meander on dirt tracks picking our way around and through massive mud puddles. Drive, splash, drive, splash as we head north.

Paul’s retirement “job” requires him to inspect mobile operator campsites in the bush (safari companies that move from one site to the next, setting up and breaking down camps with each move) to make sure they are kept clean and that people who book them, use them. We’ve perfected our technique to include Ikea tongs (no more sticky disposable rubber gloves) and box lids for gathering trash. We whistle to each other from one end of a site to the other so we know where the other one is. One eye on the ground for left behind pieces of aluminum foil or milk carton tabs, and one eye in the bush to make sure there are no predators (lions, leopards) out there keeping an eye on us as we are keeping an eye on trash.

In one site this past week, like a giant shaken etch-a-sketch, rainfall the night before has wiped the sand clean, erasing all signs of past life EXCEPT anything that has walked through the site after the rain fell. As I’m looking for random pieces of black rubber used to tie firewood and then discarded by the safari staff, I see a line of prints, lion prints, two sets, that must have come through the site after the rain. I follow them until I make it to the edge of the mopane scrub brush forest. I peer in hoping NOT to catch a glimpse of a lion under a tree. The only thing that eases my mind is that is so flipping hot I think, if there were lions there, they would probably be too hot to bother to come eat me. I’m so hot, I’m not sure I care. If they ate me, at least I wouldn’t be so stinking hot anymore!

Our safari vehicle has AC but it leaves something to be desired. When it’s working to capacity we describe the conditions as, “not uncomfortable.” In order for it to work to capacity, you must be moving fairly quickly and the temperature outside must not be too hot. One afternoon on the trip we made a couple of loops around a pan (flat open grass-filled space) just to try to get the AC to work a bit better. Most of the driving is slow, as we pick our route through the mud pools, so the AC is minimal at best. For example, on one late afternoon drive, I checked our hand held weather station (a Christmas gift for Paul a few years ago) and it registered 99 degrees in the car with the AC on. The “Comfort” Index was 105. Believe me, it was worse outside! If you open the window, it feels like you’re standing in front of a giant hair dryer.

Oh, and heat brings FLIES!

To try to stay cool I put wet wash clothes rolled up in the fridge to pull out and wrap around our necks when we stop for lunch. This year I also brought a little 3-speed hand held fan from the States. I’ve been using it to combat hot flashes (I am a woman of a certain age) but had only been using the first two speeds in the USA and saving the fastest speed for Botswana. I wish there was a speed 4!

Me with my portable fan and scarf as sun shield

Despite the heat there is plenty of Christmas cheer in Maun. Tonight we’re headed to a Christmas Eve party at a friend’s house with 20+ people and tomorrow a nice Christmas day meal with another family. I hope you and yours have a wonderful “Festive Season” (what they call it here). 

Enjoy your cold weather.

Kristy and Paul

Giraffes in the sunset

PS: If all this isn’t enough to prove my love for Paul, let me tell you what happened the other night. “Whhhaaaa!” I screech and jump out of bed at about 12:30 midnight. “Something just bit my leg!!” My yelp must have been serious enough for Paul to spring into action, grabbing a flashlight and whipping back the sheets. Apparently, I unconsciously vocalize a lot while here in Botswana – “ooohhh” at a gecko making its way across the floor dodging for cover under the book shelf; “aaaaacchhhh” in response to a thorn that grabbed me as we take our daily walks with Spike and Lee (the dogs that aren’t our dogs); “aaaahhh, f-ing crap” to the thorn sticking out of my big toe from a downed branch during our walk. You get the idea. Anyway, this particular midnight yelp was serious and Paul’s bed inspection revealed a scorpion in the bed. That’s right…imagine me…just sleeping innocently in my own bed and “phhhaaaa whaaappp” a scorpion stings me. Hurt for two days. As I said, the things we do for love…