Botswana - 23

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April 22nd, 2004 -

Another week’s gone by and I already have new adventures to relate. I’m just packing stuff in right now, trying to do everything I want before I go home in about five weeks. I’ve picked up a new job at the clinic, one that I have been angling for over the past few weeks (ever since I realized my oral history project is never going to have the chance to get off the ground). I’m now responsible for setting up the training and information packets that new residents/med students/volunteers receive when they reach the country. Actually, I’ve pretty much been in charge of that all along, I’ve just been doing it in person and unofficially: “Here’s this orphanage you should visit and how to get there. This is the Harvard program, this doctor will be happy to take you out to visit one of their field sites. This is how you shake hands politely, and introduce yourself. Here’s how food shopping works. Oh, and come along to the Hash with me!” Anyway, I’m collecting materials and will be setting up a bunch of folders and a training program over the next couple of weeks. Thank god for keeping busy!

I just learned that my poor Canadian friend from last week’s trip has contracted malaria. Really glad I’ve been on larium – the number of mosquito bites that now adorn my ankles is somewhat astounding. Oh, and my most recent roommates left on Saturday. I’m getting one new one at the end of this week, and another after the weekend, which will bring my total to 23 before I go back to the US. It’s ridiculously exhausting. I’m so sick of having to adjust to new people.

Anyway – about my weekend.

All the Penn people (Jason: attending, Peter: resident, Elena: med student, Jenn: med student, Jess: med student), the Leicester student (Richard – at med school at Leicester in the UK), and a random girl we picked up somehow (Kavitha, met through Monika) and I went to the Kalahari this weekend with Africa Insight . We got picked up at the Penn house at 1:00, and squeezed nine people (the eight of us and Tim, our driver/guide) into a Land Rover. Thank god for long legs – I got to sit in the back instead of being one of the people who risked sitting in the middle front over the shifter. Our drive into the desert took about 5 hours, including a nice stop for lunch under a tree (the stop also included changing a tire which we had just punctured). The drive out took us through Molepolole, then through Letlhakeng, at which point we left the paved road and spent the next two hours bruising our butts. At one point we hit a bump and Elena got shot so high she hit her head on one of the teakwood struts on the roof. We got to Khutse Game Reserve (not part of, but attached to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve) at around 6:00. Reached our campsite, which had already been set up for us at 6:30. We actually had mattresses up on cots rather than mats on the ground and sleeping bags! We dropped our bags in our tents and clustered around the camp fire chatting for a while.

At some point Peter said he saw the Little Dipper. Uh… no? So we stepped away from the campfire and I gave everyone a quick lesson on the Southern Cross (which is what he had mistaken for it). Orion was high in the sky, Mars just around the horizon, and because we were out in the middle of absolutely nowhere, the stars were just unbelievably spectacular. The Milky Way stretched across above us, and shooting stars passed every fifteen minutes or so. It felt completely surreal. After admiring this for a while, we went back to the fire, chatted for another hour, and I finally took my chair out to the edge of our campsite to watch the stars for a while.

I finally understand why some people are agoraphobic. I walked back away from the fire into the dark, and looked up and felt briefly dizzy. All the stars had moved, Mars was no longer visible and Orion hung just above the western horizon. The immensity of it suddenly hit me – the sky isn’t something solid, which is what it feels like most of the time. I could almost feel the earth moving below me, could tell the space between the stars was emptiness that I could just fall through. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster, only it was just my sudden perception of the way things really are, the things that are too big to pay attention to most of the time, so we shut them out of our consciousness.

Anyway, the realization… Wow. That’s all. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m totally areligious (not just irreligious) I would call it a religious experience. I’m not sure if I’ll get it back again – the sense of movement, of falling while standing still. But it’s wonderful. I need to spend more time in the middle of nowhere looking at the stars.

So anyway… I was called away from this contemplation for dinner, which was a great campfire dinner, though I did pull at least one large winged insect out of it. After dinner we all made sure to use the bathroom so we wouldn’t have to leave our tents in the middle of the night, and then headed for bed. At about 3:00 AM I woke up and though briefly about using the bathroom… Then heard the most surreal howling and decided that I was better off just restraining myself until 5:30 AM when everyone else would be up. The howling was jackals, it turns out. These small, harmless animals (not even the size of Sita!) that make a really big noise.

So at 5:30, what do I hear? Lions. Roaring. Loudly. And close. Like, 50 meters away close. It was still dark out, and very cold. We bundled ourselves up, got into the truck to go for a game drive, feeling quite nervous all the while because of this constant hoom… hoom… hoooooooOOOOM. We drove about 30 meters down the road, and sure enough, there in the dark is a whole pride of lions. We saw at least eight, but they were all wandering off into the bush, and chances are we didn’t see the whole pride. The male was definitely not there, and he was the one we had been hearing all morning.

Anyway, the sun then came up and I migrated from sitting in the back seat of the Land Rover to sitting on top of the tire on the rear roof, getting a much better view and feeling much more a part of the scenery than apart from it. Driving around over the next few hours, it got very hot but we saw lots of antelopes – gemsbok (beautiful beautiful animals with white and black painted faces, strong shoulder and long straight antlers… they make me think of unicorns), springbok, eland, kudu, jackals, etc. But it was just so great to be out in the middle of nowhere (being on top of the car I really didn’t feel like I was in a car at all) and seeing the vastness of the scenery.

Went back to camp 4 hours after leaving, and had breakfast. Then curled up for the heat of the afternoon and listened to Tim tell stories about Zimbabwe, the history of Southern Africa, and pranks they played at bachelor parties. Relaxing, overly hot, and very fun. I even got a half hour nap in, out in the sun.

We did a short walk around the campsite – our guide taught us a new and neat way to find north (though you have to have a nondigital watch for it to work). I’d describe, but it would take too long. Suffice it to say it’s info that’s probably useless, but interesting. We also saw a lot of the local plants and a bunch of (icky icky icky) spiders. Big ones. Picture me shuddering and standing back…

Afterwards, we had a salad for lunch and then headed out on another game drive. Again, lots of antelopes, and even some ostriches. The neat thing was actually this whole herd of springbok (you know how impalas are the MnMs of the African bush? These guys are the skittles). They do this thing called “broncing” (probably derived from the same term as bucking bronco) which basically looks like they’re on a spring – bouncing straight up into the air with almost no visible effort. When the whole herd started doing it, it looked like a bag of popcorn someone had put in the microwave. A few of us (those of us sitting on the roof) were calling “here kitty kitty kitty” under our breath, hoping that a lion would show up and grab a snack. No such luck though.

Beautiful sunset – it made the ground look totally black and white. There’s this golden grass that really does glow. It didn’t feel so much like a desert, but I guess it is still the wet season. Anyway, we got back to camp just as it was getting dark, and everyone got a gin and tonic in their personalized glass. Very nice dinner, and crepes with chocolate for dessert. Yumm. I had a few more moments staring at the stars, though without the same realization from the night before. I headed to bed early – at about 9:30. There was even a hot water bottle in my cot! As soon as I got under the covers though, I started hearing a lion roaring. More of that “hoom.. hoom… hooooom” from the morning. It sounded very close. He did it about four times, each episode lasting 5-10 minutes. It was so unbelievable.

Up early again the next morning, I think I was actually the first one out of the tents. We got back on the roof of the car and headed out. About five minutes outside of camp, we stopped to look at a few gemsbok, and suddenly the driver pointed ahead and said: “I think there’s a lion.” So we pulled up, and he stopped. I stood up on the roof in the back, where I was sitting, and sure enough.. there’s this… spotted… cat… leopard!!!!!!

Yes, I have finally seen my leopard! No pics, because he was moving too quickly. Actually, I almost got one once, but just as I was about to snap it (still standing up on the back of the truck) the driver abruptly started, trying to catch up to the leopard. So the picture I got was of blackness – while I was falling over and trying desperately not to simply fall of the back of the truck. Close one. But the kitty was very cool, though I’m still hoping to see one in the Delta when I go with my mother.

Drove around for quite a while that morning, and the other highlight was the rustling in the grass we heard – then saw a bunch of badger-like animals running away in the tall grass. There were at least five of them. The guide says they were honey-badgers, and there was a dead porcupine just on the side of the road that they must have been eating when we startled them off. So I now have two porcupine quills. Yay.

Back to camp, breakfast, packed our stuff and headed out to do an afternoon game drive and head back to Gabs. Nothing to see in the middle of the day – it’s too hot and all the animals are hiding. So I just stayed on the roof, got tanned, and sort of dozed. As we left the park we put the tarp back on over the hole in the roof and fell asleep while driving through rutted roads back to Gabs.

So that’s the excitement for the weekend. Pretty good one, even if it was mostly marked by extreme temperature shifts. I had a great time. Hashed on Monday, and got picked to be the hare for the Hash coming up in 2 weeks… let’s hope I do a good job. The past few days have been pretty dull, and I’m actually really looking forward to staying home this weekend and getting sleep!

Doesn’t look like I’m going to be adventuring until my mother gets here, but that’s only about three weeks away at this point. A new roommate on Sunday, and a second one sometime soon after that. Hopefully they’ll be nice.

Best to everyone.

First Sunrise The sun coming up and going down really washed out all the colors around. Beautiful scenery...
Best View So I really did sit up here while the car was moving… At one point I think we hit about 45 kph, which makes it feel like a rollercoaster ride. Lots of fun. Anyway, those of us in this shot: Peter, Jenn, me, and Richard.
My Unicorns I really think these are the most beautiful antelopes around, between the long straight antlers, the strong graceful lines, and the beautifully painted faces.
Another Sunrise Not quite as good as the first picture, but still beautiful. This was the first morning, I believe.
Elands So we never saw these guys close up, but apparently they’re the largest of all the antelopes. It was really nice to just watch them moving across the field at this stately pace.
Hartebeest Silhouette Hartebeest were really the only things we saw in the middle of the day, and they were always lying down in the shade somewhere.
More Gemsbok Not sure if I have anything else to say about these guys...
Springbok Herd Unfortunately I didn’t catch any skittles mid-air while broncing, but they’re still pretty neat animals. They’ve got a similar painted face to the gemsbok – apparently it helps them to regulate their temperature.
Sunset I took this off the back of the truck Saturday night, and it amply demonstrates what I mean when I say it washed out all the colors.