"The Dogs Are Tied," Dinner with Alumni

Saturday

So its our last night in Gaborone and what we have planned is a group dinner with alumni of Case who are from the Gaborone area. Most of them we are told are from the Bolton School of Nursing or the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences (MSASS); no CSE (Case School of Engineering) grads. We load up the vans, and head out. Some kids have left for the States already, so it isn't as crowded and cramped on the van. The first thing I notice after we leave the UB campus is the scorched metal frame of one of the public transportation vans just sitting off in the taxi/bus-pick up lane. Definitely happened in the last week. It was just there, a burnt husk, no tires; it had looked as it had just burned through and no one had stopped the fire.

Here are more funny things you notice while driving through Gaborone:

1. After seeing all the cattle, dogs, goats, and donkeys roaming free in the city, along highways and in the country, I finally see an animal hunker down and take a dump right in the middle of a dirt sidewalk as we drove by.

2. A road sign to entrance of a rather dusty road that says "Road Works Ahead." "Don't worry guys the road isn't broken, it's in fine working order." -John Hilty We later go down that road and the large rocks that would presumably cause problems are strangely aligned in straight lines on either side of the road, causing traffic to divert to the middle of the road.

3. Our driver tonight I don't think really knew how to drive the van. Will Cork and I thought that the person driving was actually the familiar driver's friend; the familiar faced driver was sprawled out in the passenger seat. The new guy's shifting, since all cars are manual here, was horrible. The speed bumps that are encountered throughout Gaborone, were essentially stop signs to this driver. Honestly though, in Gaborone, speed bumps get the job done, as oppose to stop signs or any other traffic signs and driving conventions do. We would literally slow down to a crawl, go over the bump with the front "tyres" (as they call them), practically stop, bring the back pair over, then start going like 15 mph in what should've been a 25 mph zone. We were going so slow that people uncomfortably close (in the U.S.) walking besides were getting places faster. Really? I shouted "Step on it!" from my back seat, but my demand was not heeded. We could've gone a bit faster over these bumps. I wanted to murder something when we came to three speed bumps, 10 meters apart. Absolute torture. Worst off, we got lost. Instead of following the explicit directions given to Dr. Sankaran by the alumna, they decided to take one of their shortcuts. Now, I'm not that easy-to-anger, but I was really hungry and super agitated with the driving. This could've been the last straw, but fortunately (for them), Dr. Sankaran had a phone number and we were there within 15 minutes.

We come to a white house with a formidable concrete wall with electric fencing atop it. We get out and are greeted by a half dozen Batswana women. After quick name exchanges and cordial handshakes, we are given beverages to keep us until a couple more alumni arrive. I had three cups: coffee, cocoa, and a mocha. Spoonfuls of sugar between them: I wanna say like ten, I lost count. Bad idea. I would later develop a bit of a headache that even plagues me now as I write this entry. A note about the weather: I guess our host wanted us to dine at 4:30, but there was a miscommunication and the earliest we could show up was at 5:30, which is what we did. The serving tables were outside. The sun sets like at 5:30 here. The temps quickly dropped soon after, which is partly the reason I was in need of those hot drinks. We waited until 7, and by that time, my mouth was going to pull a starfish maneuver, force its way out of my mouth and start engulfing anything edible in sight. But then our hosts welcomed us, and for tradition sake, the husband of the alumna welcomed us in Setswana, with Laone, a local UB student who hangs out with us, acting as the translator. The last phrase translated is a traditional saying of welcome, which initially all the Batswana laughed at, then we joined to once it was translated. "The dogs are tied."

Then we filed into lines for the food. Thinking that we're going to get some awesome home cooking and a break from the Curry Pot standard of rice-cornmeal-chicken-beef, we were eagar to say the least. That though is what preoccupied all of our minds during the afternoon and drive. The world is a terribly ironic place. They ended up having Curry Pot cater the event. And no, it wasn't of higher quality because of the event. (I actually had some delicious chocolate cake the morning of our flight to Kasane at the Curry Pot operated cafe in the airport.) It was literally the same menu we had two nights ago. But being the hungry and gracious guests, we didn't raise complaints, and I, for one, cleaned my plate. The alumni also made some of their own dishes as well; dishes of beans, peas, peanuts and other things I didn't get to try. Some went inside to eat, but I weathered the cold since I had a hoody. By the time I was done eating, everyone had moved inside and I followed suite. I quickly struck up conversation with the alumni along with Dr. Mohan and Katie. One said the thing that she missed the most about Cleveland was the snow! Yeah, turns out she loves it, and couldn't wait for the first snowfall her freshman year. Crazy. Then the power cut out leaving us in utter darkness; guess that you have to actually go to a terminal in your house and "put coins in" to keep the power going. Turns out they just forgot to in the hustle and bustle of the dinner. They came back on, and I later found myself talking the man who greeted us along with Doug, about politics, economics and crime in Botswana. Very insightful. After that, we took photos and then said our 'goodbyes' and 'go wells.' It was another beautiful night with the southern stars and wonderful evening spent with the very extensive family that is Case.

Diamonds are Forever

Wednesday. Another 5:45 departure. Miserable. We're visiting a diamond mine today, Jwaneng, the richest diamond mine in the world by value. Pretty crazy. We load up the vans, and stop at fueling station as they call it, to grab, you guess it, fuel, and people go inside to grab snacks. I didn't, I was too tired. I probably should've gone in at the time seeing as at the time we weren't getting a breakfast from the school and its like a two hour drive from Gaborone to Jwaneng. But it turned out for the better since we took like a 45 minute detour to backtrack and pick up food from the dining hall that they had prepared for us. I grab a cup of joe as well. During the ride, we decided that we couldn't wait any longer, so we broke into the provisions. Doug had bought jerky and leechi fruit juice at the fueling station and he offered those to the meal. Juice, jerky and eggs. It was mouthwatering indeed. The unexpectedly spicy and really tough jerky was perfectly framed atop a base of egg white. The pink leechi juice was wonderfully sweet and cooled my taste buds. I am going to have to find some leechi juice in the States. I then proceeded to fall asleep for the next hour or so to the mine.

We arrive at the gate that protects the road leading up to the mine. The group disembarks our two buses, crosses over and walks 100 meters to get onto large charter bus. We travel for less than a minute and enter this reception building where we are ushered into a conference room. From there we watched a short intro video to the Jwaneng mine. Next came the security measures. We can't bring any mobile phones. Cameras are fine, but it would be that some of my comrades decided that if a mobile phone was your camera then it would be alright. Secondly, no lip gloss, or lip balms, whether they come in a stick or can form. No weapons allowed. And the most importantly rule: if you drop something, DO NOT bend over and pick it up, or even anything else off the ground; inform one of the men who work for the mine that you dropped something. Yeah, they're intense. I deduce that they don't want you picking up any diamonds that may have fallen onto the ground off one of the 300-ton ore trucks, and that should you have found one, that you didn't smoosh it into you lip balm concealing it.

After that, we got dressed in the protective gear they provided for us: hardhats, safety vests, pigmented safety glasses, and boots. Then it was back on the charter bus where we ate our breakfast: fruit, bread, boiled eggs and beans. Once we got cleared to enter the mining station proper, which took like 10 to 20 minutes, we drive for literally 30 seconds and got out again. The truck went around to take like the vehicle entrance, and we moved through revolving metal door and into a covered and enclosed walkway. The walkway was decorated with these very interesting paintings done by presumably elementary aged children. Many depicted safety topics related to touring the mining operations. One in particular was rather dreadful and had the phrase "Your safety is mine!" painted above a scene of rather disturbing looking figures. We find our bus near the exit of the hallway, and we embark yet again onto our steel steed.

This time though we are driven for more than a minute, probably closer to ten, as our huge vehicle tottered up and over the dirt slopes surrounding the open pit where mining operations are conducted. There's an observation deck on the far side of pit where we disembark to take pictures and what not. It's huge. It's a huge ovoid maw opening up into the gullet of the earth. 2000 meters at its widest and 1000 meters across. 350 meters deep. The walls of the pit are cut in approximately 15 meter steps. That's just the pit proper. Surrounding the pit are mountains and mountains of pile high rocks; rejected Kimberlite ore and the intervening rocks that they had to dig out to get to the Kimberlite. Kimberlite is the ore which diamonds are found. And they're expanding the pit another 1000 meters into the rock face, which will also result in even bigger mountains of rock. They're work around the clock 24-7, 365 days. A really brisk morning breeze is biting into us on the observation deck. Deep into the pit, I see tiny shapes of huge tankers and 300-ton trucks going about their routines. In the above pictures, I zoom in onto one of those massive trucks going up the opposite slopes, see if you can spot it from the widest shot. Little tiny men were going about some mounds in the bottom of the pit. Those mounds were explosives. Unfortunately, they weren't blasting today. The guide kept bragging about how Jwaneng is the richest by value, which he proceeded to back up by saying out of the 300 tons of ore brought up by the trucks, you'll yield probably approximately 6-8 carats of diamonds. Absolutely ridiculous when you think about it. And ludicrous to think how much these little stones are worth. There are 4,535,923.7 carats in one ton (2,000lbs). That's approximately a yield of 5E-9%. What a business.

After our photo op was done, we took a bus ride over to where several of the huge trucks were parked. Nostalgia filled me as I recalled my childhood name that I dubbed any kind of construction vehicles: "dig-dirts." I climbed atop them, and took photos while other trucks cast huge shadows while driving past us. If only the kids from high school could see the trucks I was around now, they're would be no doubt of my coolness on the 'size of truck scale.' As we were getting onto the bus, we were delayed since someone got their iPhone confiscated after they were taking pictures of the trucks. Once everyone was back on the bus, he asked again if we had any mobile devices, which again no one answered his call. There were at least two other kids who I knew were still using their camera phones. Whatever, its their fault, whatever happens to them for breaking the rules of this organization who so graciously let us take a tour of their facilities. From there we take our bus back up to the enclosed hallway. Before we disembark, our guide says that we won't be needing cameras where we're going. We set down the covered hallway, past the disturbing finger paintings, off to another hallway, where we waited outside some steel fence gates. After about 10 more minutes of waiting, we proceed through the gate and around the corner all to face a thick 8 inch door, made of steel, with circular bars retracted into the door proper; a vault. We entered the tiny vault-room which was adorned with with pictures about diamonds and the mine. Some were clearly dated. In the midst of the vault were two pedestals, each topped with a pyramidal glass case. One held a big chunk of Kimberlite ore. The other, where our guide was standing and where we subsequently stood around, contained rough diamonds. He would ramble on about more facts, about how Jwaneng yields so many jewelry quality diamonds as opposed to the smaller amounts of industrial-use diamonds. He also stressed the "cleanliness" of diamonds that they must keep so that consumers are not purchasing unethically mined diamonds, i.e. the stereotypical blood diamonds. For example, while we there, two vehicles came screaming out of the mine, sirens blazing. They're were carrying diamonds straight to the airport so that they could be flown to Gaborone HQ. After several questions concerning blood diamonds arose, he gave answers about all that he knew about them came from the movie "Blood Diamond." Though this may be true, I felt like he knew more than what he was letting onto. We left the vault and once it was secured again, we kept down the hallway to an atrium. Security, to make sure we weren't smuggling any diamonds out. There was a lofted ceiling above us so that a second floor landing with one way mirrors could peer down at us as we waited in line for 8 separate doors. The women formed one line for one door, while we the men, waited for our turn to step into one of the other seven doors. Aaron Lin stepped out of line thinking he was going to be in big trouble for still having his cell phone on him. I was told to just follow the green light above the doors. Kinda apprehensive I did as I was told and opened up my door from the seven initially, and let it shut behind me. I found myself in a room a little larger than a closet. There were two doors in front of me, each with a unlit light bulb above it. A security camera looked me over. I stood there forever. Then all of sudden, a green light appeared on the right door. I opened it to find myself in hallway that had three steps then veered off to the left. I counted two more cameras, and three more doors. One was marked, security staff only, so I guess I had to go into one of the other two. But there were no green lights, or sign of lights. I tried one of the doors. It was locked. Great. But shortly after, I heard a voice on the other side apologizing and then he opened the door for me. There was a middle aged man in the next room, asked me questions about my reasons for visiting the mine. I told him that I was a student studying for 3 weeks...yada, yada. He asked to see my passport, though he said that he had never seen a U.S. passport before and wanted to look at one. He commented that it was a really nice passport. After a quick pat down and retrieving my scanned effects, I bit the man farewell and proceeded through the door and onto a landing. As I took the stairs down to lot, I found my group. Turns out not everyone was searched, it was either random or profiling, dunno, but had I gone through the left door and down another hallway, I would've come out under the balcony, a free man.

So, in five, ten, fifteen years; whenever I get married and buy my lady a ring, I'll see whether or not the diamond(s) came from the Jwaneng Mine or not. Wouldn't that bring it full circle.

P.S. And no, I was not able to find and smuggle a diamond out.

From Kasane to Mokolodi

By 5:30 in the evening on Wednesday we were back in Gaborone. We landed on the tarmac, and it was cold. Like really cold since we had just come from Kasane which, when we left was probably 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Not anymore. Winter has set in. On our way back from the airport, we stopped at a local grocery store chain, Spar, to get some snacks and stuff. There was so much bustling about, and the architecture of the nearby buildings and alleyways made me feel like I was hiding out in some less-than-upscale city like in a spy movie. Akin to scenes like in the new James Bond films, Bourne trilogy, or Inception. The grocery store was writhing with people. Scrabbling were scrabbling to grab the bread too, I noticed. It was also unsliced; there was an actual bread slicer that shoppers were using themselves to slice their own bread. I grabbed chocolates and water and headed back to the vans to wait. We get back to campus, and I am the first to walk back into our suite. I discover a "new" roommate of ours. His name is Jurgan ("Yeur-gan") which is how I think you spell his name, and he's German, and I would imagine his late 20's. It turns out he was just gone for the first half of our stay here, out on holiday or something. His been here since January studying, though I'm not sure what. Bed shortly thereafter.

We start having class with Dr. Sankaran on Thursday. He's teaching us more of actual thermo, rather than just fluid mechanics. He wanted to have us all out to eat at this Indian restaurant called Moghul that he says is really good; he either went there last time he was here, or heard that was really good. It was delicious though we had to wait for seventy minutes since our group was so large. It was such an awakening from the dining hall, which we were served the same stuff basically over and over. The garlic naan, samoosas, butter chicken, masala, paneer saagwala, and tandoori dishes were all delicious (I have a menu in front of me; they handed each of us one on the way out. Ironic). I'm going to to have to find an Indian restaurant nearby once I get back to satisfy my cravings. After the fulfilling meal, I get back to the dorms and find that our suite has even more new faces than before. Not only is there my non-Case suite-mates Jurgan and Ashton, (Ashton got here like 3 or 4 days after us, he's doing research and is from the U. of Texas, if I recall correctly) but there are another half dozen people, standing and sitting, all of them drinking that I don't recognize. Jurgan quickly gets up, says hello, and says that these are all his German, Canadian and Dutch friends. After some quick and hasty hellos, hallos and a bonjour, I drop my coat in my room and stand at my doorway to try to be social and not appear that rude. I ended up striking a conversation with Lawrence, if I recall his name correctly, the White guy who said bonjour to me. I start off by asking if he lives in Quebec, since he said bonjour to me. He says, "No, I live in Toronto,"

"Oh, so you're Canadian,"

"No, I'm from Zimbabwe"

{Pause} "Really? I actually just came from there, visited Vic Falls and all"

"Oh yeah? How'd did you like spending American dollars there, eh?"

Looking back, I chuckle to myself, such a goofy little chat.

Saturday, we got up and went to this place called Botswanacraft, a locale for tourists to purchase things. Their main cultural items are their woven baskets, made with materials in the Okavanga Delta region in the Northwest of Botswana. I picked me up a few of those, and two sets of dancing rattles that the traditional dancers wear in Botswana. Remember the safari lodge? Yeah, totally the same kind of rattles they were using. We were suppose to have a really good lunch there at Botswanacraft, but we showed up during this one big event apparently and couldn't get lunch accommodations, so we headed down to the Riverwalk Mall and I had pizza with Doug, Katie and Dr. Sankaran. On our way back on foot to the university we came across this one fella, name Larry. I was the first in the line walking towards him, and when I pass he starts saying hello and what have you in fluent Setswana. He came to Dr. Sankaran at the back of our caravan and shouted "Hi Mohan! Didn't expect to catch you here." They exchanged friendly words, evidently they had shared a plane ride over here from Joburg. Turns out he's been coming here to UB for quite sometime, doing research and has learned and mastered the local language. After meeting him, I'm just was lazy and turned in for the night.

Sunday was uneventful, I studied. Monday we had an exam. Tuesday though was really exciting since we got to go on another game drive (safari). We traveled the short distance to Mokolodi Nature Reserve which is 15km from Gaborone. We got there and while we waited for the game drive to start, they served us mimosas. Ha. We get on the drive, with all of us in one big truck this time. He tells us that they have rhinos, zebra, wildebeests, leopards, ostrich, hippos, giraffes, and even penned up hyena and cheetah. Our guide said not expect seeing any leopards since they're the most elusive in the park. I was so excited to see a rhinoceros though, the last puzzle piece in the Big Five. They didn't have buffalo, elephants or lions because of the dangers they present since Mokolodi is part educational facility and host programmes for children. In fact as we were leaving the main compound, we drove past a group of elementary school kids who subsequently waved and shouted Ni hao to us (Chinese for 'hello').

Gotta love the innocence of children. Not 5 minutes into the drive and we encountered a beautiful specimen of a male ostrich. The males have black feathers whereas the females are brown, and we were told that they had tons of ostrich in the reserve. After getting a hearty eyeful we drove off. It took a little bit before we saw another large animal. Katie, the TA who had been to Mokolodi before in November, pointed out a now barren location where they had seen rhinos before. Regrettably they weren't there. Nearby to that we came close to more kudu, who are still massive animals. Impala were also around, as were warthogs. Mokolodi was mostly comprised of bushes and the intermittent trees were probably no taller than 10 meters in height. There was an ostrich up ahead on the trail, and the truck scared it into a run. Those birds have such a goofy running style, from behind it looks like they 'waddle' and alternate their weight onto the foot that's planted. Next up were baboons, but they got skiddish and didn't come anywhere near as close as the ones in Chobe did. It felt as if the ostrich was going to be the only prize to take away from this trip but then we came to a small watering hole. There we found a pair of wildebeests and a small herd of four to six zebra. The didn't hang out for long, they were on their way out when we arrived at the watering hole and after half dozen or so pictures of them, they vanished into the bush. Zebras are the national animal symbol of Botswana, appearing on their coat of arms and their 1 Pula coin and 200 Pula bill. With some of my hunger for wildlife sated, we continued along the dirt path and came across one tall giraffe. It was older, which could be told by the much darker color of its coat and spots. Then slowly other giraffes came out of the brush, a small group, five or six in total. Our driver said we were lucky to see them. We then set off, and I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of rhino, but we arrived at the lake and there wasn't a single inkling of rhinoceros anywhere. Very upsetting. They ended up feeding us at this picnic area on the shores of the lake, which supposedly held crocs and hippos but we never saw them. It was a large lake to their credit. The food was delicious though. A cucumber enhanced slaw, wondering salad dressing and steak that just melted in your mouth, really tender. Fun fact: Botswana is the leading exporter of European beef. After our lunch, our actual game drive was over but I still hoped to see rhino on the way back. Nope. Instead when we got back to the main building, we had the opportunity to sign up and pay to pet the cheetahs, who we had passed eating in their pen on the way back from the lake. I decided I would do it, thinking that I still might be able to glimpse a rhinoceros, and when am I ever gonna get a chance to pet a cheetah again?

Drive to the Cheetah Enclosure, no rhino. There are two cheetahs, twin males who had arrived at the reserve when their mother was killed. They were raised by humans and didn't distress when we entered their cages; they're about 15 years old, our new guide had said. The reason that they're fenced is because the habitat that Mokolodi resides in is not their natural open savannah habitats, and since they have been raised since cubs by humans, they don't really have the skills to hunt. The cheetah chases down its pray, trips it at high speeds, then latches onto its throat and suffocates it. We walk into the pen, and I get this eerie feeling of Jurassic Park, minus the electrified fencing, since we opened into a precautionary antechamber. We follow a worn dirt path probably 30 meters before spotting the first of the twins. He was lying in the shade of the brush, maybe 8 meters from the path. Our guide decides to look for the other, and we all cautiously walk behind him, huddled in a group. Then we spot the other gemini, who was just lazily laying in open grass. We follow our guide and form a semi circle near the cheetah, nothing but whispers amongst us. He pets the cheetah first and then we notice the almost constant purring of the big cat. Honestly, it resembled a really lazy cat, just very lithe and spotted. But we were without a doubt all very wary of it. Our guide came up to me, grabbed my camera and beckoned me forward to pet the cheetah, Letotse, first. I approached cautiously, then committed to it. And I pet its head like I would bet any other cat, its purring very audible. I must've had such an elated smile on my face. After a minute, I got up and the next person went. We were only allowed to pet it on its head, no where else, and we couldn't lie down next to it at all, wouldn't want an accident to happen. There were several times when one of us approached him, he would look around and up at the petter, roll over to face them and swing/stretch their paws out. The guide advised us to stand back and wait for him to get situated again. The problem with going first is that I had to wait for the other eighteen to pet the cheetah. Once everyone was done, we set out back on the path and our guide stopped to check up on the first cheetah, Duma. I look back and saw that several of my compatriots who had lingered to take more photos of Letotse after the initial petting, were now following behind the cheetah who had set off down the path after us in the lead group. Letotse walked right by me, not paying the slightest attention, found his brother in the bush then set off a short ways to lie down. Pretty crazy stuff. We made way for the exit, I myself relieved and proud to have pet a cheetah.

P.S. I saw a hyena too, they share a fence in the neighboring pen, although it was through the bush and was rather hard to make out. No pictures unfortunately.

P.S.S. No rhino sightings on the way back from the cheetahs. Turns out that this time of year, they're even harder to find. Still the only missing in my Big Five crown.

P.S.S.S. I had a dream on the following Friday night that I did see rhinoceroses at Mokolodi while everyone else went to pet the cheetahs. I woke up, really questioning whether or not I did see rhinos, but then I realized I couldn't have tracked down rhinoceros with Bren, and my brother, since neither of them are here.

The Game of Game Drives

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba [There comes a lion]

Sithi uhhmm ingonyama [Oh yes, it's a lion]

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba [There comes a lion]

Sithi uhhmm ingonyama [Oh yes, it's a lion]

Ingonyama

Wednesday May 25th

A God forsaken hour, also can be described as 0515 AM.

Wake up. Groggy. For a game drive, a safari in a land vehicle. Rub sleep from my eyes. Toss on shorts. Mistake, though unavoidable, I only had shorts packed, its like 40 degrees Fahrenheit outside in the cool Botswana morning. Go to gathering area. Wait for other people. Hop in one of the lodge's three trucks. It's me Dr. DJ Lacks, Aaron "Still might get mauled by a lion" Lin, Katie, Doug and Caitlin. Two to each row. I weather the open topped vehicle ride with Katie, ducking below our blanket while the truck cruised up to Chobe National Park at a speed to effectively drop the temperature around us another 15 degrees. Arrive at gate. Our driver gets out to register. Five more minutes pass. He returns and we pass through the gatehouse, seeing all the skulls from dead animals recovered by the rangers; elephant, kudu, etc. We stop along the side of the road just as we enter the park proper and our guide starts telling us certain things to know about safariing in the park. Keep voices down, keep eyes open, etc. And then he goes on about "The Big Five:" Africa's most notorious safari animals: Rhinoceroses, Elephants, Buffalo, Leopards, and Lion. Only the later four can be found in Chobe. Their notoriety comes from the fact that they have been known to charge and attack vehicles. Basically, he tells us not to throw anything, or stand up quickly or made any sudden movements. I silently hoped to get charged and Dr. Lacks later voiced his opinion about how great of a story that would be, to be charged by one of the Big Five.

Setting off through the park, the sun was just over the horizon. Very gorgeous. The sunlight coming off the river had colors that I had never seen before. Really spectacular. And this point I chimed off a few choruses of The Circle of Life with Doug. We started off by seeing some birds, nothing too big. We did see the type of bird the Lion King character Zazu takes after, the red-billed hornbill. The game continued to grow in size the longer we kept at it. Impala, warthogs, guinea fowl, jackals, were fairly numerous and common sight. There was even a honey badger, who after one look at us, turned tail and scampered into the bush. But after a while they really didn't get our blood a boilin'. Probably 30 minutes in we came across a fairly large cluster of impala, but just beyond them was this massive troop of baboons crossing in front of us. Several other trucks were ahead of us and stopped for photos. This troop was huge, I probably saw 50 individuals; big males, females with babies on their backs or scampering nearby. And we were the tail end of the crossing, I saw many baboons off in the distant brush to the left of the truck. From there we ventured off to a separate spur of trail, where we came across our first big game of the day: a giraffe. The guy was so hard to see; he was grazing behind a thorn bush with most of his body hidden. All you could see was the top of his head some 30 meters away. My zoom did him justice. From there, we moved closer to the the river, and along the way we encountered three male Cape Buffalo; the closest was grazing about 5 meters away. They had those little birds on them that picked ticks off their backs. The road kept moving us west and not long after the three cape buffalo, we cruised past one, two, four more buffalo at some 40kph. Then as I was off looking to my left, our driving hits the brakes and we come to little more than an idle after sliding a bit on the dirt. I now find myself in the midsts of a huge herd of buffalo completely surrounding our truck, the couple trucks ahead of us and on either side of the road. We immediately drop our voices to a whisper, all the while, I'm hoping that I'll get a story to tell about being charged. We ease our way through the herd, who were presumably coming back from drinking at the river, for another 10 minutes or so, letting the buffalo pass as they wish. Some even got jittery of our truck, started to run, and got a few more buffalo to follow suite, although they ran away from us. I got it on video. Probably one of the more tense moments.

After that we, continued along the dirt road and had to come to a stop to where three other trucks had stopped and were blocking most of the path; the other two vehicles from our lodge were there two. We come about closer to them, and ask what everyone was looking at. The next word got me into a frenzy: "lion."One of the most elusive animals in the park, as we were told by our guides, which is part of the reason we go out early, since they're nocturnal and most active at night. After craning our necks to see and straining our eyes for any hint of a lion, our truck finally gets into a position that I was able to spot the beast. It was really difficult to see, it was lying down in the shade of a this tall bush which made it look like a log or rock, but once you picked out the figure you could see the lioness in all of its leonine glory. Luckily my zoom came in handy again, it was probably 50 meters away and on a downward slope to the river. We were the only truck left from our lodge when all of a sudden another lioness comes out of no where, moseys over and plops itself next to the first lioness. It looked around for a bit, then lowered its head. We were so happy that we were this fortunate. Our guide tried going to a spot behind them by going down to the river and back up, but we couldn't find a navigable path. Instead we found a solitary buffalo drinking, who were disturbed.

Oh well. We had an hour or so left and met up with the other two trucks for a stretch break and coffee and tea. After having some delicious coffee in the still cool morning hours, we headed back. The trucks split up, covering different areas of the park hoping to still spot game on the way back. Besides the lions and buffalo herd, this game drive was looking much more dire than the river safari. But I was wrong on that account. The first thing we saw on the way back was a one horned impala that Doug dubbed a unicorn. Shortly after, a small herd of kudu, whose claim as Africa's largest antelope is rarely disputed. The male was huge. Next up we saw a herd of elephants, at least a dozen in number. They were grazing right there besides the road. So close to the truck, that I could step out and touch them. Such gentle giants they were. Really spectacular, my pictures can attest to that. We spent 10 minutes just watching them graze. Probably my favorite moment of my safari experiences. And the last thing we saw was a herd of six giraffes. Seeing them walk is very interesting, with their neck and heads towering over the brush in an almost periodic motion. They started to graze, going two or three to a large thorn bush when we stopped to look at them. Another set of good pictures were taken. Chobe National Park had been good to us, and I bid it farewell.

Back at the lodge, I later find out that one of the other groups had a lion cross in front of their truck to get to another sleeping lion in the bush, I was a little jealous. However, I still had the claim to seeing a leopard or two. There was also a small croc in the water near the reception building, about a meter long that was just chilling there. When you're in Africa, be a paparazzi. That was our last day in Kasane.

Falling off the Falls

0800. Tuesday May, 24th. Kasane. Botswana.

I break my fast and then we head out to go see Victoria Falls and its many attractions. To get there, we are going to travel into the neighboring country of Zimbabwe. We go through Botswana immigration to get out of the country. Then we head to Zimbabwe immigration, where a full mile of trucks stood in line, waiting to get their cargo into the country. It was a busy place. We had to pay 30 USD for a visa the size of one of the passport pages to get into the country. I come to find out that Zimbabwe faced hyper inflation and that their dollars are worth nothing. They've been using US dollars for quite some time now. After they didn't let Donna in because she's a Philippine national and most countries besides the US, EU and Commonwealth nations need to apply for a visa ahead of time, which was unknown to us. She went back to the lodge with our TA, Katie, which was only 10 minutes away from the border. While we waited we saw warthogs crossing the road outside the fence, near the welcome to Zimbabwe sign. We investigated and took pictures next to the sign, along with the German couple who shared the van ride over with us. The husband looked very much alike a certain Mr. Wright, father to fellow high school classmate, TJ Wright. That aside, I struck up conversation with them, and found out that they love to travel and were on a tour of Africa at the moment with Vic Falls on the menu next. After a long drive through more land similar to Chobe National Park, part of Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, and passing animals like baboons, more warthogs and snakes who were crossing the road, we finally made it to Victoria Falls and the tourist town that has cropped up around it. Practically everyone had decided to get the package at the bridge company store that included bungee jumping, swinging and zip lining off the bridge. Like a domino I fell too, thinking that I'll never get this opportunity again. So I paid for all three and set off for the falls. Our driver took us as far as the immigration station at the start of the dirt road leading to the bridge which crosses the river and into Zambia. Getting out was easy, immigration just waved us through. We walked down the dirt road, the huge mist cloud of the falls clearly visible beyond the wall of jungle that formed the northern wall. Then the bridge came in sight, and as we crossed we were swarmed with peddlers trying to sell us copper trinkets, literally trillions of Zimbabwe dollars, and other assorted odds and ends. These guys were persistent but you had to ignore them. Even the reason of not having your wallet on you since we were diving didn't deter them. They said that I could trade my watch. My one friend said one guy said he could trade his shorts for what he was selling. His shorts. Too funny. We crossed the bridge onto the Zambia side to the little covered restaurant where we signed up for all of the three events. We left our stuff, money, cameras, passports, under the supervision of Dr. Lacks who would be taking photos off us taking the plunge. I got to the covered platform in the middle of the bridge and saw classmate after classmate suit up, and jump. It looked exhilarating and frightening at the same time. Then I was called. I timidly made my way through the gate onto the plat. I sat down as they video taped me so that they could sell me the DVD of me jumping afterwards at the restaurant. It felt like a race, stomach turned to stone, my breathing the only conscious thing I was doing. Then he had me stand up. I slowly made my way to the edge, where there's a gap in the railing. Never had I been more mindful of my balance while I teetered there. Then, the handler started counting 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, bungee! With a little push and what I thought was a good leap for having my feet bounded together (turns out I did little more than fall off the edge) I flew into the gorge, flying toward the rushing river below. It was such a crazy feeling. Arms outstretched. My voice on the wind. Weightlessness. Free falling. Then as I reached the bottom of the fall, I felt all the G's and the pressure of all my blood on my head. Then I stretched back up, recoiling back and forth. Like a doll. As my bobbing came to a rest, I was grabbed by a handler lowered in a harness to pull me up. Once I got to the service causeway under the launch plat, I unharnessed and climb back up to express my thrill to my waiting compatriots. Next event, swing from the bridge. There's a cable suspended across the bridge which would act as the swinging point, and we would be the pendulum. A small road bump arose in the form of a power outage for the bungee and swing, which used electric winches to help get the jumpers back up to bridge level. During this time, I chatted up with this blonde Norwegian girl who was just raving about the swing, which I was about to do. After our friendly exchange, I got suited up with Tim, another Case kid, who was to do the swing in tandem with me. The instructions for take off was too look at the horizon and take a synchronized step forward, and off the platform. I had one arm wrapped around Tim's back and his around mine. Whereas, bungee jumping was almost like flying or diving, swinging was just a really scary drop. As you fell, you saw the gorge's walls growing taller and taller with every passing moment, knowing that the rushing rapids below were about to break your landing. But then the rope taunted and we swung up from our presumed doom and swung back, just like on the playground, only now we swung from a hundred meter bridge. We hung there for a while taking in the gorgeous sights. I saw a full circular rainbow in the gorge. It was really magnificent and calming after that sheer fall. After climbing back up, we were running out of time, it was nearly 3 and we still had yet to visit the Falls, which some of it was visible from the bridge. So we packed up and began the long hike back to immigration, the entrance to the Falls park was on the Zimbabwe side. Getting in was almost as difficult the first time, and it was much hotter this time of day. Tempers were definitely shorter. We found out in a rather funny way. One of the things you should never do at a border crossing is whip out a camera to take pictures, of their flag, of their signs or ANYTHING. An officer came up to Corey as she had her camera out and just berated her, giving her an earful about how did she know whether or not her camera was beaming images of this secure, controlled facility to Moscow or North Korea. Really kinda funny to watch unfold. After ten or so minutes he left, leaving Corey visibly a little shaken but by the time we reached the Falls, it was all erased off her face. Another 30 USD later, (I actually got them to take my 1983 series fifty dollar bill, which was refused at the border crossing) we got into the park and the portion that was visible from the bridge through that little opening of a gorge was nothing.

Victoria Falls spanned 10 times that visible length. They were magnificent. Huge cascades billowed over like running stallions into the gorge below. Then came its plumes of mist that confirmed that they expended their work going down. Massive rainbows highlighted the Falls with their prismatic colors. Towards the middle, the mist became rain. It poured on us in there. There were selling ponchos and stuff outside, but it was so hot that we ignored their banter and thought that the water would be enough to cool us down in this African heat. We didn't just cool off, we got drenched. So drenched that we worried for our cameras and passports. Danger Point was a torrential downpour, and its path was a broken bone hazard. On my way out, I air dried and came across four vervet monkeys not 3 meters from the path. One was grooming and cleaning one that was asleep. Looked relaxing. Another was in the trees above me. My camera still worked so I caught some great shots. We loaded the vans, picked up the German couple, and made the long and uncomfortably trip back to the lodge in Botswana. Along the way we glimpse more animals. The most elusive had to be the leopard we saw in the tall grass. I could hardly make it out. The cameras had no chance in the dusk light. Only by chance did one camera flash at the right time and caught the great cat looking at us, its wide orbs full of the reflected light were just looming in the tall grass of the camera's picture. It was incredible. My game drive guide the next day would name leopards as one of the four of the Big Five Animals that could be found in Chobe: lions, leopards, elephants and buffalo. The other are rhino, but they aren't in Chobe. I felt so great that I got that sweep. Coming around a turn in the road, we almost ran into elephants just grazing. They didn't like our cameras' flashes since it was well past 6 and dark. We sped off before angering them further. We checked back out of Zimbabwe, wiped our shoes off which chemicals to prevent bringing in Hand, Foot and Mouth disease into Botswana and made it through Botswana immigration for the final time. I turned in soon after arriving back at the lodge after eating some dinner.

Lions, Hippos and a Zebra's Dance

Monday, June 23rd

Flight out of Gaborone was at 9:00, left UB at 8:00, ate cake at the airport cafe before boarding. Tasty cake. We land in Kasane, which is this small town in the northeastern corner of Botswana, it is surrounded by the Chobe National Park, which is where we will be going for our safaris. Before landing, I saw this huge herd of most likely water buffalo following a small river in the park. When we landed at the tiny airport its HOT, upwards of 30C (80F) in temperatures. We find our hosts, the Toro Safari Lodge who had come to pick us up in these pick-up trucks with stadium seating and flat canvas tops. We toss our rucksacks in and hop in ourselves. I grab a middle row seat. After seeing some billboards about the park and the huge Chobe River (one of the tributaries of the Zambezi which is the river forming Victoria Falls) I ended up losing my beloved fedora to the wind of the 80 kph highway. I wailed in utter despair, "NOOOOO!!!!" while my fellow classmates who rode with me started laughing at my expressions as soon as their realized what happened and couldn't react fast enough to take action to save my hat. Fortunately for me and my hat, we were the second car in a caravan of three and I saw that the last truck, a 100 or so meters behind us take the time to retrieve my hat. I breath a sigh of relief. Our lodgings happened to be right on the banks of the Chobe River on the outskirts of the small border town of Kazungula. I really enjoyed the set up. The reception and main building was this open air building that was at most 20 meters away from the river bank, with tables and a fire pit on the lawn leading to the banks. Upon our arrival they served us complimentary guava and mango juice. Delish is the beating sun. We partnered up for rooms, and I figured that I might room with Aaron Lin, because in the very slight chance that he'll get eaten by a lion, I'll have a room to myself. Our rooms were actually these one room, thatched huts, equipped with tiled floor, attached bathroom and AC, about 6x6 meters in area. Really put the feeling of being in Africa in you. So after moving to another hut-room with working AC after our first room's AC unit didn't turn on, we hopped in the trucks at 1530 hours and drove off for our first activity on this trip: a boat safari.

After a 15 minute drive later, we find ourselves at a meager looking dock with a large, double pontoon, two story river boat. Being the first truck to arrive, Jon Hilty, Steven Armstrong and I quickly hop onto the boat from the pier, ascend the stairs in record time and find our seats at the front of the second story balcony. The couple South African couples who rode in our truck, and staying at the lodge with us, took residence behind us. Once everyone was on board and jealous of our trio's seating, we set off upriver. Along the way, we see other river boats, many smaller 80 HP or so, and a couple our size or larger. We stop before entering the N.P.'s waters to register our safari, but that only took a minute or two before we were off and on our way. These guys have this safari business down to a science. Boat safaris take place in the afternoon, when the sun is high and all the animals are making their way to the river for water to drink and mud to wallow in. From the river you could see many game drive (another term for land safaris) trails and similar vehicles to our trucks, trying to glimpse the animals making way for the river. We start off eager and at the slightest sight of wildlife, we all rushed to the railing to take photos because our guide said that they never promise anything, and that they rely on nature, good timing and luck to see animals. That made it seem like animals were going to be hard to come by. Boy, were we ever so wrong to think that. As we moved deeper and deeper into the park's waters, the size and quantity of the wildlife we saw grew. (If you would like to see what I saw, or have no clue as to what kind of animal I'm talking about, I recommend visiting wikipedia.) Initially we only saw meter long lizard, a pair of kudo, male and female, a fish eagle, kingfishers, vivd blue and green song birds, a small Nile croc, a pair of imo and then a whole family group of vervet monkeys scampering along the shoreline and up a tree, parents, adolescents and babies all. One of the last vervets that came running by was actually running upright on its hind legs. The last two thirds of its tail was gone and that probably contributed to him finding a better balance on his hind legs.

Then all of a sudden, Steven shouted out "Elephants!!" and he pointed upriver where a ton of other boats had stopped. He handed around his binoculars to the gathering crowd of other students so that they could see the elephants a half mile away. I confirmed it with my camera and its wonderful zoom capabilities. We were all bursting with excitement! We could only hope that the elephants stayed were they were until we could get there. Finally, after waiting for an eternal five minutes, we came around the bend and saw the great giants of this land. A whole herd of them at the waters edge, drinking, wallowing, and graving on the small bushes nearby. They were magnificent beasts. Huge bulls with squarer heads, smaller rounded head females and several young elephants no more that three feet tall were posing for our cameras. I remember one of the little ones clumsily falling into the the mud hole another elephant had dug. So cute. Nearby, I thought that this one tree had the look of an elephant's face to it. Other people agreed. After snapping probably a hundred photos of elephants thinking that we'd never see one again, we continued on our way. We would later see many more elephants along the river and up on the river banks hills, but were definitely received a less warmer welcome by our cameras. Funny how complacent we get, it happened a lot on the safaris. Upriver we saw tons of guinea fowl, which the South Africans told me that they were protected in their country, not because they are endangered, but because they are really good pollinators. Neat fact. I think we saw three massive water buffalo as well. Really big bovines, much more ferocious looking than the Geauga County dairy cattle I'm use to seeing, with their two large curved horns capping their skulls. Our guide told us that buffalo are no to be angered when on land for they are some of the most dangerous of the park's animals. After seeing a couple more Nile crocs lying on the banks, sun bathing, and many more kudo and impala, what we really craved to see were hippos. Hippopotamuses are definitely one of the more elusive animals we were fortunate to come across. Soon after the elephants, a hippo popped the top of his head out of the water between the river boats to see what was going on. After a shrill reaction by other on our boat pointing upriver 50 meters I saw the beast. But then just like that he was underwater again, not wanting to deal with us paparazzi. We were disappointed, thinking that we'll never get another chance to see these lovable animals. That hippo would later resurface behind our boat, but was gone as quickly as he came. Hippos were also spotted near the middle of the river, were grass grew on top of the floating silt beds, a couple here and couple there, but they were no more than three little dots per head: two for each eye and ear, and a lump of skin where their snouts sat, breaking the surface of the water. Very frustrating. Until we saw a bunch of those little heads and more poking out of the water. There they were, a family group of at least a dozen hippopotamuses. I couldn't get an exact count because they would all take turns going underwater and resurfacing a minute or two later. The bull male did what we were all hoping to see; it opened is mouth 'til it reached its widest extent and snapped it closed. It was quite impressive. We kept circling them, taking tons of photos, then moved on for other boats to enjoy their company (by this point we were the lead boat on the river). Not too far away, we came across another family bu this time my camera died after some 500 pictures. Oh, well. I was watching the hippopotamuses, and casually said to one of them, "C'mon open up and say something." The second I finished that line, I'm not making this up, the hippopotamus facing me opened up and I started down his enormous maw. It was unprecedented! Yet again, I had great timing. Since, my camera died, I was most upset that I missed the family of baboons that our boat came across. They really do play with poop, they dig into these massive droppings left by elephants and the like and find undigested vegetation as our guide told us. They are also some of the more rude animals we came across, always showing their bare bottoms to us. After the baboons and 2nd family of hippos, it was time for us to turn around and we took the path that was the other side of the silt grasslands, on the Namibia side of the river. On that side we saw some curious little birds who seemingly walked on water and some massive crocodiles. First one we saw was like 3 meters, pretty big. Not 20 meters away downriver, and in the direction we were traveling now was a HUGE 4 meter croc facing away from us, just lying there like a slug. Guess it was getting quite cool. The sun was so picturesque. On the Namibia side, there weren't as many tress; it was more like a savannah. The sunset was gorgeous. It dipped behind clouds that were so far off they sat on the horizon. One of the most beautiful sunsets ever seen by my eyes. Those once the sun went down, the temps started to plummet from their lofty 30 centigrade and the little gnats and mosquitoes began their reign.

After docking and terrible cold open top truck ride back to the lodge, we dined. They served some ox tail; these relatively small pieces of tail vertebrate with meat surrounding it. It tasted like a weird seasoning of my mothers beef stew. It was alright. Once we had gotten through most of our meal, the show began. Out of nowhere, traditionally clad (lots of skin, minimal clothing) troupe came out from around the corner, singing and marching into a semi circle facing us at our tables. They would continue to chant in Setswana (I presumed), clapping while either all, or some of their members would be dancing. It intrigued me. There were these two young men with cylindrical bags of padded straw that they would either hit with their hands or hit them together to make a distinctive thud of a noise. They were perfectly in sync. Eventually we were told by a member of the lodge staff that the performers welcomed anyone who wanted to join them, could. The sheer thought of dancing tickled at my mind during their entire performance. I quietly tapped my foot, trying to mimic the rhythms they were making. Their moves were enhanced by the rattles strapped to their ankles. I ended up going with some motivation by Dr. Lacks who figured that if I danced with the chief at the cultural village, I would dance with this "zebra" troupe (as they called themselves) but I knew deep down that I was gonna get up and join them because of my love of dancing. I stood up and went to the end of the semi circle clapping with them, watching as the two male dancers danced. I watched them, thinking, repeating their footwork in my head. Right tap, right kick, up and back to center, stomp and emphasize on the way down. Again with left. Repeat. It was such a great time. The two gents dancing on either side of me cheered in their language, perhaps they were astonished that I had picked up their dance so fast. They bowed back into line and sent one of their girls into the semi circle to dance with me. We danced a bit, me trying to copy her footwork, all the while moving about and crossing with her, trying to be her mirror and mimic. It was so much fun. Soon after I sat down, beads of sweat on my brow, they did one final number. Many of them would smile at me as they exited out stage left, since I was in the front row. When I turned in for the night, I smiled to myself. I had found another universal language: the language that came from the joy of dancing together.

Dancing in Africa

Saturday morning. A time to kick back and relax. Well not today. I'm awoken by a large pounding on my window. I groan. My watch says 8:05. Ugh. I realize I'm 5 minutes late to class, which is to take place just outside the dorms in the courtyard pavilion. I get up to wave off whoever is at my window, turned out to be Jun. I toss on some shorts, run my hand through my hair and proceed outside where class has started. It was freezing outside. Probably like 45-ish degrees Fahrenheit. The sky was a blanket of clouds. Grey and very unwelcoming; the opposite of its past five past brothers' morning skies. You could occasionally see your breath if you looked and exhaled hard enough. Very chilly. After an hour of class, we prepped for the the day's activities. I quickly tossed on some jeans, a v-neck pullover and my jacket. I made sure I had everything packed, then I set out to buses. We killed time waiting for the buses kicking the soccer ball around. Once they had arrived, we piled in and then I passed out for the entire ride.

When I awoke, we had arrived at our next stop, some village called Thamaga. I hop out and proceed to this little shop along with the rest of the group. It turned out to be the retail shop for hand made pottery, I'm sure made to cater to tourists. The craftsmanship of the pottery was well received by most people I'm sure. I was upset, I had only 30 odd Pula in my pocket; most everyone was running low on currency since we had not been to the student center in quite some time. I ended up getting two really nice pieces of pottery. I wish we could go back and grab more, but I'm afraid I'll run out of room in my carry on; wouldn't want clay pottery to get beaten and tossed around in checked luggage even if it was packed properly. I exit the building as one of the last shoppers and find that the sun has come out and is just bathing us in sunlight. The clouds that we overhead as I went into the store had completely vanished by the time I exited some 30 to 45 minutes later. African runners must take after their weather, blazing quick when passing.

Our next destination lies in one of the adjacent villages, a 15 minute or so drive away. The countryside is really breathtaking, equip with cattle, goats and donkeys without a care in the world, not even a care for the road, as we had to drive into the other lane to get around them without waiting too long for them to cross. We arrive in Manyana and proceed to the rock wall paintings. They weren't too massive, most I'd've looked completely past had our guide not point them out to us. Most were faded away, time taking dues owed to it by the organic and mineral mixture used to paint the gemboks, giraffes and people. We climbed around the rocks, which had an ample amount of goat feces scattered amongst them. Had to watched where you put your hand to climb. It was another splendid view.

From there, we went to the Bahurutshe Cultural Lodge. A tiny little homestead, the red dirt of the basin as vivid as the now high beating sun. We get out of the vans and are greeted by half a dozen women, all above the age of forty and dressed in traditional clothing. After a few quick words of welcome, an incredible sound erupted from one of the women and took us all aback. It was a high pitched shout that fluctuated as she undulated her protruding tongue back and force across her mouth. They said it was a way of greeting. It was incredible. A couple more words of welcome were said but the presumptive lead women and the one who commanded English the best. We proceeded to where there was a fire ring and we sat in black plastic chairs, warmed by the afternoon sun. The half dozen women sang us a beautiful song and danced with fervor. The chief was also introduced to us, the fur of some beast fashioned into a hat atop his scalp. He had a left hand man as well. Don't know why he wasn't a right hand man, perhaps the left in more significant. After the song and dance were over, we went to dine on more traditional Bostwana foods. I had rice, beef, maize, bread and beans. It was very good, definitely better versions of what was served at the dining hall. I imagine they cater to the tourists better. Another thing of cultural note, we, the men were served first, after one of the women came over and poured warm water over ours hand so that we may dine clean. Guess chivalry wasn't too influential. While we had canned juice and soft drinks, we discovered that there was this traditional "beer" that was prepared several days before hand and was available for us should we pleased to be adventurous. It didn't contain alcohol, so I wondered why the term "beer" had been granted to it. Perhaps the preparation was similar to Western beers. Aaron Lin got up and decided he was brave enough to try it. He filled up a rather large gourd up halfway with the substance and drank probably a mouthful. His reaction was not one for an affinity of the drink. He urged each on of us around our end of the table to try it. The gourd came to me after Toby and Steven had some and I raised it to my face. The stench of the drink was so sour, I doubt it ten oranges being peeled could have overwhelmed the traditional beverage. I sipped the tiniest of sips and it was enough for me. The opinions of those who went before me were well justified. It tasted very sour, had a strong taste of nuts and wasn't an entirely liquid fluid: it had some small soft solids in it, like a poorly blended shake. I quickly handed the cup away and was so astonished when DJ Lacks poured himself a healthy glass of the juice. I later asked him his opinion and he told me that it wasn't that bad at all. Truly an acquired taste.

After we finished a group from I believe U. Penn dined after us. We got up just as they were being served and went back into the main area of the cultural lodge, which really consisted of three of four traditional huts and two large thatched roofs on stilts. Separated by gender, I proceeded to the end of the compound where the chief and number two were at. We were told that the girls would do chores and the boys would play a game. I like this. The two elder men finished drawing a design into the dirt and went off looking for something. We gathered around the dirt, the design, drew by a stick, consisted of three squares, one in another. Then straight lines were drawn to connect the midpoints of each side and the corners to each of the nesting squares. It had the effect of a spider web. The chief came back with his weathered wooden chair, handed me pebbles and charcoal stained black by fire, handed Toby the corresponding white pieces and sat down by the game board. Next thing I know the Chief and his Hand are telling us in intermittent English and Setswana to start putting stones down, in turn, at intersections of the lines. I picked up that the goal of the game was to try to get three in row and to block your opponent from getting three in a row as well. I tried my best, but the Hand was basically playing the game for me as I struggled to keep up with what was going on because as soon as I ran out of pieces the game like switched to checkers mode, where we would move our pieces along the lines of the board. Same goal, form three, stop the opponent, make three and remove one of your opponents pieces from the board. The Hand would shout out exclamations in Setswana, startled me who was standing next to them. A few minutes later, after I had lost to Toby, more boards were drawn and strategies started to develop. But this wasn't the best part.

Once we had done playing our share, the girls came out to demonstrate a betrothal/wedding dance for us. Our eligible girls followed suite behind the elderly women, with grass skirts to wear over their pants to make it as accurate as possible. They were suppose to stomp-walk their way up to our lane, then turn so that their backs faced us, then make a gripping movement and grab their buttocks. Hilarity ensued. Pictures were taken. Once they girls completed their courtship dance, it was our turn. Every male lined up, including Kevin, Mosaic, and DJ Lacks himself. The chief was in the center of our line, and he stepped forward with this skipping-2-step sort of thing, all the while blowing his whistle, and waving his symbols of office in tandem: a short animal hair duster and a larger walking staff. I did my best to mimic him. Indeed, I do love dancing so much. The chief saw my enthusiasm and motioned me to his side, where he gave me his hair ended stick, which I waved it in his fashion. The crowd reveled in our dance, the women chanting in our bachelor prowess. Guess its true in all cultures, a man that can dance is one with the confidence to woo women. My smile could not be wiped from my face after it was all done, after all the women and girls in the camp had joined us. In the aftermath, I sought out the chief and took a picture with him, his toothless smile was filled with revelry, I don't think he had expected me to be so exuberant.

Once we had all settled, the lead women had us all sit down and we all had this sort of open forum where we could ask about the culture. After a few questions, the woman took over and began speaking more of the state of the culture and people of Botswana. She commented that here at this lodge, only the "grannies" were left; all their children and grandchildren had gone off to live the cities and urban areas. She would describe to olden days, before the AIDS epidemic, she would almost preach to the young Batswana people in our group: Kevin, Mosaic, the driver.

The young think that the old ways are not needed she said, that they think that they must be more like the West. She would point out that the promiscuity that has resulted from modernization has increased the spread of HIV, and that in the days she was growing up, the good old fashioned values were adhered too, and there were no whispers of bastard children and no shadows of AIDS. She did have faith in education and believed it to be a guiding light for the future of Botswana. All of it, including your first degree was free. She even reveal a deeply personal story to all of us, which for that, she has my respect. A daughter of hers, adopted maybe, I wasn't quite sure, and the granddaughter were buried last week, their cause of death: murder. She girl was with child and did not finish secondary school. She gave birth and had been raising the child along with the grandmother, when the grandmother urged her to go back and get a diploma. I lazy father/boyfriend of the daughter did not see the benefit of education, he did not want to work, and cared little for the son he has fathered. Since, the daughter did not abide by the boyfriend's demands, he killed her and her one and half year old son. Her eyes welled with tears as she told us this story, it pained her greatly. She blames the state of the country and attitudes of the younger generation for the contributing factors that led to her daughter's death. She did not say what was happening to the boyfriend. It was a sobering tale indeed. She bid us farewell and blessed us on our travels and with that, we loaded our vans and headed for Gaborone.

It was a beautiful moment. One that I will not forget for my lifetime. Dancing in the African sun with people so rich in culture, all framed by a sun that has not yet set on them.