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.