Khama Rhino Sanctuary

 Technically speaking, the University of Botswana has an internet use policy that forbids the use of personal websites and blogs such as this one.  Fortunately this policy is rarely enforced.  Except, of course, when I was trying to post this on 25 Feb., just before leaving for a week.  Thus I am posting this now.  The weekend it refers to is the 19-20 of February. 

This post is coming a little late because this has been a pretty hectic week: mildly sick for the first few days and then frantically working on research applications before the mid semester break next week.  Last weekend I went with three friends to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, just outside Serowe or 4 hours away by bus.  Serowe is the village where most of the presidents are from, so of course they have a very nice and brand new hospital and very well maintained streets.  We hitched onto another bus from there and made it the next 30 miles to the Rhino Sanctuary.  After a minor mishap with our food for the night (leaving half of it on the bus), we were settled into our campsite with our flamboyant tent set up by mid afternoon. 

Not having a car inside a game park really limits what you can do: you can’t walk places (for obvious reasons) so there isn’t too much to do but hang around the campsite.  We heard some loud music coming from a neighboring campsite and assumed it was some older American couple based on their decision to play “Where have all the flowers gone,” so we thought we would wander over and say hi.  It turned out instead to be two younger Batswana couples hanging out and taking part in Botswana’s national pastime: day drinking.  They were incredibly happy to see us and promptly decided to dedicate their next ten hours to entertaining us, whether we liked it or not.  We spent a few hours hanging out at their camp before they took us on a driving adventure to a liquor store, a wedding, the side of the road for a while, a few gas station parking lots, and a couple of bars.  By the time we made it back to Khama we were incredibly famished and they graciously started grilling some of their own meat.  Batswana like their meat very well done so the whole cooking process was much longer than anticipated.  Rarely has food been so exciting.  And rarely have people randomly approached been so willing to act as hosts and guides. 

We didn’t make it to bed until late so our 6 am game drive came around pretty early.  Despite the difficulties that come with getting up that early, the game drive was incredible.  Khama has a lot more animals and a much higher density than any other place I have been and it really showed.  Within a few minutes we stumbled on a giraffe hanging out and having breakfast right by the side of the road.  Initially the rest of our drive was frustrating as we kept seeing things off in the distance, but we came to an open field at one point that was fantastic.  We parked the truck for half an hour and just watched as rhinos chowed down, a herd of zebras ran around yelping, a herd of springbok chased each other and jousted, and some red hartebeest pranced through everyone else.  At one point a rhino and her baby came from behind us and walked right in front of the truck as they went to join their friends just 30 yards or so away.  We moved on after a while and went on to see several more giraffes, many various sorts of gazelle and antelope, warthogs, impala, and a herd of wildebeest (the ones responsible for Mufasa’s death).  It was really an incredible experience.  After the game drive we packed up and hitched our way to the bus stop and were back in Gabs by late afternoon.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the mid-term break here.  It wouldn’t be called spring break since this is technically fall (winter is approaching) but fall isn’t really accurate either as its just after the rainy season and all the trees are in bloom.  My program is taking all of us on a weeklong safari.  We are flying tomorrow morning to Maun and then driving into the Okavango Delta where we will travel in mokoros—little dug out canoes.  After a few days we will head into the northern part of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the second largest game reserve in the world, for a few days of driving around in 4x4s before coming back to Gabs late next Saturday.  I will be completely out of contact during this time but will update in full once I get back.