Refreshing weekend- safari tales #1

What a refreshing weekend! For the first time since I have been here, I had a little down time. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem working hard and being busy (a casualty or strength of being a Type-A personality, depending on the circumstances). Both of my parents have instilled in me desire to use my talents the best way I can and a work ethic that they have shown me by example. For that, I am truly thankful. This past week has been a blur in many ways- working through being homesick for about a day and a half when I had no way to communicate because of the internet, “finding my wings” here at the project, learning about a new culture, reaching out to people who are looking for encouragement and support, teaching for a considerable chunk out of two days, wondering how all of this is going to come together for the opening, and trying in some way to not let the moments pass me by without me taking it all in. Honestly, it flew by, and I can’t believe I have four days left to make a difference here. I’ll keep you posted on that…

I started by saying that this weekend has been refreshing- that doesn’t really even come close to describing it. I will just tell you the story as best as I can and let you find the refreshment in the details or between the lines I type. On Saturday morning, I woke early to hear the sound of pouring rain. Although very relaxing, it was also a little sad because I knew it meant that a game drive at Mokolodi (the local game park here) would probably be unlikely. I drifted back to sleep listening to the peaceful sound of the rain and got up shortly after that a little before 5. We had planned to leave at 6:30, go to Mokolodi and do the game drive, come back quickly to collect luggage, take Marcee and Michele to the airport, and then proceed on to Madikwe River Lodge in South Africa. All of that went as planned except for the Mokolodi part. It was still raining when we got there, so they had cancelled the game drive. We looked around in their gift shop, though, and I found a couple treasures, as did Marcee. Stopped for breakfast on the way back to the hotel, and then headed off to the airport. As an aside, I have to tell you that I really enjoyed the time spent getting to know Marcee while we were here together. She is a passionate, caring, warm, dear person who has an incredible amount to offer in a setting like the one we have been in. I was very sorry to see her go because she and Michele had been a sounding board for me, and they both took me under their wing this week. For the next 4 days, I am flying solo as far as female companionship goes. I learned a lot from both Marcee and Michele during the week. I have promised to email Marcee and give her the play by play so she knows what’s going on… : )

After saying our goodbyes, Rich and I started out to Madikwe. From Gaborone, it is about an hour and fifteen minute drive to the park. We had to cross over into South Africa, and one of the towns we drove through was much more along the lines of what I had imagined Africa would look like. There were roadside vegetable stands, dirt paths, children with no shoes, goats, chickens, and cows roaming free… I should probably mention that we were driving through the agricultural section of South Africa. There was a lot of farm land, and subsequently, many farm animals. When we got to the border, we had to park and go into the immigration building. The process was pretty painless- wait for them to stamp your passport after they check to make sure you are legit. The funny part is that we went to immigration to leave Botswana, and then drove about 500 yards and had to get out again and go into immigration to arrive in South Africa. It’s just interesting since they are so close together. Soon after, we arrived at the gate for the game reserve, and Rich asked if we were able to drive in as they had done the weekend before. (You may recall the story of him being a “bush driver” and narrowly escaping getting stuck in the mud on the way out last weekend- he was wondering if he was going to have to repeat that drive). The woman at the gate called and then came to inform us that the roads were still very wet, so they would be coming to collect us at the gate. As we waited for the truck, a bus pulled up with some other guests for the lodge- four more to be exact. It became clear to us almost right away that they were high-maintenance. All four were dressed to the nines- Ed Hardy t-shirts and Gucci sunglasses, name brand everything, and high end cameras. When the guide pulled up in the truck and saw all of us and all of their luggage, he had to radio another truck to come for their luggage! Rich and I had a small duffel bag each : ) Honestly, I don’t know how long they were traveling for, but they had a lot of stuff.

We got on the truck with our bags in tow, and the rest of the luggage was put into the back of an open-bed pick up truck. I have no idea what it looked like by the time we got there, but the amount of mud that must have splashed up onto it was laughable. The drive to the lodge was an adventure, even in the guide vehicle. There were plenty of times we were bounced out of our seats, and it felt much like an amusement park ride for most of the time. Rich was very glad that we left the car at the gate.

We checked in to the lodge, had some lunch (which was really good), and went to our huts. At Madikwe, your room is a building with a thatched roof- with a sitting area, bed, and bathroom and a private porch/deck. They were really nice and situated such that you felt like you were in the middle of the preserve. Rich said he wanted to take a nap, so I found a book and made myself comfortable on my deck overlooking a pond below. I wish I had a recorder with me to capture all the cool sounds of the preserve- it was so peaceful to sit there and read and listen to nature all around me. High tea was at 4, so we went and had tea and a light snack, and then it was off to our first great adventure.

I have to say a word about our guide for the two drives. His name is Dakora, but he goes by Charles as his “English name” as he says. What an incredible wealth of knowledge he is!! I learned that previous to this job, he spent 15 years living in “the bush” in Africa tracking black rhinos… on foot!! If you don’t know anything about black rhinos, you can’t really appreciate that. I will keep it short for now by saying that they are extremely dangerous to follow on foot because they tend to charge anything they see as a threat. I asked what the greatest danger of living in the bush was, expecting him to say lions or cheetahs… he said the charging black rhino. In any case, this man was extremely experienced and shared his insight with great ease. It was very cool to watch him look for tracks, listen intently to certain bird calls, watch the pattern of animals we saw and their behavior, and use all of that to predict and then show us countless wild African savannah scenes. There is no way I can possibly describe it all.

In Africa, in any safari situation, you will hear people refer to the “Big Five”. These are the five most dangerous animals in the bush, and also the five that everyone wants to see close up. (well, at least those of us who enjoy being slightly afraid) The Big Five here are lion, leopard, cape buffalo, rhino, and elephant. Since we were only going to be there for 2 drives, I was preparing myself that I probably would only get to see one out of five- I just wasn’t sure. Charles made it his mission to show me as many as he could, but the coolest part of this adventure was actually a second sighting of one of the big five. This was an experience that I can’t really put into words, but I will try in the next installment of this blog. : )

We loaded up for the first game drive around 5pm- joined by a couple from Holland who turned out to be a little detrimental to our quest for animals and almost got us killed on one occasion. Rich and I agreed that they were nice people to talk to but not people you would want to have in your group on a safari trip. I can’t really explain how wonderful it felt to be driving out of the lodge area- warm wind in our faces and expectations high… I told Rich I felt like I was on a Nat Geo special- living out a dream. I definitely had a moment on that first game drive where it hit me- I am in Africa in the middle of a game preserve surrounded by some of the wonders of God’s creation, and a week ago, I was leaving snowy Pittsburgh. Sometimes, in moments like this, you can’t quite believe it’s all real!
I love you all!! Chapter 2 of this adventure in the bush later…