Sunday, October 5, 2008

Sevuti Camp, Northern Botswana

We were called to high tea by the drums, lovely. All the other guests are Americans on a group tour. One man called me over to show me an elephant outside the dining hall. I was nice but wanted to say, “I’ve been in the bush eleven days and walked with elephants and been kissed by one “But I refrained.

Goodman took us on a nice tour and we saw a couple of sad things. A small elephant with a very short trunk and a short tall. He said that they have been watching it for 5 yeas and did not know if it was an accident or congenital. Due to the fact that it is not growing normally they decided it was congenital. The good news is that it seems to be adapting and gets down on its knees to eat grass with its mouth instead of using its truck to bring the food to its mouth. Elephants stay with their Mothers for years and are very protected by the herd so maybe this is why it has survived. Later in the afternoon we saw vultures circling and went to check it out-always hoping to see a cat kill or some excitement. As we got closer we could smell a foul smell and Goodman said that it was a giraffe that had died of natural causes as if something had killed it they would have eaten it right away, It was very recognizable as a large giraffe, We stopped and had our sundowner (cocktail)
And Goodman told me he was 35 and had one child, a 7 month old. In a few days he goes home to Kasane and will negotiate the bride’s price to marry here. It will be between 6 and 8 cows paid to the brides family, negotiated by an uncle of the bride.

September 30, 2008

Today is Botswana’s Independence day-42 years ago they negotiated freedom from England. The camp is festooned with flags-sky blue background with a black stripe. Dinner will be some sort of entertainment from the staff. Last night’s dinner we the 14 guests and Terry-the Camp Manager, a typical Girl Scout Camp Director sat at one end of the long table and Goodman at the other. Guides typically eat with the guests as do camp managers. Conversation was lively. A couple from Orange County, both radiologists, is quite friendly and has traveled a lot of interesting places. Amazingly she and her husband and Ron have a mutual friend in Sacramento. She is a pilot and most interested in the fact that we are flying ourselves. We slept well in our luxurious accommodations.

As I write this blog I am sitting at the desk and just beyond our deck is a small body of water and at least 11 elephants are grazing at the edge and wading in the water! All this 100 feet from where I sit. Elephants have to be one of my favorites just because they are so social and take such good care of their babies.

This morning we were awakened by 5:50, had breakfast at 6 and were on the road by 6:30. We say a pride of lions napping under a tree, on either side of the vehicle. They were full from a feast. We saw a downed elephant nearby and Goodman said that it had been dead when the lions came across it. This pride has ten lions but only the 8 females were there. One was tearing at the lung of the elephant, eating large chunks, and the stench was pretty strong-Goodman said that they lions would move on as they did not feed at stinky food and the hyenas and vultures would finish it off.


We saw lots of hippos this morning. Wildebeest and zebras grazing on a large flat plain, herds of elephants everywhere. Luckily the lush brush accommodates the destructive feeding nature of them.

I asked Goodman how they came to win their independence from Britain and he said “we negotiated it.” Earlier I had asked him about how the various tribes got along and he told me that they coexist and today he told me that if there are disagreements they sit down and work it out. It almost makes me feel that he can’t imagine how big nations can’t figure it our. I think the examples of killing and war so close has made them very thankful. Zimbabwe borders them and is a disaster. As a cook from Baines Camp told me-I am blessed to be a Botswanan. Goodman also told me that Botswana had the strongest currency in Africa (the pula) and the number 1 economy. He said that they have diamonds and the money they bring in is helping to build the infrastructure-road, schools and hospitals.

Have I written about termite mounds? When I first saw them near Jo’Berg they looked very much like rocks in the field. They are so individual-some red where the dirt is red, most beige or grey. In the Delta where the water table is high they can be huge constructions. Organized rather like a bee hive they have 3 generations of queens. The termites drag leaves inside and use enzymes that they have to break them down into nutrition. Inside the hives are heating and air-conditioning systems and they are frequently go as much into the ground as the hive that is visible on top of the ground. I will have to do some reading on them as they sound fascinating. I would look them up on the internet but alas-no internet.

This camp has a darling gift shop but I have decided not to buy anything until I get to Cape Town at the end of the trip.

I was thinking today that we did an exceptional job packing for this trip. We have everything we need and not much with us that we have not used. They fact that they do laundry in every camp has made it easy to get along with less. The hot and cold temperature ranges make it necessary to layer up and peel off in the afternoon. The game rides can be chilly but they provide wool lap robes in every vehicle.

It seems strange to have had no news for 8 days-since Jo’Berg. One of the Camp managers said that when the Pope died he read about it 9 days later in an old newspaper. He said it makes you realize how irrelevant what happens in the rest of the world is when you are in the bush.

Ron and Bev

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