Peace Corps Experiences Chapter Thirty Two Point One A Trip to the Chobe Area in Botswana Part II

This narrative in a continuation of Chapter Thirty Two and the adventure of visiting the Chobe area in Botswana

I no longer had replacements for my worn out hearing aid batteries, and on one of my quiet days when I decided there was no point in attending the discussions at the retreat, I walked to the area at the Toro Safari Lodge that has been set aside for campers. I was curious about what was in the many small structures there and found one open so I peaked inside and saw that there was a toilet and a shower, but nothing else. In the photo above, you’ll see that there’s a sink on the outside so it’s obvious that it has been set up for people who save daily expense while traveling by sleeping in a tent.

I think that would be a great idea, but maybe not for me. I like traveling alone, but think that I’d be happier traveling with someone else if I were going to do it that way.

Then I passed this other arrangement for camping. Four people were involved, and I happened by while they were washing their clothes. Both couples had their own car, but they were travelling to the same places. I wondered about having to put the tent up there every time you arrived and then be faced with having to take it down when you wanted to leave, but I suppose it would be about the same as using it on the ground. Up on top of the car, you'd at least be safe from snoopy animals.

Many of the people I met at Toro were from South Africa.

The man in the photo is Phillip, an employee of the Toro Lodge. He took a carful of us to an area where a lot of elephants live. The point of the afternoon was not to observe the elephants which were a couple of hundred yards away, but to show us a place where water was literally boiling up to the surface. There were footprints of elephants all around it. For some reason that I didn’t understand, he collected several bottles of the water. I don’t know what he was going to do with them. He said the water was hot and salty.

I must remember to give a copy of the above photo to the male driver for the agency for he immediately asked to have his photo taken in the same pose Phillip had used. He has been a good friend when I’ve experienced difficulties, as he always practices being positive about everything that happens in life. He’s an elder in his church and studying to become a minister.

Our retreat sessions begin every day with a different moderator asking for discussion about what we accomplished at the last session and then starting a kind of dance that's done with a lot of singing and hand clapping. Then we have prayer, and the driver is always called upon to provide it. He prays with conviction. The theory is that when those formalities have been observed, everyone has been energized and the current session can begin.

It was very painful sitting through sessions without being able to understand so I skipped one session and found myself sitting on a lounge chair near the reception desk. I was conscious of the fact aht my telephone had also stopped working as I needed a new battery, and I felt a bit alienated – almost sorry for myself. Even my Kindle – the electronic book device – wasn’t working, as I had no way of charging it – so I couldn’t even use the time to read.

While sitting there, I was facing the entrance so I decided to take this photo of the lodge from the inside out.

It kept going through my mind that I couldn’t keep sitting there; that I would have to think of something to do, so I walked over to the receptionist to find out how much it would cost to take the evening cruise. It was my thought that if it wasn’t too expensive I’d do that and cancel the reservation I’d made for a cruise the next day.

The receptionist quoted the price which was within acceptable limits. She had such a pleasant smile and was standing in front of a curtain with African scenes so I asked if I could have a photo of both. She agreed and then laughed.

The fact that some of the women were afraid to take a boat trip was talked about on several occasions, and almost all of them decided against it, as they didn’t know how to swim. I told them with graphic arm movements how I would rescue them – even telling them that if they clutched at me I would sock them so that they’d let me put an arm around them and use the side stroke to safety. However, I didn’t convince any of them but Danang.

Pictured above is Mavis, the Program Manager; Danang, the Finance Officer, Lydia (barely peeking through – the M&E Assistant; Ellen, the Clinical Nurse and my Counterpart, and Rachel, a Community Health Worker.

I had decided on the spur of the moment to go on the sunset cruise, and this is a photograph of the boats that were used. Danang went with me. There was also a middle-aged couple from South Africa and two men who spoke English, but I’m not certain where they were from.

I really spoke to no one on the cruise, as conversation would have been just too one sided to be enjoyable.

It had been a bit difficult to get on the boat, as there wasn’t a dock, and the boat had just been pushed up against the bank. I stood on the bank trying to decide if I’d lose my balance if I jumped on the boat, and my indecision must have been obvious to one of the men aboard for he came over and gave me a hand. It made me feel old for a moment or two, but I had appreciated it.

Phillip was our pilot and I wish I’d been able to hear him. I sat in silence the whole trip; didn’t learn any of the names of all the birds we saw and couldn’t understand what I should be looking for when he pointed. This photo of this kingfisher was taken, as I was fairly certain that the name was correct. Along the high banks there were many holes, and though I asked what they were used for I couldn’t understand the answer, but I hazarded a guess that it was some kind of wild bird.

Hippos in the water show very little above the waterline; only the tips of their ears and their popped-out eyes. We saw three of them in one group.

This is the kind of photograph that I wanted to take of a rhinoceros, but we saw nothing like it during our cruise so I took this photograph from a brochure back in the safari office.

Behind smiling Danang, who was having a great time taking photos of other passengers and having them photograph her, too, one can see Namibia. We had arrived at a point where we could see four countries. When we started in Botswana, we could see Namibia straight across the river, and now we were much closer. As we approached another river to the right, we could see Zambia across that second river, and to our right - on the same piece of land as Botswana – we could see Zimbabwe

This ferry runs between Botswana and Namibia and is very inexpensive. I was amazed at the size of the six tires being hauled and couldn’t imagine what kind of vehicle would require such large ones.

Here’s a closer look at the ferry. Lots of people and cars disembarked in Namibia, and there were people waiting there for the return trip.

It was after this photo was taken that a message in my camera informed me that a new battery would have to be inserted. I was unable to take any further photos during the last half of the trip and it was depressing to think that I’d be unable to take any photographs of animals on the game drive the following morning. The only battery I had was back in Otse.

None of my subsequent efforts to get a new battery were successful.

I had bought a brochure about the animals in the Chobe area, however, and I’ve copied photos of three of them so that you’ll get an idea of what we saw on the game drive.

I couldn’t have counted all the elephants we saw, and I don’t remember any special behavior. They were all just ambling around, many of them in groups. I had wanted to see some of them taking a bath so that I could watch them using their trunks to douse their backs, but the closest I got was watching one elephant who was still wet from being in the water before we got there and was sucking up sand in his trunk and then blowing it out to cover his back. He did it several times.

The gestation period for an elephant is 22 months and they only have one baby, but on average, they live 65 years.

Just one group of buffalo was seen – about ten of them – and they were partially hidden behind small bushy trees, but several of them were curious about us and kept watching to see what we were going to do. My eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be, and I kept thinking that the horns that seem to grow out of the top of their heads and then flow toward their ears was really hair – parted in the middle. This photo shows that I was wrong.

We saw only two and they looked just like the photograph. They’re kind of scary as they’re so quick, and they always seem to be prowling around looking for trouble. I kept thinking of the laugh of a hyena, but neither of them gave me a sample. The two that were seen were running quite fast and the guinea hens in front of them scattered quickly.

We also saw giraffes, warthogs, bushbuck, a banded mongoose, and about 100 impalas.

I don’t have a photo of a hippo, but we saw one lazily lounging in shallow water. The males of most animal species are bigger than the females, but that’s not true of hippos. The females are much larger.

I had been awake several times Friday night to make certain that I wouldn’t be late for the departure, but when I was bathed, packed, and had closed the door to my room, I could see that there was no one else up.

The 5 a.m. departure time obviously meant nothing to anyone but me.

At ten to five, my backpack attached and my overnight bag around my neck, I walked down the road in the darkness to the reception desk and left my key.

Though the lawn above the river was flooded with light, the interior of the lodge was black, yet I heard a voice and looked to the right and left several times before I discovered that a man was sitting in a chair about six feet from me. He had addressed me in Setswana so I said “Dumela”.

Making my way back to the parking lot, I watched a man come out of a large bus with gear that he had used while sleeping, and he stowed it in a compartment at the rear. It was a much larger bus than we’d had when we arrived, but I thought that perhaps it was ours and considered asking him.

On second thought, I decided against it, as I didn’t like the thought of getting on the bus and sitting in darkness until everyone else arrived.

I walked up to a covered sitting area near where my room – number 28 - had been, and after starting this narrative watched as the bus backed out of the parking lot and left. There was light on the other side of the bus as it passed, and I scanned all the windows to see if there were passengers, but it was empty. That erased the thought that everyone had already been on the bus when I saw it earlier. I would have been in a fix if they’d been aboard and I’d been left behind.

All is quiet now.

It’s fourteen after five. I’d estimated that we wouldn’t leave until 5:30, but now I’ll change that to six.

Round white lights spaced about 20 feet apart atop posts indicate the roadway to my left and there are three yellowish lights spreading their beams over wide areas. It’s like a movie set before the action.

It’s interesting, in a culturish way, that I was the only one who took the five o’clock departure time seriously. There’s only s pickup truck in the parking lot right now so even the driver knew we’d not be leaving at five.

Bruce, the Financial Manager, arrived a few minutes ago, and upon questioning I learned that I was right about the five o’clock hour. Everyone else believed that was the time we were going to leave except Mr. P. He must not have wanted to leave that early so he decided that we’d leave at six. He typically doesn’t consult anyone about changes, but somehow the word got around to everyone - except me. It’s now 5:27.

Bruce stood alongside my chair briefly, and I took the opportunity of saying, “I’m surprised we haven’t had any conversations since I joined the agency. When I initially interviewed you, I expected that we’d become friends, but that just hasn’t happened. Why have you chosen to isolate yourself from everybody?

“Because they’re all such fools”, was his reply. That was his total response to my question, but he continued to stand by my chair.

A bus as black as night had just pulled up on the road leading to the reception desk, and just before he started walking toward it, he said he was going to get on it, as it would take him to a place where he could get his own transportation. “I can’t wait for the bus that will take everybody else” was his parting shot.

I have no idea how he knew that that particular bus would take him where he wants to go and wonder how much sooner he’ll get home. I have no way of knowing.

It’s 5:34 and a vehicle to take people on a game drive has just arrived. I know it’s here as I saw it pass me and it was headed for the nearby parking area, but it’s still so dark that I can’t see where it’s parked.

Four minutes have passed and the sky is now gray.

Bruce’s bus is still in the same place, and the driver has just walked into the building beside me. A few minutes later, Bruce got out of the bus and walked into the building. I wondered why; his room wasn’t here.

Now the bus driver has walked back to the bus and is sitting at the wheel. Bruce hasn’t returned.

It’s a quarter to six, and Bruce is back on the bus.

It’s light enough now to see that the bus is actually our bus. I’d thought it was black, but it’s white. The male driver has just boarded it, and I can see the trailer behind it that we had before for luggage.

So what was all the talk about Bruce getting his own transportation? I’ll never know. He got on the same bus that we’ll all take.

Sometimes in Botswanna, I feel as if I’m living in a fog.