Maun... week 1

So now I’m in Maun! Maun’s a huge tourist destination in the northern part of the country. On my first day, I walked to the airport with a few friends and recognized a bright orange shop that I’d seen with my family when we came here in 2007! Although I was in the same spot, I’m here for very, very different reasons!

So this part of my program is called DISP, or Directed Independent Study Project. Originally, I’d wanted to work with the Maun Homeopathy Project, an NGO based in England that provides homeopathic care to those living with HIV. But, I instead ended up interning with the Wildlife Department with four friends. Ian, Katie and Vince are all on the Pitzer program with me. Vince’s cousin, Cuz, has been doing research in Ghana for the past few months and came to Botswana when she finished. So now she’s working with us for Wildlife.

We were going to take a 6am bus from Gaborone to Maun on Sunday, the 7th. I’d called a taxi to pick me up at 5 and was woken up at 5:05 by my mom pounding on my locked door. I’d slept through my alarm and the driver’s honking. Luckily, she’d woken up and asked him to wait as I scrambled to finish packing and brush my teeth. I got to the bus rank in plenty of time and got lucky getting seats. The five of us had the first row with plenty of leg room and no standers next to us. We stopped for lunch around 1 and finally arrived at 4. Then my new host dad picked Katie and I up, since we’ll be staying together in Maun. We met the rest of the family, which is huge. Mom and Dad have 7 kids (aging from mid40s to 24), many of which still live with them. Katie and I are sharing a room and bed in the main house. We were given our own kitchen (one of three on the property) where we could keep our own food and cook if we wanted.

Monday, we reported to work at promptly 7:30am. Ian and I were supposed to work together with the Outreach Section and Katie, Vince and Cuz were going to work with Problem Animal Control. After we realized they didn’t really have plans for us, we walked around to all the departments and asked if anyone was heading out into the field. Although we met a lot of people, we couldn’t arrange a trip out for us. We were then told all of our bosses would be in a meeting for the next two days, we asked for the afternoon and Tuesday off. So the five of us walked to the airport (where I saw the orange shop!) to be real tourists and arrange a scenic flight and mokoro (traditional canoe) trip! We decided to take the 5pm hour long airplane trip that afternoon and mokoro trip the next day. Ian and I got lunch at Spar and visited his homestay, where conditions are less than ideal. Their home hasn’t had running water for weeks, so they have to drive to a reserve tank daily to get enough water to drink, wash and cook with. I’m so excited to have running water, a bath, and a washing machine!

So a few hours later we headed back to the airport (with computers, since there’s free wireless there!) for our scenic flight. It was incredible. Our pilot was a South African man who “spent a shitload of money and time” on his training. We saw beautiful clouds and so many animals from the sky: elephants wading in the water, zebras grazing with wildebeest, giraffes foraging in trees, and two HUGE herds of buffalo, one running all together and one ambling along in a single file line (which our pilot flew by twice so we could see it well). The fingers of the delta stretching out in front of us were breathtaking. The hour long flight seemed like ten minutes, and before we knew it we were back in Maun, landing at the airport.

Tuesday was our mokoro trip. The five of us hired three boats and three polers, men or women who stand at the back of the boat with a really long stick, pushing the boat along. Katie and I shared a mokoro and had the most awkward poler. He kept talking to us in Setswana but using words we hadn’t learned yet. The other two gave wonderful facts and conversation. We poled through the reeds for a few hours before we stopped for lunch. The reeds were three times as high as we were sitting in the low boat so we couldn’t see any of the surrounding landscape. But the reeds, lilies and birds were enough to look at.

We stopped for lunch and then took a walking safari. I’ve never been so close to zebras on foot before. We walked between two herds and stood in awe as one herd stampeded toward the other. The dominant male of the running herd corralled his females together and made them stop by kicking and biting them; he didn’t want them mixing at all.

After walking, we jumped into a swimming hole. Who knew you could go swimming in a body of water filled with crocodiles and hippos?? We made loud animal noises and took pictures making animal faces. When a group of over twenty tourists pulled up we just laughed and made hippo noises. They identified us correctly! After drying off (took less than 5 minutes in the sun) we poled back to where we’d started. There the five of us got to practice poling ourselves, and it is not easy…. although we all discovered poling backwards is.

Wednesday we had to go back to work. It was tough, tourists live a pretty sweet life. After sitting in an office for awhile and being told Ian and I would leave for the field on Friday, we were called into an office and told we were actually leaving in four hours. Surprise! So Katie and I headed home to pack all our stuff. We made a stop at Choppies, the supermarket on our way out, to buy food for the next seven days. Except we didn’t know how much food we’d eat and had to guess. We loaded up on chickpeas, pasta and a ton of veggies. Then we had the 2 hour drive to the park and 1 hour drive to our station. We would be staying with Nyex at North Gate. We were all in the back of a pickup and it was going to be great. Until we stopped at a bar and picked up a third Wildlife employee. I think his name was William. William liked to talk to us a lot, even though we ignored him pretty consistently. He tried to get boxed wine into a water bottle and spilled it all over me and our stuff. He kept grabbing our legs to get our attention when we didn’t answer his questions. Eventually Nyex came back and told him he wasn’t allowed to talk to us. So then he tried to light a cigarette and ended up breaking it, but it kept him busy for about half an hour. We all stood up and got rocked by the truck. I’ve got a ring of bruises around my stomach/back from getting thrown into the safety bars so many times. But it was worth it, the scenery was incredible and the wildlife (mainly birds, since we were driving fast and scared most other animals away) was awesome.

We watched the sunset from the back of the truck. By then William had decided it was okay to talk again. He also tried to stand up with us at the front of the pickup bed and we had him stand at the back. We dropped him off at south gate and admired the sunset for awhile before starting off on the hour drive to north gate, where we’d be staying. There was a lightning storm in front of us, past our camp, but it was beautiful to watch. The sky lit up each time a bolt formed, followed by a huge booming thunder. Thunder doesn’t clap like it does at home, it really does boom.

So then we arrived at our house, a townhouse paid for by the Botswana government and the EU. It normally homes two men who fix the roofs and was a complete pigsty. So by the light of a single candle and one headlamp, we moved all of their stuff into the bedrooms, swept the house, took out the trash and drained the bathtubs and sinks of disgusting yellow water (who leaves water in the tub?!?). We laid our mats and sleeping bags in the living room and crawled into bed, exhausted.

We started our day at 7:30 on Thursday. Nyex had to catch up on some paperwork, so we sat in the office. Plenty of tourists came in to pay their entrance fee and get directions; they were all decked out in khaki gear. Amos gave us a tour of the campsite, which was gorgeous. There was one site, number 4, that was on the river and had a massive tree great for both climbing and shade right in the middle. We had a quick talk with Nyex about park management before heading into Khwai village with Colin, another employee. We met the kgosi (chief). Since girls have to wear skirts when entering the kgotla, Katie, Cuz and I tied towels around our waists. I was pretty embarrassed when mine fell off and revealed my shorts underneath. Then we went to the Khwai Community Trust, which works a lot with the Moremi staff. The government gave them land to rent to lodges. They use the income to develop the village; in the past they’ve built houses for the elderly and a new office for themselves. They’re currently modifying an old lodge to generate more money. Apparently there’s also been a lot of corruption with trust leaders using funds to go to the States and South Africa for vacations.

We went back to our house, cooked dinner over a camp fire and watched the sunset from the bridge. With hippos in the river in front of us and impalas grazing a few hundred meters away, the view was breathtaking. I’ve seen sunsets that cover their side of the sky and the opposite horizon, but I’ve never seen one that covers the entire sky – and that’s just what this one did. All four horizons plus every inch in between was brilliant.

We walked back to our house and were told we had to move all of our stuff into the bedrooms. Way to ruin a night. The met who normally lived in the house had showed up; they were going to camp outside but wanted to be able to walk through the living room to the kitchen. So they moved all of their things out of the bedrooms as we laid on our sleeping bags, just wanting to sleep. Then I swept both bedrooms because there was nasty stuff everywhere. We moved all our stuff and then I fell asleep instantly.

Friday was an early morning: 5:30am. We were up at 5, washing up and eating a quick breakfast. Nyex came to fetch us right on time, Botswana time, at 6. We hung out at the office while he did his morning routine and went back home at 7:30 for breakfast and a quick nap. We met up with the Wildlife vet, Dr. John, who had to get a skin and blood sample from an elephant…. Epic trip in the making! So a rifle was loaded into the cab and we loaded into the back of another pickup with Dr. John (who carried the tranq gun) and another guy. We had one goal: to find an elephant.

Epic fail. Five hours later, Dr. John was frustraged and mad that we hadn’t seen a single elephant. He loaded a smaller dart and aimed at an impala. He missed. So he loaded another as we drove up to a herd of females. This time, he hit one. We jumped out of the car and tried to follow the hit impala although they were scattering in all directions. We lost it. After a few minutes of searching for the impala with the red dart, the doctor decided it was a lost cause and we loaded back into the truck. So we left an impala to pass out within 10-15minutes. Hopefully it won’t get eaten since it’s now easy bait, but chances are it became someone’s lunch.

So onto find elephants. An hour later, we found some! A herd of five. After circling around for a better angle, Dr. John aimed at the matriarch and connected. We all jumped out and followed the herd on foot, they were trotting away from the sound of the shot, but not running too fast. I stayed close to the guy with the rifle. We ducked behind trees so they wouldn’t see us. We could hear a low groan as the tranq started to affect her. About ten minutes later, we heard her hit the ground. We called the truck over and all hopped in. We circled around and were about fifteen feet from the matriarch, who was laying on the ground, and the other four elephants who were all standing around her. The rifle was shot into the air as a warning. Unfortunately, we hadn’t been warned and we all went deaf in one ear for a few minutes. The rest of the herd wouldn’t leave their fallen leader until another shot was fired and all of the men yelled loudly. After they were chased away, the guy with the rifle ran after them to make sure they didn’t return. A human on foot versus an angry elephant is not a good situation. So the vet ran over to the elephant and quickly covered her eyes and shoved cotton into her ears to reduce outside stimulation. We asked if we could leave the truck to get closer but the driver said to stay in the car.

Dr. John took his blood and skin samples from the inside of the elephant’s ear. In about three minutes, he and his assistant ran back to the car. Then the guy with the rifle came running back too. We asked if we could get close because it was obvious we were starting to leave. Dr. John said he’d already given it the revival shot, but that it was okay for us to get out. So we jumped out, cameras in hand, and crept close to the sleeping giant. I was super nervous and the farthest one back, although I was still about seven feet away. When she started to move her legs, we all turned on our heels and sprinted back to the truck. She made the really low grumbling noises again that were agonizing to listen to. It took her another two minutes to start to roll back and forth to get the momentum needed to stand up but she eventually did.

We drove away, past the rest of her herd that would find her soon. The five of us were in euphoria after that. We’d watched an elephant get tranqued and gotten so close to her! We drove about two hours to get back home, where Nyex told us we were moving to South Gate to live with a man named Bunny. So we bathed and ate and packed up. Then we made the hour drive to South Gate. Bunny had arranged two houses for us to live in, but we convinced him it was a good idea for us all to stay with him. Although it was fun, he may have been slightly annoyed with the mess we made with all of our stuff. But he never complained and was a great sport.

Saturday was phenomenal. Since Bunny is a Seventh Day Adventist, he normally doesn’t work on Saturdays. So we drove to third bridge to check out how its construction was going. I was super tired that day, so I was the only one sitting in the bed of the truck. When Vince crouched down and whispered “Wild dogs. Get up!” I sprang to my feet with my camera, except I couldn’t take pictures. Wild dogs were the one animal I wanted to see on our trip. They took my breath away. There was a pack of fourteen dogs, including three pups, lounging in the middle of the road. They calmly looked at us but decided we weren’t a threat and didn’t run. We stood still for a minute as I started to take pictures. Looking through the lens was incredible because I could see each dog so clearly. They were beautiful. Their markings are exquisite and seeing them was so much more exciting than I’d thought. They were so playful and their ears were huge. We started to creep forward and they stood up and trotted down the road in front of us.

Seeing wild dogs is incredibly rare and really special. I was thrilled. They had made a kill the night before and a few of the dogs still had blood on their faces and necks. One was carrying a piece of meat around. They periodically stopped to drink water from where it had collected in tire tracks. Bunny kept asking the driver to stop, but he was antsy and we left after only a few minutes. Had we been on a real safari, we would have stayed for quite awhile because you just don’t see dogs. About two minutes down the road, we passed a researcher with the conservation trust. They focus on predators and she was excited to find the pack and really glad we’d seen one collared dog.

So we checked out the bridge which is almost finished. Then Bunny arranged for us to take a boat cruise. He’s the greatest. So the five of us, Bunny, and three other park employees hopped into a boat normally used for patrols and rode around the delta. The delta was beautiful. Since we were in a pretty wide boat, we went through wider channels but I could see the really small ones meant for mokoros everywhere.

About twenty minutes into the ride, we turned a corner and found ourselves face to face with an elephant, shoulder deep in the water. Our driver got closer and then backed away fast. The elephant was walking toward us but along the far bank. He trumpeted and shook his ears and head at us. Our driver revved the engine and sped by on the left side. The elephant splashed water in our direction and we got a little splashed. Our wake got him pretty bad though.

We were out for a total of about two/three hours. At one point, we stopped at a flat field and got out to walk around. On our way back, I saw a HUGE croc sunbathing. By the time we’d reversed to look closer he was gone.

That night, Ian and I were sitting outside in the cool air because the house was hot from our cooking. We didn’t really notice that it had gotten dark, and we probably should have gone back inside. All of a sudden there was movement in front of us and we could make out a silhouette of an animal. We decided to sit still and not move. I was petrified with freight. I lasted for about eight seconds before I slowly started to stand up and Ian did the same. I tried not to make any sudden movements but I was also super scared. Once we reached our full standing height, the animal ran away. I think it was a hyena, judging by its size, shape and the way it ran. We sprinted inside laughing. Won’t do that again!

Sunday was super low key. We didn’t have any transport so we stayed in Bunny’s house all day. He spent a lot of time at the office doing paper work. We played a lot of cards (all 500 Rummy) and watched Zombieland on Vince’s computer.

We drove into Maun on Monday for lunch and a stop at the internet café. The drive was beautiful and we stood up the whole way. Or at least until we got into town and had to sit so the police wouldn’t stop us. It was weird to be back in a city again. We had lunch at Barcelos a pseudo-Italian restaurant with free wireless internet. We made a quick stop at Choppies, the grocery store, and headed back to Moremi.

Tuesday was a day of delays. We were supposed to leave the park to go home to Maun at 6am. At 7.15 we’re picked up so that we can drive over an hour into the park. Our driver has a meeting next to the airstrip, so we nap for a few hours in the back of the truck. The new plan is to leave at noon. At 1pm we get back to Bunny’s house. Since we’re already packed we just wait until 3 when we actually leave for Maun.

It was great to go back home and take a real bath and sleep in a real bed with blankets instead of the sleeping bag liner and camping mat I’d been using for the past week. But I wouldn’t have traded it. Also, my house has a washing machine which is AMAZING!

pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2071710&id=1036350539&l=31b0c4b273