Blog #10 – Capital “H” for Gaborone

We sleep in well today! The sun was already full up by the time we dragged ourselves out of the tents. We had a quick light breakfast and then took all we had at dismantling the tents. I don’t think I captured the essence of these tents in earlier posts, so I will try to do so now… These are not the tents you are imagining. There was no fiberglass, and no nylon – nothing but heavy materials! They were made out of canvas as well as strong metal poles – some cast iron others steel. To say the least the entire tent together probably weighed around 50 pounds! It was quite the adventure trying to dismantle these military grade tents and try and pack them snuggly into bags they barely fit – it also seemed like every tent had its own special way of fitting and that nothing that had worked before would work again!

Anyways, that was a task and I was already sweating by the time we finished. We pulled out the soccer ball we had bought and scrimmaged around for the next hour. It was the first time we had real cardio exercise on the trip and the first time that we got to see the competitive spirits of others :) It was a fun game, played on our sandy court, lined with thistle and prickly shrubs…playing barefoot may not have been the best idea! Once we were all tuckered out, we realized it was only mid-morning and we had a full day ahead of us! We filled up our water bottles – the local water was delicious (and totally safe, no worries!) We said our farewells to the local people and headed back in the SUVs for the Predator Centre.

We had no idea just how elusive this centre would be! We spent the next honour and a half searching for it – only to end up at dead ends on a lonesome unmanaged country road, or face-to-face with owners of private property that were quite frank about us not being allowed here and questioning our motives! The unfortunate part of all of this was the fact that we had less than an eighth of a tank of gas – and had no idea if that was enough to get us back to Maun (at least and hour and a half drive…but considering we were somewhat lost, who knew?) We decided to cut our losses and head back to Maun. The rest of the car ride was spent watching the gauge lower and the low fuel indicator light come on…we coasted into the bank and fuel station on the last drops of our fuel.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing over lunch and talking about the idea of community based projects and the role that they play in Botswana tourism. We eventually walked back to the airport and got onto our flight to Gaborone (pronounced ‘Hab-a-ro-knee’). This would be just a temporary good bye for me – as I would be back here in a weeks time to begin my placement, but for many others this signaled the first of many goodbyes as our field course wrapped up!

Our flight definitely left on Africa time – fifteen minutes late, but still managed to land on-time. The flight itself was quite enjoyable - I enjoyed walking out to the plane and loading from the tarmac. The “environmentally friendly” sticker on the side of the plane definitely made my day – I am not sure how exactly that works, but leave it to Air Botswana to figure it out! We played euchre and enjoyed our last flight together as a group and by the time we were passing over southern Botswana, the sun had set and the night had taken over. Compared to Maun there was a wealth of city lights and clearly defined highways. The bright headlights and red brake lights of the cars lined each side of the road. This was the city life for Batswana, this is where all of the major business and decision making occurred.

We got picked up at the airport in yet another mini-bus…but this one had a trailer for luggage so we were saved! Not to mention pros at it by now, haha! Our bus slowly wove its way in and out of traffic taking us towards the Brakendene, our hostel while in Gaborone. We passed the major area for public transport – with hundreds of people lining the street. We passed the St. Louis brewery, where the one and only Botswana beer was made. This was not another small town – it was at least twice the size of Guelph, but seemed much larger. Even in the night lighting we could appreciate the divide. There were gorgeous brand new corporate buildings, and large pristine homes. But the majority of the time was spent watching plot by plot go by with very basic, slum-like housing. Every plot and every building was surrounding by some fence…we only noticed a few without them…either high metal fencing or brick wall – most lined with electric fencing or barbed wire on top. Not the most welcoming … or comforting sight. However, the roads and streets were well maintained and there still seemed to be a clean, approachable feeling to the city.

We arrived at our hostel and were told we have less than fifteen minutes before the bus would return to take us to dinner. By the time we checked in, figured out what rooms we were in and dropped our bags there was less than then. My roommate Ben and I decided to do the impossible…. No one thought we would be able to do it, but we did. After a many days driving in and out of sandy safaris and staying in tents and campsites we needed it! We managed for each of us to take a shower and redress before the bus even arrived. It was by far the quickest shower I have ever had, and I still managed to shampoo twice…even though I only really rinsed the first time, haha! I can still feel the burn – but it was worth it, I had the best smelling hair and a clean set of cloths…it was a stark contrast to the wild, untamed, dirty motley crew with us :) - just joking… sort of… !

We traveled to the Riverwalk Centre – a huge mall! That would easily rival many of the major non-GTA malls. It was clean, flashy and had tonnes of shops. There was an entire wall of restaurants that opened up into outdoor seating areas. We had a difficult time to find a place to seat all eleven of us…it was packed in most of the places…obviously the place to be on a Friday evening! However, we ended up have the hostess of a small Indian restaurant chase us down after someone had erroneously told us they didn’t have room to sit us! It made even those of us who had managed to shower feel wanted!

This would be our last supper as a group and so we had a fantastic time eating, drinking and sharing. It was definitely an emotional time, with lots of laughter and countless toasts. By the end of the meal we had managed to completely empty the place…either because we took so long or because we were so loud…you can decide! It was a great night and by the time we got back to the hostel we crashed in our beds and just chatted until one by one people started snoring…(I had to be told this as I was the second one who conked out…but I am sure it was good times…)