Botswana-lovin

So that’s where I am at the moment, sitting in a dilapidated little chalet in Seronga, a small town situated in Northern Botswana, on the side of the delta which tourists seldom visit. Painted a pretty picture right, ag it’s not bad, it’s extremely rural – picture majestic elephants roaming freely between the villagers at dusk and dawn; fetching water either from a manually operated borehole or a tap; getting to the closest town (110km) away by crossing the delta with a ferry and having local kiddies shout “kua” which means white person every single time you pass them.

So as you can imagine, it’s a little different to what I am used too, but it’s Africa and I love it. Although I do miss having a fridge and everything that comes with that. I’ve already warned the family back home that I’m expecting the biggest braai known to man when I return as I need to catch-up on all the meat I’m missing out on while living the dream in Botswana (only slightly sarcastic on that note). So let me explain what I am actually doing on this side of the delta: I am responsible for overseeing a human-lion conflict project while the PhD student is back in the USA. My daily adventures include kraal building with 3 locally employed guys, mapping cattle posts, collecting data on depredation sites and locating the lions on the panhandle islands.  

Doesn't sound too bad right? And the better part is that I'll be able to be part of the darting and collaring of the lions when the student returns...middle August hurry up already! Let's just say that kraal building isn't all that exciting and literally walking around endless amounts of cattle posts is hardly appealing. But it's part of the experience (I keep telling myself), and hopefully after this ill be able to find a PAYING job. Yes, I'm working for free again. I'm definitely learning about land cruiser mechanics - unwillingly believe me. For once I'd like to hand that responsibility to a man, and those who know me well, knows that I'm too independent to say that lightly. And unfortunately our bush mechanic isn't very reliable. I don't want to go on another rant about the unqualified buddy so let's just say that I'm better at screwing on a oil filter than he is. 

A definite saving grace from my Botswana-fun is that I'm living with a great fellow field assistant. She's responsible for a different PhD project and unfortunately leaving middle August after 6 months out here. She has a heart of gold so we get on well which prevents us from going totally crazy. We even made friends with the local missionary's 3 daughters, I met their dad by chance on the ferry when I was heading back to Seronga after dropping off the student in Maun. Usually I keep to myself around strangers but the oomie was smiling at me, and when he came to the bakkie to say hi I recognised the afrikaans accent, chatting Jess made an appearance. It was a month after first meeting him that I eventually scrapped up the courage to go meet the family, tagging Sarah along of course. We stayed for a delicious Sunday lunched and since then we've visited a few more times and more importantly got much needed new movies and series. Can you hear the popcorn being made almost every night? Yeah I got Sarah addicted after showing her how to make it on the stove.

We were lucky enough to be able to stay in Maun (closest city 500km away) for a whole week - and believe me we needed the break from small town Seronga. Usually Maun doesn't have much to offer except locals who drink too much, but this time it was great to be social! We met up with some of Sarahs local friends, camped on an island in the middle of the delta, ate a lot of meat, bought fresh food and chatted to a few randoms. I hate small talk but this time it was so great seeing different faces that I didn't mind as much. Until some lame South African dudes said I sounded Romanian. Me = not impressed. 

On our way back to good ol Seronga, we pulled off next to the road since it was already past 9pm and slept under the stars on the bakkie's roof rack. It was amazing, before we stopped we even saw 2 elephants next to the road.

The kraal building is going well, already finished 2 and had 2 kraal builders quit on me but luckily found one replacement. With machete in hand I originally helped the guys harvest the materials but since I'm not being paid to do it my brain kept asking 'why are you doing this again' so once they started with the actual building, I kept myself busy doing pretty much nothing. And I hate sitting around, so you can imagine how frustrated I became. Luckily I have 2 weeks off from kraal building while the guys have a rest, and when we start with the next kraal I won't be driving out everyday as it's more than 100km there and back and need to save my diesel. 

Since Seronga is far from everything, there isn't much to do for those two weeks except join Sarah a few days while she harvests fruit with the local woman, and hopefully not become too bored. We've even started jogging along the delta which is great, even if we get chased by the baboons. We almost ran into a herd of elephants during our morning jog, it was both terrifying and exhilarating.

Since being out here I've applied for a few conservation jobs, even got a Skype interview for an unpaid internship situated on an island in the Seychelles which is pretty exciting although the girl wasn't impressed when I asked about the possibility of them paying for my flight...No harm in asking clearly didn't work in this situation. The connection is pretty bad here so we had to postpone the interview until another time. I'm excited to here about what my responsibilities would be and if I'd be able to get my divers license through them but I'm not sure if I'm keen to work unpaid again for 6 months...but then again, when will I ever get the opportunity again to live in the Seychelles on someone else's expense? And it's research experience in marine conservation...oh these decisions!