The University of British Columbia

May 12 and 13, 2012

I left home at 7:00 am on Saturday to join an early morning game viewing. With two other volunteers we took a cab and went to Mokolodi Nature Reserve about 20 minutes away from where we live in Gaborone. It was a privately owned place and there were no predators as a result all the animals were in piece with each other. Although we were unable to spot the zebras, the giraffes and the hippos, it was fun to look for them as our guide drove us around the reserve, and see the ostriches, kudus, bores, and impalas, a variety of birds in addition to the breath taking view along with the breezy mountain weather.  It was totally worth it which gave me an idea of how spectacular a safari camp could be. I may be making plans for the next weekend for a safari camp.

After finishing the reverse, we stopped over at a coffee shop where we had breakfast and tea (well I had the tea while others preferred the coffee) in a beautiful garden. We then headed to see the Gaborone Dam and the yacht club (http://www.gyc.org.bw/). Yes, the yacht club, in the middle of Gaborone. Entering the yacht club looked a bit suspicious, with a 20 pula entrance fee for weekends and 10 pula for the weekdays since there didn’t seem to be anything worth seeing as a first impression. However, as we walked up the stairs and saw the facility which was hiding behind the trees and over a rock bed, I was very impressed. This place reminded me of Karya in Dikili, Izmir. Very peaceful! People there were getting ready for an Arts Exhibition which I would have loved to see, but we needed to leave before it started.  Nonetheless, we were able to see one artist hanging her artwork over the tree branches. It was quite artsy even the idea of displaying her art on the tree. And her art consisted of jackets and paths made out of very bright coloured big patterns that she claimed that they were for showbiz. And one jacket was offered at around 12000 pula which is around US1600. In retrospect, perhaps it was good that we had to leave there, it saved me some money.

view from the yacht club in Gaborone Dam

Since we had the cab driver to drive us around the whole day, we asked him to take us to the movie set of the No1 Ladies Detective Agency and took some pictures. Although the buildings around the set were still standing but were worn off, they didn’t feel safe enough for us to go inside the rooms so we ended up seeing them from the outside. I was able to visualize Mma. Ramotswe (the detective in the movie and the book series) going into the building slowly but surely with a smile on her face. It was a lot of fun.  Especially that I am in the middle of reading the Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by the same author, Alexander McCall Smith. This was very relateble to me.

We called the day off after another tea in a coffee shop near the mall that is near our place. I then did some grocery shopping and walked home.

Sunday was the first day I slept in till 8ish since I came here. Since I will be heading off to Maun catching an early flight tomorrow morning for another site evaluation for work, I wanted to have an easy day. I ended up connecting with the long term volunteer who was very kind to offer taking us to another place which was a nice restaurant tucked in a well groomed garden where they were also selling gardening tools and beautiful plants. I could not help taking a lot of pictures. All the plants are giant here compared to what I see in Vancouver, like palm trees which definitely strive for dry and sunny weather.

In the afternoon, I took a two-hour-walk around the neighbourhood. I wandered off to the side paths which seemed like shortcuts that would connect you to the main streets and which did. Especially as I was walking through a walkway with all dried bushes both sides, I heard a sound and a quick move of the bushes, which gave me a bit of a heart attack. I looked around and remembered people saying that there were snakes and I am NOT fond of snakes so I freaked out a bit and started walking faster and faster, this was followed by another sudden move of the bushes and I saw it this time. It was a lizard (I am pretty sure there is a fancier name for that size of a lizard)! I must tell you, the lizards here are huge, not cute at all. The ones that I am used to require a person needing a magnifier to see them, about 2 inches in length at most and very slim. These ones are about the size of a cat, very scary! I hope I don’t run into them again.

When I was in the garden of our apartment complex, it was around 3pm and I wanted to stay outside and enjoy the weather a bit more so I went by the pool and sat there and almost finished my book.

Happy Mothers’ Day Everyone! Now that I think about it, this is my first mothers’ day away from my kids whom I missed a ton.