Around the Pool

On the third day of Christmas we go to town to check our mail and loiter around Jem’s pool. While the owner of the pool is freezing his ass of in the UK, we welcome a chance to cool down during the heat of the day.


Jem not only has a pool, but also an off the road bike, which of course has to be tested by all the boys. Now that Tom has discovered the function of the throttle, Thusi might be forced into some real racing…


Zach looks like he is planning some Fong Kong movie stunts instead of on the road rounds with Jeff…


Our off the road Hilux inspires the two terrible two’s to reliving some of their bush experiences. According to Zach they only saw giraffe, impala and kudu yesterday, but since they have little time left until they must be sweet, responsible, serious three year olds, they just have to be something wild.

Everyone: thanks for all the fabulous Xmas mails we got!

Turning the Age

December 25, 2008 - much like last year we sat most of the day in the shade provided by a tree and enjoyed wonderful food. Around Christmas, eating well is a worldwide tradition in all countries where European missionaries paved the way.


Our neighbours across the road had an additional reason for a feast: mom, grandmother and great grandma turned 80 years old. Next to all the children and (great)grandchildren they invited everyone who lives along ‘our street’; the red sand-road that leads from the tar-road to the top of the first hill.


We hardly see Mme Mathilde Maembolwa in her yard, as she has difficulty walking.
Her son Emanuel (left), who is building the house for his family next to her, is only around about once a month, as he has a management job with the big Orapa Diamond Mine 600 kilometres from here. We like him a lot, as he has welcomed us from the very beginning and is a really hardworking character.


The sister to Mme Mathilda is our next door neighbour Mma Binkie. Adding to the (universal) intrigue is that these two sisters have apparently had a falling out years ago, so we were told in 2006, so they do not talk anymore.


But true to an African tradition we remember from Ghana, it must have been deemed appropriate to patch any differences, as both ladies now held a speech and thanked all for the chance to have this reconciliation.


It was a wonderful opportunity for us to meet all the other neighbours also, from the very young to the very old.


Two of the factual bosses in our neighbourhood.


Bram could make a few great family group-portraits (he always does the same in Wilsum, Vierhouten and Zeeland in the EU-summer), and a few sneak shots for his own personal pleasure.


Since Xmas we have Emanuel’s daughter Maatla Cindy and other kids (including their ‘English’ dog) over all the time to make drawings, watch video’s, play cards and eat sweets - this is Africa.

WWS: Ghanzi

For our Christmas-leave diary we’ll revive our series Where We Sleep, starting with Ghanzi. We camp two nights at Thakadu (Aardvark). This game park is so successful with the normally very shy eland – the biggest antelope in Africa - that they walk around your tent from sundown till sunup. Nothing better to start a holiday then swinging in your hammock while hearing barking geckos and freckled nightjars, and seeing eland and bats move around.
Being in the neighbourhood means a visit to Ghanzi Crafts to admire the always renewed collection – and buy a thing or two, three… Especially the Ostrich-shell jewellery the San make is so beautiful!
It also means seeing Birthe, who runs the crafts-project. She lives on Maud’s dream-plot:10 hectare with a house on it in the game park. How’s that for enough room for dogs, cats, horses, vegetables…

WWS: Tsodillo

Our second stop is Tsodilo Hills, the holy place where everything living is created. Including the scorpion that stings Maud when she is struggling with wettish firewood to keep the cooking fire going in the rain.
When we were here ten years ago it took about five hours to reach the hills via a deep-sand dirt road. Now it’s only thirty minutes to Tsodilo village, and then a few slow k’s through mud or sand to the hills.


The main tourist- and archaeologist-attraction are the over 3500 San rock-paintings from 800 till 1300 AC, scattered over the four hills this world heritage site contains. Our guide takes us around the Male and the Female hill, telling many stories connected to the paintings. He is the same man Bram met eleven years ago. Together with his sister-in-law and her baby-boy (pictured on one of Bram’s postcards) he waited the whole day until Bram’s then tourists Joost & Christa returned from the hills, hoping to sell them some San-crafts.

Dog-Blog

Now that Mma Binkie and Bashi took their puppy, and the mother bitch moved back next door, we’re left with our nuclear family: Moira & Nadia from January 2008, and Louis & Lisa from last September. They weren’t overjoyed when we returned from our Xmas leave, but their grumpiness soon vanished…


Siesta on the deck with Louis & Moira


Siesta inside with Moira & Louis


Siesta with Nadia & Lisa – travelling sure is tiring! It’s a pity we didn’t buy a king-size bed. Watching after-dinner movies all six together is already a tight fit, and judging by their longs legs the little ones plan a lot of growing.

Holidays

Coming Friday, December 12, we leave for our X-mass Holidays. If we stick to the plan - if - we'll hardly leave Botswana this time. We set out for Ghanzi with Hamish, Mpho, and two 4x4's packed with camping & fishing gear. After Ghanzi we all drive up north to Tsodillo Hills, Shakawe and Popa falls, so we'll have a day or two in Namibia. On our way back we'll spend some time with Piet, Klaas and Tuto in Maun. Christmas eve we hope to be back home in Morwa.

Hanging Out

It's amazing how fast the days pass by with work, socializing, dogs, house & yard, and so on! Somehow updating you all about it is hard to fit in...


We spend a whole Saturday hanging around the Arts & Crafts market (a yearly event to get funds for the Botswana Society for the Protection of Animals), and loitering at Sandra & Rory, who live next door to this event.


Another highlight was LJ's 76th birthday, which we celebrated last Saturday with pancakes on our deck. LJ planned to go back to the States this Christmas, but with the present recession it seems better to stay in Botswana for the time being.


Sunday we had a nice afternoon on our deck with Bert & Sophia, who we just met at a Dutch do. Bert and Maud must at least have seen each other way back when they were enjoying Dutch nightlife in downtown Leiden.

Doggies

Our doggie collection is now down to two big puppies (born last January) and three small nippers (from September 19). Mom and the fourth nipper have moved back into the neighbour's yard.


One of the puppies managed to change from boy into girl overnight, so we'll have to keep her because nobody wants bitches. We already decided to keep D (for David or Dammit) Louis. As small as he is the third puppy already secured a job. Bashi will raise him as a chicken protector for his mom's poultry at the lands.

Stones

We finally seem to be able to secure the plot behind the house we rent now. Finalizing all the paperwork will still take time, so we can't really start building our house yet. But there are some things we can or even have to do now. For starters it has to be fenced properly before the surveyor can do his job. So our morning exercises nowadays are collecting stones in the bushy hills nearby - about 160 meters of fencing requires a lot of rock! For mind exercises we draw. After the holidays the garden should be realised on paper, and the last unfinished details of our paper house will be filled in together with Paul. If all goes well we can start the real foundation in February...

Morwa

People keep wondering why we live in Morwa, where the hell is Morwa, jessis, that’s in the bush! (It's not our washing, but you see our house in the background.)
Because endless bush makes a beautiful view, and stop-nonsense walls don’t. Because traffic consisting of goats, cows, dogs and people on foot is nicer then cars, cars, cars. We don’t like the baboons and vervet monkeys that ransack the yards, but even they are better then motor vehicles. Because a village is a community, and a city consists of isolated households.


By now we’ve had our first real rains, with thunder, lightning, and a lot of water. Last Saturday Zach and Jeff took Maud for a walk to the rock plateau close by to admire the fresh puddles. When we stepped out of the bush on the rocks we saw kudus! Maud always thought these stories about game like kudus living in the bush right behind our yard are make-believe… Now she wants to track down the klipspringer, hyena and warthog also.


First rains mean planting. By now the beans are popping out of the red earth already, and the basil and parsley looks promising. Maud’s mom gave us some seeds labelled as ‘exotic vegetables’ in the Netherlands. They’re planted now and we can’t wait to see what pops out!


Benni from next door in front of his English medium school. If you take the shortcut over the hill it's a 10 minutes walk.

Yacht Club

Botswana lacks a Dutch embassy, so we have to use the Zimbabwe branch. When the new second man from Harare is visiting Gaborone, the Dutch people who are based in Botswana are invited to a ‘meet & greet’ do at the Gaborone Yacht Club.
Next to having a nice time with the other Lowlanders this happening is a discovery for us. It’s a really beautiful spot, this Yacht Club, situated on a small peninsula in the Gaborone Dam. The magnificent views over all this water everywhere around you – we understand now why it is the new Dutch Friday evening hangout.

Grub

We got through our first puppy-caretakers exam: the vet said they’re nice, healthy, well socialized puppies when we brought them in for their first shots and de-worming.


We knew already they’ve got healthy appetites. It’s amazing how much food disappears into these tiny bodies!

Gabs game

Yet another expotition: breakfast in the Gaborone Game Reserve. First we drive around a bit to see the impala, kudu, wildebeest, hartebeest, ostrich, warthog, zebra, and loads of monkeys. When it started, Gabs Game reserve was well out of town, but by now the suburbs have reached its borders, and with all the people comes the sewer-system. “I need an air-freshener”, says our Phakalane-boy Max when we reach what from a distance looked like a beautiful green area with ponds and plenty of birds...


Nothing like plenty of blue-balled monkeys to inspire the boys to find a nice picnic-spot!

Lawyers

Finally a post about work: The role of Customary Law in the 21st Century: African Customary Law Revisited. This international conference, organised by the American Leitner Center, was held at the University of Botswana.


Thanks to Bram’s friend John Berger from the Cambridge University Press in the US we got an order for several conference-products, like notepads, the program, and pull-up banners.


Finalizing the production of all that requires of course that we join the lawyers for lunch and dinner at their luxury hotel.

Rhinos

Our favourite office, the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, also needed some work done – yes, making this picture is part of hours of hard work in the blazing sun! How grateful Bram is for these models.


The official opening of the sanctuary’s restaurant, donated by de US African Development Foundation, turns out to be a big do. The Chief Game Warden shot two impalas and a wildebeest, and around that game Chef Tendah created a beautiful buffet.


Our main job is to take pictures and video of all the dignitaries: the chiefs of the surrounding communities who take part in the sanctuary, the board, the new American ambassador, the minister of Environment and Wildlife, and our president’s younger brother.


The speeches are fortunately intermingled with dancing school kids from the communities and the Rhino Choir. Come see our video when we are back in Europe.


Before we pitch our tent there’s a game drive to show the big brass the rhino’s really breed like rats here. Rhino’s we’ve seen enough, but we get lucky and meet a nice herd of giraffe. Before we rush back to our puppies the next morning we stop at the Chef’s house in the nearby village Serowe for a delicious breakfast. Botswana is so scarcely populated it’s hard not to know people when you work on location…

Expotition

Sunday it’s time for another expotition & picnic. Sandra & Rory have tried to find ‘the cave near Rasesa’ twice already, so we have high hopes we’ll reach it this time.


The first part is easy: fit five adults, four kids and supplies in a 4x4, and head towards the hill. When our old Hilux can’t work its way through the thorny bush anymore we start walking. After we hit the foot of the hill the going gets easier: less prickly bushes, just some rocks to climb. It’s great exercise, kid-pushing, kid-pulling, while making your way to the top!


On our way up we do find some small caves that are big enough for the boys to be exiting. All the way to the top is a bit optimistic, but we get to a point with a great view down and up. We think we spot our goal, conclude we’ve started our climb at the wrong point, and add actually entering the cave to our list of future expotitions.


For now it’s enough to rest, enjoy the view, and think about the picnic lunch and cold beers waiting for us if we make it down to the car.
Making it down is doable, even if you have to carry a by now tired kid. But finding the car in the thicket can turn into another expotition… Lucky us, we’ve brought cheesy pancakes & garlic bread, so if we really get lost we’ll just follow our noses.


We made it!