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!

Puppy Love

If it was up to the human boys these Afri-canis puppies would move out our yard today. Parents can be such a drag!


The puppies full-heartedly bond with potential foster parents. Mom isn’t much into nursing them anymore anyway, and kicked them out of their nest last night. So guess who were up and about around two am to feed and appease four screaming boys…


Now that the puppies started walking & talking they finally can admire the beautiful sunsets. They would if they weren’t too busy looking for loopholes in the makeshift fencing we put around their territory.

Miss Vanessa Mma Pula

Meet our new neighbour, Miss Vanessa Mma Pula. The first three months she wasn’t allowed out of the house, so now that she is four months she finally can go around for official introductions.


While Vanessa is a sweet little princess with a big smile just like mommy, her two uncles’ claim to fame is being the naughtiest kids ever.

Toddler-sit

Saturday Zach hopped over to spend the morning with us. We had a nice, mellow start, laying on the big bed, eating cheese puffs and watching cartoons. Just what you need to get into the mood for a very active morning: drawing, watering Maud’s herb garden, reading, and, when the sun starts to get hot, making mud, building sand castles, and a wet t-shirt contest. After the water fight got mixed up with the mud project, we were in bad need of a hot, soapy bath, packed with boats and fishes.
When papa returned from hunting and wanted his boy back, we of course were still much too busy. Can’t forgo more puffs, accompanied by Donald Duck, travelling all over Southern Africa in the bakkie, and, most important, learning the names of the game. Meanwhile Maud could shoot all her ballistic questions, so she can move on to the next stage of her gun-studies.

Old Puppies

Since they were born end of last January, Nadia and Moira still deserve the name puppies. Comparing them with other Full Bred Tswana dogs shows what good food, shots, tick-dips and de-worming do for a Canis Africanis.


They Get Big. Bigger then we expected…


While mom The Matriarch hunts insects, they go for bigger game: rats. They would love to hunt down goats and cows also, but they seem to understand that’s an absolute no-no.


Grrrl’s Talk…

Note the ridgeback on Nadia, daughter of the lion hunters!

Independence

Independence Day, September 30, we go for a bush picnic with Sandra, Rory and their three boys. Their Afrika auto takes us to a nice bushy spot surrounded by gorgeous koppies and a gorge.


There even is a tree to give us shade and let the boys practice their Tarzan-qualities. Shade or no shade, it’s so blazing hot we decide to leave the firewood the man assembled during their exploration of the rocks for next time, and just enjoy luxurious loitering.


It’s amazing how tired you get from relaxing!


There was an item on Dutch World Services about youngsters drinking more alcohol then their parents know. Guess you need a Scottish boy to take his booze like a man and boast about it…

Pietje

Saturday before independence Pietje comes down south from Maun up north and stays some days with us. Actually he has to be in Gabs to visit a doctor, but the upside is we get to see him. Since Maud is buried in work the boys go roam the vicinity together.


Sunday we spend with Tears and Andre. There is of course a braai – and a lot of snacks, drinks, and catching up to do.

New Puppies

September 19 The Matriarch Mossadi decided to give birth in our yard. Just what we needed now that we’re too busy to even update this poor blog weekly!


Since mom is very weak, and nobody really wants Full Bred Tswana dogs anyway, we decide to keep only four males. Neighbour Mma Binkie, the official owner of The Matriarch, wants two boys, we want one, and we need a spare one cause these puppies tend to die like flies.


We kept tough ones… They survive their nest being flooded by a broken water pipe, so we build a new crib.


They survive mom biting them so hard in their heads that two boys get big abscesses and have to visit the vet. Try getting antibiotics into puppies screaming their head off twice a day… Or feeding four boys their extra’s without them bathing in their grub… This by the way is Joshua.

Back in Botswana

After a long but smooth trip back we're almost settled in Morwa once again. Planes without delays, all luggage arriving in Joburg together with us, taxi Hassan bringing us to our bakkie, and the car starting immediately - what more can you wish for? We get lost twice driving out of Joburg because of the wrong roadmap, but still manage to shop and reach Morwa in one day.


There we find Bashi, dogs, house and yard in perfect condition. Nadia and Moira are so big for their seven months and a bit! We're only not happy that mother Mossadi is expecting again already - the plan was to get her sterilized before the pack grows too big...


The first day we're busy unpacking, reorganizing our house, bonding with the dogs and hanging out with the neighbours. It feels so good to be back in the warmth and space of Botswana!


The second day we drive into town to get supplies and an internet connection. Then we get very sad news: Maud's father is seriously ill. That of course colours our homecoming, especially over the weekend when things look very bad. So we're simultaneously 'in' the Netherlands and getting back to normal in Morwa.


This really confronts us with living in three worlds, and being in one always means you're not in the others - as the +31, +27 and +267 sms-traffic shows. Over the weekend we spend a lot of time with the neighbours, who really are the best - just like in Leiden!


Sunday morning we decide to do our pancake & ice cream breakfast as promised, with Jeff & Pelo & Zach from across the road, and grandma Joan & granddad John, who're over from the States, LJ & Dineo from the other side of Morwa, and Sandra with her boys Calum, Duncan and Cormac from Gabs.


The breakfast flows into drinks and an afternoon braai across the road. This gets us into shape to attack the mountains of work crying for attention. By Monday the news from the Netherlands is still very serious, but a bit better then over the weekend. Meanwhile the house gets sort of organized, the computers are rigged, the dogs accept us as their caretakers and we start our first office week.


It feels good to see the endless bush again, right up to the far, far away hills, when you look over your screen. And when we sit on our porch in the evening the starry African nights never cease to amaze us.
Botswana numbers
Maud: +26771219954
Bram: +26771219936