From Lions and Leopards to Hyenas and Hippos.... and all the African Beauties in Between
In all honesty, before Anna
informed me about her choice to study abroad at UB, if I were to have heard the
word, “Botswana” my first thought would have been, “What the hell is that?” Not
even, “Where the hell is that?” I was completely unaware that Bots was even a
country because I lacked any geographical knowledge relevant to Africa before I
started researching UB. After discovering that Bots was a landlocked country in
sub-Saharan Africa, I expected that there’d be some dope ass wildlife to check
out whilst there. Northern Botswana blew those expectations to smithereens in
the best way imaginable.
In the middle of the first
semester, UB students are granted a weeklong break; most local UB students
visit their hometowns. I, and about 20 other international students, had the
fervent desire to experience the stunning scenery and wonderful wildlife of
Northern Botswana. Weeks prior to this break, the international students
planned to take the trip up north with the help of two local students that were
willing to organize guides, cooks, and transportation. Our group comprised
students from all over the world including Finland, Norway, Germany, Botswana,
Canada, Sweden, and of course, the U.S.
I began this journey with several
other international students early Saturday morning. Together, we boarded an
old, non-air-conditioned bus headed from Gaborone 550 miles north to the town
of Maun. Although the bus ride was long, hot, sweaty, and involved standing so
that the elders could sit in our seats, we saw vast lands of nothingness that
seemed to stretch infinitely in all directions throughout the Kalahari desert.
Plus, for a good portion of the bus ride, a local UB student headed home for
the break shared the boxed wine she smuggled onto the bus, making the
experience a bit more tolerable.
After traveling for the better half
of the day, we finally arrived in Maun. Maun is the gateway to the Okavango Delta,
which is where the water of the Okavango River flows. What is unique about this
delta is that the water in the Okavango does not flow into any sea or ocean; it
either feeds the plants or evaporates. The wildlife in the Okavango is delightfully
diverse with some of the highlights in this area including elephants, rhinos,
hippos, zebras, cheetahs, hyenas, lions, crocodiles, and my personal favorite,
the wild dogs. However, prior to getting down in the delta, we saw it fit to
celebrate our arrival in northern Bots by getting faded in the only club that
Maun has to offer.
After establishing what tents each
of us would be sleeping in, and with whom we’d share those tents, we ate an
excellent dinner cooked up by our guides, saw a hippopotamus, and then
headed into town by way of open-sided safari truck. We rolled deep in our two
car convoy to the club and shocked the local crowd by audaciously engaging in
inebriated acts that would never cut it as actual dancing anywhere outside of
our circle. The Maun locals welcomed us in and enjoyed our company but towards
the end of the night, I felt the need to tactfully ward off lascivious old men
that were a bit overly interested in the female half of our crowd.
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| Zebras in the Okavango |
Although slightly hung-over and
sleep deprived, I woke up the next morning eager to experience the infamous
Okavango Delta. I felt blessed as a local Motswana navigated us through the
delta in his mokoro. Mokoros are the traditional boats used by Batswana that
sort of resemble canoes except that mokoros are less concave and are navigated
by an individual that stands while paddling rather than sits. A Canadian classmate and I basked in
the beauty of the Okavango as we laid back in the mokoro and spotted wild zebras
and elephants. I was so excited to be amidst the amazing African wildlife.
Little did I know I would be encountering far more wild animals than I could
have ever imagined.
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| A Local Guide in his Mokoro
After two nights in Maun, our group
of 20 international students crammed ourselves into the safari trucks so that
we could make our way into the Moremi game reserve. It took us about four hours
to get to the Moremi campsite from Maun. It was a well-planned pilgrimage as every
time we got to a new area, which was literally every day, our campsite was
already waiting for us. Four men accompanied our two guides, and their
responsibility was to set up our campsites and cook food. I felt so spoiled. As
we drank beers around a campfire late at night, we would hear hippos splashing
in the rivers nearby and lions roar as they prowled the savannah just before
dawn. This romantic setting is what incited the relationship between Amy and
me. During my first night in Moremi, as Amy and I sat next to one another
listening to the contentious conversations had between the students who were in
Bots to save Africa, I nervously asked if she’d become my tent mate for the
remainder of the safari. I was stoked when she giggled and nodded her head. The
arrangement was set and from that day forward up until the end of the first
semester, Amy was my girlfriend.
Before even seeing our campsite in
Moremi, or eating dinner that first night, our guides got word that some lions in the
park had recently took down a wildebeest. Naturally, as our guides wanted us to
witness all aspects of African nature, they raced through the reserve as the
sun was falling. Luckily, we made it in time to get an up close view as the lions
feasted on their freshly killed prey. It was intense. The male lion’s growl reverberated throughout the savannah as he fended off the females so that he could get the, “Lion’s share” of the
wildebeest.
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By the time we made our journey from the Moremi Game Reserve to Chobe National Park, I was under the impression that there would be no way to better the adventure in terms of wildlife or landscape. But I had yet to experience the Chobe river! After another long journey through narrow dirt roads intertwined in the African bush filled with sightings of hyenas, wild dogs, giraffes, and a shit ton of elephants, we arrived in Chobe. The main differences between the two areas, Moremi and Chobe, is that there were more lions in Moremi but Chobe had more water and a plethora of elephants. Seriously, after my first night in Chobe, I became blasé as I impatiently waited for the elephants to cross the path in front of us so that we could continue driving.
*Below are pics of the wild dogs and our living quarters throughout the 9-day adventure.
For me, the most memorable part of the adventure before arriving in Zambia, was the Chobe River. Across the water, one could see Namibia, and within the water, one could see crocodiles less than 10 meters from a mama elephant accompanying her newborn. I was truly blessed as we navigated throughout the river having our boat rammed by hippos and close encounters with animals that would delude one into believing that they'd stepped into Jurassic Park. It's crazy to think that only a day later, I saw a baboon steal a woman's purse, went bungee jumping on the Zambian side of Victoria falls, and watched a dude experience some serious police brutality after robbing me of $7... Living life :)
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