Fun With Hippos

Here is the latest email from Michaela in Botswana. She went to Zimbabwe...I'm so jealous.


So for easter I went up to Kasanye with Bantsi (my roommate), Pipi, and Max (her two best friends). The drive is about 12 hours on experimental roads (ie lots of potholes) so we left thursday night driving through to the morning. Although I slept most of the way I was up for the sunrise and saw giraffes, elephants and tons of ginnefowl on the road. A quick little fact: Botswana has the highest population of elephants in Africa and they have become such a problem that they have started exporting them to other countries!! The drive up there is an experience in itself, first are the villages, which are not much more than a gas station with a take away shop, a small grocer of sorts, traditional houses and of course donkeys just hanging out on the road. Second is the land, which is so vast and flat that all you see are bushes and small trees for miles and miles ( and of course elephants if your lucky). Then are the constant road blocks that are set up along the way, there are two types; first the police who stop the cars and check on the drivers licenses (or just stand there and wave you through depending on.....I don't know what!) and the the foot and month barriers created to stop the spread of the disease between the wildlife and cattle. At these stops you get out of your car, dip all your shoes in a disinfecting solution and then drive your car through the same solution, it was a bit strange the first time i did it but like anything else you get used to it.

We ended up staying at max's moms place which is really nice because all accommodation up there is quite expensive...no budget motels only nice hotels along the river. On friday we went on a boat cruise along the chobe river, it was beautiful we were able to see more elephants, crocodiles, hippos and monkeys. Saturday we went into zimbabwe...Kasanye is situated close the the borders where botswana, zimbabwe, zambia and Namibia meet. After parting with way to much money at the border ( you have to pay for your car...then a road toll fee...then you have to buy insurance to drive on them....and of course my US$65 visa) we drove into the country. We spent some time along the Zambezi river and could feel the spray on our faces and then the goal was to see the falls. unfortunately that didn't happen its a long story and of course the amount you had to pay was ridiculous (i was a bit disappointed but what are you going to do....). So instead our trip allowed us to see the local life. We met this guy who at first was trying to sell us souvenirs and ended up showing us around, getting us a good exchange rate and taking us to the local places to get meat and drinks (ie a whole lot cheaper). He then found us a braai to cook the meat on ( behind the supermarket??!!?) and showed us to a nice park, where we enjoyed our afternoon, with some friendly warthogs. One thing that is really nice traveling with these guys is that are able to meet lots of the locals and we can therefore get away from all the tourist spots and see how people really live, for me its a better experience and I feel very lucky to get that opportunity.

so that was pretty much the trip..back at home we have been having a great time with my favorite little friends ( the cockroaches). We ended up getting our flat fumigated on thursday as they were just getting to bad. I can deal with a little.... but when everytime you pick up something in the kitchen you get cockroaches scurrying away from underneath it you just can't ignore it anymore. so we came home to dead cockroaches everywhere, it was just lovely..... had a really fun time cleaning them all out of the cupboards and off the floor. At first we were still finding ones alive, just bigger and i was scared we were going to start breeding superbugs, however they seem to keep dying off and i find new ones dead on the floor every morning...its quite satisfying.