So another month has come and gone. It has been quite a busy and kinda hectic month. Mishell's boss Dr. Kathleen Alexander, the President of CARACAL, flew over from the states. She is a professor at Virginia Tech and has been working here with us while on a winter break from the university. She is here only the month of December, before heading back to the U.S. for another 6 months. So, this last month has been an overload of information, tasks, responsibilities, training, this-that-and-the-other, and well lots of chaos....
Not much has really happened recently. The rain really traps us from doing to much. Well, not having our own transportation is a big factor as well. I need to do a comparison with the rainfall totals from here and the states. We are now in the middle of the height of the rainy season and the flooding of the flood plain really hasn't happened yet, but all the pans are very full of water. The mosquitoes are really not tooo bad, yet anyway. And we really don't venture out at night, so that has been a little of a relief, I thought that the mosquitoes were going to be pure hell... The flies are worse... I am so sick of the flies. It is enough to drive one mad. Especially when you blink and you catch one with your eye lid and lashes. grrrrrrr
Today (Friday the 19th) is the last day at the lab for two weeks, a Christmas break I guess you can say. Mishell and I are taking full advantage of the time off to go explore more of Botswana. Sunday morning we are getting up before dawn to get into Kasane and jump in a Combi (It is a minivan that is like a transit bus for locals). We are going on a long road journey to Maun. This is the main tourist destination to the Okavango Delta, a incredibly large wetlands. We will be traveling all over the area. I have left the planning of our adventure up to Mishell to map out, so I am excited to see what is in store. We are looking forward to our time in Maun, since it is a larger city than Kasane and has a lot more to offer. We are desperate for something different to eat. We plan on coming back in a week or so and if there is enough time, we would like to go to Zambia and head up to Livingston to view Victoria Falls from the other side. We have heard that Livingston is a hopping town and even more alive that the town of Victoria Falls. That isn't hard to believe with the hardships that Zimbabwe is having with their current tyrant of a President. So the next two weeks is all about exploring and FOOD....
I have taken on the task of restoring the garden at the Snake Park. It has gone quite astray and hasn't been kept up in quite awhile. Since there are several species that need fresh produce (even us), I have been breaking my back working on removing all the African grass and hoeing the soil to get ready for a mass planting of a variety of produce. It will be nice to eat a fresh salad from the garden in a few months and I am sure the tortoises will be just as grateful. That is if I can fend off all the bugs, bees, birds and other creatures that will want the fresh veggies as well. All of the mango and papaya were stolen from the vine a few weeks ago by the damn baboon. Not even ripe yet, they would sneak in very early in the morning and raid the small orchard. Electric fence my ass.... Now that there is no more fruit the baboon are no where to be seen.... Which is fine by us.
|
