By Ben Borgmann-Winter (Middlebury College)
April 2, 2017
This week brought a welcome respite from the bush. On Thursday March 30th we piled into our vehicles and made the ten-hour, pothole-ridden trek north from Maun to Kasane. Highlights included fried chicken at a gas station, driving through a kilometer-long puddle, and plenty of Redbull.
Our time in Kasane itself was full of adventures. The day after we arrived we visited the Center for Biological Diversity, a wildlife rehabilitation and education center on the outskirts of town. Students had the opportunity to see and hold a number of wildlife species, including a massive Southern African python and a very friendly Lesser bushbaby—so friendly, in fact, that it crawled straight into John Potenberg’s shirt to relieve itself.
A Bushbaby makes itself at home inside of John Potenberg’s shirt. Photograph by Tilly Ingall.
April 2nd found us in Zambia, as we visited Livingstone and Victoria Falls—think Niagra Falls, but bigger, tropical, and populated with thieving baboons. We hiked a number of trails in the area, stumbling through billowing clouds of mist and catching the occasional glimpse of the falls. Of particular interest was a hike we took to a pool below the falls, called the Boiling Pot. Local Tonga legend has it that the serpent god Nyaminyami inhabits the depths of the pool, controlling the flow of the river.
Rainbows in the mist pouring off of Victoria Falls, Zambia. Photograph by Ben Borgmann-Winter.
The rest of our time in Kasane passed quickly. There were plenty of market stalls lining the streets of the town, selling everything from wooden carvings to dried fish. Kasane had plenty of restaurants as well, and we made the most of the opportunity to take a break from camp cooking. Several members of the group also went for an early morning fishing trip on Monday the 3rd, although we caught more weeds and branches than we did fish.
Hank Dodge catches either a monster fish or a pile of weeds—you be the judge. Photograph by John Potenberg.
In the coming days we’ll be back in Maun and then on our way to Sankuyo shortly thereafter for our last trip out into the bush. Our time in Botswana has flown by like you wouldn’t believe—here’s to a great final few weeks.