By Emma Rosenfield (Colby College)
Our last campsite in Khwai was called Banoka, a Wilderness Safaris camp, where we got to set up our tents in the staff quarters. Here is the Banoka Anagram:
B– is for Braai/Boma. On the last night in Banoka, the staff very generously prepared a barbeque for us. We all got clean and dressed up for the special occasion.
Ready for the braai!
A– is for Animals of the week. Concession NG 18 in Khwai has many Reedbuck, Red Lechwe and Impala. One group got to see 2 adult male lions, who strolled about 2 meters from the car. Another group got to see African wild dogs chase a zebra, and then get chased by the zebra!
N– is for Newcomb… actually it was Volleyball. We played a game with the Wilderness staff and our Escort Guides. It was so much fun to move around as we attempted to keep up with their skills.
O– is for One fence. We took great amusement in that our tents were set up in the staff quarters, which were fenced in for safety reasons.
The NG18 gang at Banoka
K– is for Kasane! It is a town and our next destination in the Northeast corner of Botswana. We affectionately refer to this as our upcoming Spring Break!
A– is for Adventure! Boy oh boy did we have an adventure driving to Kasane. We left on Saturday April 11 for the wettest drive of our lives.
It started with an early wake-up for the 6-8 hour drive from Khwai to Kasane, through Chobe National Park. We surprised ourselves when we actually left on time: 8 am. The drive would take us south before heading north and east, and we had to pass through Chobe National Park twice (through 4 gates). By 11am we had passed through the first gate. Several kilometers into the drive we started going through some puddles. This was nothing new. All of the rain from the previous week and a half had created many puddles in the road, and our cars had handled it. When we stopped for lunch a couple hours later, we joked about how our Land Cruiser had been “swimming.” Little did we know…
After lunch, we came across a pond in the road. A rental car with 2 tourists had tried to avoid it and ended up stuck in the mud. We made it safely through the “pond,” (see above photo) and the instructors spent the next hour helping out the tourists. It would have taken a whole lot longer if the monster army truck hadn’t come along. We all cheered as they towed them out! Again, we joked about how silly the tourists were in avoiding the center of the puddle which was much better than the side. Little did we know…
Our struggles began with the Land Cruiser. The spark plugs were wet, but more importantly, the clutch decided to have issues mid-puddle. Ironically some other tourists towed us out of the puddle, but not before Hailey, Lindsay, and Genifer got out of the car and attempt to push Francolin. When Francolin got stuck again, one of our other trucks ended up towing the Cruiser. This was fairly successful for 100 meters, until the truck went to the side of one puddle and didn’t have the power to take the Cruiser up over the edge. Luckily, we had already met the monster army truck men, so they ended up towing the Cruiser. When Sixteen opened its door, it looked like water was going into the car. Little did we know…
We are in a caravan of our trucks and the army guys towing the Cruiser. We go through a small pond and a hill, but the next one is not as successful. Bekah follows the other cars through the middle of the puddle. As we hit the lowest point and begin to move upwards, we can’t seem to make ground and the tail end sinks back into the hole. Bekah honks to get the other cars’ attention. Meanwhile, Maya and I are trying to save our bags and electronics as water starts flooding in! By the time the army guys come back to tow us, we are sitting in puddles. When we are finally out, the truck is having battery problems, but she finally gets going. Little did we know…
The other two vehicles took off to make headway (we still hit the 2nd gate and we needed to go through 2 more), while the Cruiser was towed through the puddles (after the tow rope broke several times). After some engine drying, we finally managed to have all 3 vehicles together and functioning. We had gone through the 2nd gate, but it was too late to pass through the others because they were closed. We did not reach Kasane that night, but we were able to stay at a tourist camp in the park instead.
Stay tuned for more soon!