by Gretta Stack, of University of Vermont
As we near the end of the semester, I am feeling a mixture of emotions. I can speak for all of us when I say we are so excited to be re-united with our loved ones (including dogs) back in the U.S. But, at the same time, we all feel sad knowing this is our last two weeks together as a group in this beautiful country. It is hard to find the words to sum up the semester. Every day here brings something new and unexpected. The other day on the way to our campsite in Sankoyo, we saw a cheetah running across the road in front of our vehicles. You never know what you are going to see. Even at camp, sometimes elephants come through while we are eating dinner or a herd of impala will run past. Many mornings we have woken up to find hyena tracks right by our tents!
Although I am usually scared of the dark, the nighttime (or early morning) here has become my favorite time of the day. We use our flashlights to scan around us for “eye shine” because you never know what is nearby. You can tell what animal you are seeing by the color and alignment of the eyes. Impala and waterbuck have green “eye shine” and big cats have yellow. Around the fire after dinner or falling to sleep, it is not uncommon to hear elephants playing in the nearby river, lions roaring in the distance, hippos grunting, or hyenas sniffing around camp. One night, I was woken up by the sound of an elephant eating grass and rain trees right outside my tent. It was pulling huge clumps of grass out, making a loud ripping sound. I just lay awake listening to it for about an hour. Another time, it was about 5:30 am and I got out of my tent to get ready for transect. As I stumbled around putting my sandals on, I saw a hyena about 5 meters away from me, right next to our kitchen tent! I was as startled as the hyena and I froze for a moment. When it saw me, it turned to run away into a bluebush. I felt humbled by seeing the hyena so close because I never realized how big they were. They remind me of some kind of animal from Harry Potter. While these experiences in the darkness pushed me out of my comfort zone initially, now these nearby nightly activities have become normal.
Once the sun goes down in the bush, the beautiful stars appear. The sky is vast and you can see the milky way. If you look up to the stars for more than a minute, you will almost always see a shooting star. On two occasions, I saw a meteor dropping through the darkness (it lasted 10 seconds) and I could almost see the fire coming off the back of it. Other nights we observed stars that were flickering or changing colors. The sky is incredibly clear here because there is hardly any light pollution.
Apart from enjoying the incredible wildlife and landscape, this semester, we had the opportunity to become involved in many of the villages we visited. We volunteered at local events or community meetings, we hung out with young kids and attempted to practice our Setswana, and we made close connections with local people and escort guides. I feel so lucky to have been more than a tourist here. Instead of going on safari tours for a week, I was able to really learn about the daily realities of rural Batswana. I’ve learned more during the past 3 months than I have in all my years of college so far. From natural history (learning all kinds of birds, plants, trees, insects, and animals) to learning about Botswana culture (through traditional dance, music, language, food, etc.). I’ve also learned how to get creative in the bush; from experimental cooking to bush ball (a game we invented which vaguely resembles baseball). I also feel grateful for all the instructors and for my group for making the past 3 months a mixture of laughter and goofiness, learning and growth, excitement, and pure happiness. Goodbye, for now, Botswana. I am sure we will all be back some day!