By Eda Reed (Colby College)
Previously on the blog: traveling from Khwai to Kasane proved harder than we thought, but Uncle Duke, Hardy Sue, and Francolin (our vehicles) managed to make it through. This blog continues with our spring break adventures.
International Jet-setting and Luxury Accommodations
Our unintentional stopover left us at Baobab Lodge an hour and a half outside of Kasane, and also resulted in our first night not in a tent in months! Two of the camp staff members graciously let us occupy their tented rooms, and we slept like sardines in our sleeping bags on the floor. The next morning we woke up to a wonderful sight: Namibia! We were less than a kilometer from the Ngoma border gate, so of course we made a quick trip to Namibia before successfully completing our trip to Kasane.
Here in Kasane we’re staying at the four star Chobe Safari Lodge…well in the campground adjacent to the lodge. With hot showers and flushing toilets the campground seems like four star luxury to us, so we’re not complaining! On Tuesday we added Zambia and Zimbabwe to our list of visited countries when we went to Victoria Falls. We didn’t exactly ‘jet’ over there, as it took a car ride, a ferry boat, a taxi trip, and a hike to make it. The falls were amazing.
Yacht Cruise at Sunset
So perhaps it wasn’t a yacht, but it was a phenomenal boat trip on the Chobe River right before sunset. We saw multiple new bird species, including a Giant Kingfisher and a Purple Heron, and some Puku antelope that can only be found in this area of Botswana. We watched as the sun set over Namibia, and reminisced back to our first boat trip at on the Thamalakane River in Maun.
VIP Flora and Fauna Showcase: Botswana’s Deadliest
On Saturday we had an exciting trip to a local biodiversity rehabilitation center, where we went on the ‘premier’ tour of the facilities. This meant we got to hold the snakes! The center had all types of snakes ranging from deadly Black Mambas to more friendly Tiger Snakes. Although we had selected the VIP tour, the poisonous snakes were off limits to us, but we still held a python.
Other residents of the biodiversity center included a goofy aardvark, some personable banded mongoose, a common warthog, two leopard tortoises, barn owls, and many others. We were all tempted to bring home pets, but knew they wouldn’t fit in our suitcases.
Holding snakes at the biodiversity center. Some of us were more excited than others…
Petting an aardvark! This particular aardvark was rescued by the biodiversity center after being attacked by dogs, and we fell in love with his funny quirks.
Fine Dining in the City
Saturday night we went out to dinner at “Pizza, Curry, Coffee, & More,” which definitely lived up to its name: you could get pretty much any type of food you wanted there. All of the food was great, and we appreciated the switch from our normal pap, pasta, and rice rotation. Some of us even had ice cream after dinner to conclude our big night out on the town.
As our spring break winds down, we’re all getting excited to be back in the field. We have just one more stint in the bush before we have to head back to Maun for exams and final projects, and we plan to make the most of it!
Top photo: Hailey and Maya at Victoria Falls (the actual falls are behind the bridge)