Home Stretch!

I'll have to be brief here, since I'm back to paying for internet in a cafe, but I wanted to update everyone on the last few weeks of my independent study. I went on a couple more trips into the bush: first was a weekend trip to the Chili Project run by the Dept., which cultivates chili peppers (Tabasco kind) to distribute to farmers to protect their fields from elephants. Each of the 3 days I was there we harvested the peppers for 3 hours in the morning, and then... did nothing for the rest of the day. I read a lot, and listened to a lot of Setswana conversations. Worthwhile, I guess, to see the home base of this important project (chilis are considered the only semi-effective means to keep elephants away from crops), but not the most exciting of times.

Then, last Thursday, I joined up with the Parks division for a 5-day trip to Moremi Game Reserve, the prime wildlife-viewing park in the Okavango Delta. I stayed with Banele, a pretty cool 30-some-year old guy who is head of staff for the park's South gate, in the staff housing which has no electricity or phone reception. I didn't get to see much in the way of animals while I was there - mostly baboons who played around the gates, some impala, and a couple hippos at the river - but I did get to accompany the staff to pull a tourist's truck out of the mud and fix a bridge. Most of the time, though, I was stuck in the office along with most of the staff, because there are virtually ZERO vehicles available to the park staff. There are supposed to be 2 or 3, but they're generally broken, in Maun, or out of fuel. It's a ridiculous situation, which I'll be writing to the Botswana government about (along with many other management problems) when I get home.

In between all this I've been working on some reports, since the end of the semester is next week. Crazy, to be almost done studying abroad, and so close to leaving Botswana.

Yesterday was a very happy day, as 4 of my friends from the program who have been in Gabs came up to visit. it was the first time I've seen any of them in 5 weeks, and boy was I in need of some English-speaking American company! Mma Moruti is out of town for the week, so they crashed at my flat (shh... don't tell), and tomorrow we're going back to Moremi, on a real safari this time! Yay, finally I get to relax and have some fun. Then, on Thursday-ish, it's back to Gabs to wrap things up!