Road Trip!

This weekend we ventured outside of the city for the first time. We set out for Khama Rhino Sanctuary (KRS) in Serowe, a 3 1/2 hour drive from Gaborone. We rented a chalet for Friday night, and then went on a 6:00 a.m. game drive Saturday morning. We had been warned by the Embassy about driving outside the city after dark. This is because people here are poorly trained to drive. This is especially problematic on the weekends, because drinking and driving is very common, and most especially on the last weekend of the month, because the last Friday of the month is payday. We set out early to avoid this situation, but let's just say it did not go well. Our 3 1/2 hour drive turned into an almost 6 hour drive, and so we found ourselves breaking all three Embassy guidelines - driving outside of the city after dark, on the weekend - the last weekend of the month. AND, we did not know where we were going. Ted and I were - well - tense, and the kids were crammed into the back seat of the Corolla, antagonizing each other for something to do. (Eden wants me to add here that Ted and I were arguing like this: Turn the light on! No, turn the light off! No, turn the light on! and so forth). So, after what was quite possibly the most unpleasant family drive we have ever had, we arrived successfully at KRS. I think we are (now) all in agreement that it was worth it.

KRS is a fantastic place. It was established in 1989 to reintroduce white rhinos to Botswana. They started with about 4, and now have 36, so the breeding is very successful. They also now have 3 black rhinos, which are much more endangered. They have 4300 hectares of land, and have many other animal species as well. The rhinos have veterinary care and protection, while Mother Nature is left in charge of the rest of the animal species.

Eden wants to point out that our game drive ranger was a woman - the first woman ranger we have had. She is very happy about this. We saw 7 or 8 rhino, one of which we all agreed was as big as an elephant - just this massive creature that ran right in front of our jeep. The rest seemed to be more "normal" rhino size. We saw several other interesting animals: giraffe, zebra, gemsbok (a.k.a. oryx), eland (the biggest antelope in Southern Africa, and something Ted ate for dinner when we were in MalaMala), steenbok, springbok, kudu, wildebeest, duiker. Eden got to see the kudu very close up, as it wandered into a clearing near the restaurant while we were eating breakfast. She walked with one of the employees up close to take some pictures. Below is a sampling of the photos Ted took.

These are 3 juvenile male white rhinos (with a fourth one right behind the one in the middle). This was a group that we were able to get quite close to, and they let us watch them for several minutes before they went on their way.

Black rhinos are much more rare, and they have only 3 in park; we did not find them.

More rhino pictures....

We saw probably a dozen zebra. The birds in the background are either guinea fowl or crested francolins.

One of two giraffes we saw. (Carla - this one is for you and Nicholas)

A wildebeest. We drove through a whole herd of them. Not a mad stampeding herd like on Lion King though; they were just kinda' standing around watching us.

A sad footnote. A big area of the park was scorched - the ranger said the fire had just occurred within the past week. She said that the fire was started by a lady who was cutting brush at the side of the road - not in the park itself (people here are hired by the government to do this job, and they do it by hand with this little sithe-like instrument). I am not clear why she started the fire, but it got out of hand and swept through a big chunk of sanctuary land. (The only animals killed were some steenbok.) The woman was arrested, and was facing two years in prison. She committed suicide instead.