Tuli Block

Recently, it was mid-term break for the girls ('Spring Break', except its not Spring here). In our ongoing effort to see as much of this country as we can before we leave, we took a road trip to the Tuli Block region of Botswana. We chose Tuli Block for a couple of reasons.

1. It is at the eastern most point of Botswana, right at the tip where Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa meet. This is along the Limpopo River, and it is geologically different than the desert-like conditions of most of the rest of Botswana. We thought it would be pretty and interesting.


2. The real reason: It gave Ted an excuse to rent a massive 4x4 diesel truck for the trip. The 6 hour road trip to get there includes very rural and rocky terraine that Ted insisted required the use of the crew cab Toyota Hilux pictured below. It actually was more of a necessity than we knew - the Corolla simply would not have made it. The last 50 kilometers of our trip were on some very challenging, axel-breaking rocky dirt roads and included a washed-out bridge that required us to literally drive through a river. Ted was in heaven.

We stayed at the Mashatu lodge (http://www.mashatu.com/). Much like other lodges, it includes a morning drive to seek out wildlife and an afternoon/evening drive. A drawing point, though, was that the lodge also houses scientific researchers. Three scientists are currently there, studying wild dog re-introduction, lions/leopards, and elephant populations. To raise money to fund their research, you can hire them to ride along with your drive and explain their research.

The elephant research is lead by Jeanetta Selier. She has been at Mashatu for more than ten years and is studying elephant population management. Her work counters the prevailing choice to cull (kill) elephants when their populations seem too high. She is attempting to document that the elephants have the ability to monitor and control their own populations.

We spent a morning with her and learned more about elephants and the intricate social interactions of their daily lives. The video below captures a moment when a juvenile bull thought we were a little too close.

We also saw giraffe.

We spent an afternoon and early evening with Andre (we didn't get his last name) who is researching the terrritorial tendencies of lions and leopards. He has several lions and leopards fitted with radio collars. He taught us how he uses his equipment to track them. In the video below, Eden is trying her hand at it as we track a male leopard:

We were on the trail of a leopard named "Skebangwa" (which means 'fearsome'). By dusk, we finally caught up with him, although he was cleverly evasive and we were always looking at him through trees or tall brush. (no pictures turned out - too dark) We first found him jumping out of a shephere tree where he had been feeding on a baby impala he hid there. He had a severe eye wound (from being scratched by a female, according to Andre), and Andre noted that it was getting worse each time he finds this leopard. When we got back to the lodge he showed the girls lots of photos he has taken of this leopard over time, including the progression of the wound. Despite their ability to do so, they do not interfere in the lives of the animals, unless the wound is man made. In this case it was not. They do not expect that he will survive the wound.

As an added treat, two hyena (a mother and cub) waited near the shepherd tree for impala leftovers. It was the first time we had seen hyena in Botswana. They are Amy's favorite, but she appears to be the only person in the country who feels that way. Of the thousands of animal souvenirs of all types (figurines, shirts, posters, photos, etc., etc) for sale in this country, you can not find ANY hyena souvenirs anywhere. Apparently not much of a market; someone told us they are a symbol of bad luck (recall the nasty and evil hyenas in Lion King...). Oh well, we have this photo.

A special interest for Ted was getting close to a Baobab tree (Adansonia digitata). They are more familiar to people in the dry season after they have dropped their leaves (it is late summer in Africa now). Without the leaves they appear to be upside down with the roots instead sticking high into the sky. Our guide explained that folklore throughout the area says that God made these trees last and instead of carefully planting them, he tossed them down to the ground and they landed upside down. These giants live for thousands of years and dot the horizon if you know what to look for in the area we were visiting. Our guide took us to the foot of a very young Baobab at the top of ridge. They estimate the age of the young tree at 500 years. A short time after Columbus discovered America.

Near the Baobab tree, we stumbled across an almost entirely complete giraffe skeleton. We explored the skeleton and even matched up some of the bones to ours (thigh bone to thigh bone). Ted says the neck bones were as large as his waist.

In the picture below are our guide and driver, Mallman, and our tracker, Morgan, with the giraffe bones. The are both Batswana who have worked at Mashatu for several years. They knew their stuff.

Another unique experience was the ability to actually get out of the safari vehicles and hike. Mallman carried his rifle and Morgan stayed far back with the Land Rover. We had to stay in single file formation so that Mallman knew where we would be if a hungry warthog jumped out at us (the only animals we saw on the hike - upwind).

We tasted wild berries, smelled minty leaves, saw more bones (below of an unfortunate male impala):

And no safari would be complete without examining some poop. First, elephant. Apparently those who spend their time thinking about such things can tell from the composition of the elephant waste about the quality of the previous summer's food availability. The grassier the better, or something like that.

Perhaps more interesting (again, if you spend your time thinking about this kind of thing) is from the hyena:

Hyena have the strongest jaws in the animal kingdom and eat their prey like we do a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. The grind and crush the bones as if they were crust on the bread. Becuase of this, their waste is powdery white from the ground calcium that is left behind.

Shortly thereafter, we decided it was time to get back in the Land Rover.

Lastly, we (Ted) saw a buried water pipe (daughters grumbling). The terrain is very rocky so the piping is buried very shallow. The rocks were added in this area to protect the piping (the only water supply to our camp) from the heavy footsteps of elephants.

The Rest of the Story & An Ode to German Print

It has been a while since we have posted, and a few people have pointed out to us that we have left a couple of stories unfinished. So, here you go:

The Rest of the Story Part I: Campus Unrest
After they closed the campus in the middle of the week due to the violence, it was announced that the campus would stay closed for the rest of that week and the whole following week. To make up for it, the mid-semester break was cancelled, and the semester was extended by a week. Then a couple days later, it was clarified that this cancellation did not apply to graduate students or international students. Now, if you are paying attention, you will have noticed that means that if you teach both graduate and undergraduate classes, you have had your mid-semester break taken away, your semester extended by a week, AND you did not get the week off for the cancelled classes. And, if you are an international student or an exchange student, enrolled in undergraduate classes - do you have class during the off week, or do you not? None of this made much sense - totally poor "planning", if you can call it that. So, there was a bit of confusion and mild unrest on the part of the faculty at that point. Honestly, I think most faculty just made up their own minds of how they would handle the schedule situation, without broadcasting it to administration.

When students returned after the semi-closed week, the unrest actually started right back up. This lasted a couple of days, in which some classes were again disrupted, sand thrown in the face of professors, etc. At this point the faculty and staff had lost their patience with the administration and called a meeting to organize a bit of protest of their own. They confront the Vice Chancellor, took a vote of no confidence in him and called for his resignation. At that point there was some talk that the university would have to close for the entire semester.

Then...suddenly...it all got quiet again. Things for the past week have seemed completely normal. I finally asked my grad assistant what had happened, and she said that they (the govt. or the university, not sure which) had given the students money. Problem solved. (?)

The Rest of the Story, Part II: The Dogs.
Mama (the dog) had her puppies. Only two this time, not eight (thank God!). She had them in her own front yard, not ours (thank God, again). The SPCA did finally come for a visit, but it happened to be a day in which the owners had taken a tiny bit of interest and moved the puppies to the back yard, where it could give the appearance that they were being tended to. We reminded the SPCA that the reason none of the dogs were starving was that we were feeding them (not the owners), and that it is not a sustainable situation once we are gone. They took no action but promised to come back. In the meantime, we have not seen or heard the puppies in a week or so. We are not sure they are still there. If they are gone - and we absolutely hate to think of how that was done - it happened much sooner than with the last batch, and before the girls could get completely attached. So, life goes on with us having two informal foster dogs that do bring pleasure to the girls and a combination of pleasure and terror to Trey. And, they bring us gifts. Today I got a chewed-up but otherwise lovely pink slipper - just one - from who knows how far away...

An Ode to German Print:
Now, a bit of fun Tswana culture. The traditional clothing of the women here is known as German Print. The fabric comes in three colors (blue, brown, and red) and a seemingly endless variety of patterns. You can buy the fabric in any of a large number of fabric shops, then take it to any one a very large number of tailors to design you a dress or skirt. (There are some street vendors that sell pre-made dresses, but the vast majority seems to be made-to-order). This is seemingly done by even the poorest of people, and german print seems to be in style for every occasion. You see people wearing a german print skirt with an old t-shirt and slippers, or very elaborately decorated for a wedding or other special occasion. Once you figure out what you are looking for, German Print is everywhere.

Way back in November, Charles (my Fulbright colleague) and I were invited to the wedding of one of Esther's relatives (Esther is the director of the Centre). Weddings are much more drawn out affairs here, with festivities one weekend at the bride's family home, followed by festivities at the groom's family home the next weekend. The roles and responsibilities of the extended family in family life here are extensive. This includes weddings. The extended family women, on the bride's side, lets say, prepare all the food, serve it, and clean, while acting as gracious hosts to the family of the groom. Then, the next weekend, it is the groom's family's turn to do all the work (the women, that is).

The fun part is that each side picks out a specific german print pattern and all the women on that side have dresses made from that pattern, each trying to quietly outdo the others with ornateness and originality. At the wedding that Charles and I went to, we didn't know anyone but Esther, and she was busy with the extensive hosting responsibilities. So, we amused ourselves by seeing how many different interesting german print dresses we could find. I forgot my camera, but thanks to Charles, here are some interesting photos to give you the idea.
This wedding took place in the village of Molepolole (mow-lep-e-low-lee), about 50 km from Gaborone. In addition to giving you some good representations of the german print style, I hope they will give you a good feel for village life in Botswana, which to me can feel very different, strikingly different at times, from life in Gaborone.
Above is a fancier brown print. The cut of the skirt and top suggests it was made just for the wedding. It may be from the print chosen by the women of the groom's family, but I can not tell for sure.

Two good representations of the blue print. Charles and I were both in agreement that the red sash and collar on the left were quite unique, and quite striking. The one on the right is a much more traditional look.

The picture above is a pretty good representation of what I would call the "classic" german print style. A small print fabric, with some details added at the neck, shoulders, and around the bottom. The white shawl indicates she is from the bride's family, and is therefore a guest of honor at the home of the groom. The weekend before, the groom's family members would have been wearing the shawls at the home of the bride. I just love this picture, it seems like such a classic representation of Botswana village life or something.

Another brown. I call this the "button" print, just totally my own made-up term. I believe this was the print chosen by the groom's family, You will note the woman is wearing an apron, as she was probably clearing the tables and doing dishes as this photo was taken.

There are three separate prints in the shot above. The "button" style with the yellow t-shirt underneath, the blue stripe (which is a bit more unique, or at least I do not see a lot of the stripe when I am paying attention), and another brown in the background, with a matching hat trimmed in the same fabric. You do see a lot of coordinating scarves for daily wear, and hats for fancier occasions. This morning we went to a tailor (to get a pea costume made for Hope for book week - more soon on that). We found out there that you can also get shoes made with the fabric as well. I asked if you had to buy the shoes and he just covered them with the fabric, but the tailor said no, just tell him what size foot you have, and he makes the whole shoe himself. How cool is that??

Above is a member of the wedding party, in a lovely brown print mixed with a lot of white. The wedding party started out in a more Western style of gowns and tuxes. After the food and some dancing, they left. Charles and I thought that was odd. Then maybe 30 minutes later they returned. This time the women were all in german print and the traditional leather sandals with goat hair (I have been assuming it is goat - it could be any number of animals, I suppose). The pattern was all the same, but again each woman's dress was unique.

Two other members of the wedding party in their own versions of the same print, with the men in the background. They are doing what could best be described as a line dance of sorts. It was a lot of fun to watch. We were told the wedding party had been getting together and practicing for weeks to prepare for it.

And finally, a nice red. I think red is the least frequently seen of the colors, but it is a bright and fun contrast to all the blue and brown. In the background is another "button" style of brown.

The girls have become quite interested in the whole german print idea. So, we are having dresses made for each of them. I took Hope to the tailor last week, and she had such fun as the lady got a pad of paper and a pen and started sketching out ideas, while asking Hope for input. It will be a two-piece skirt and top, in a red rosette-like print as the main color, but with layers of blue and brown in the same print at the bottom of the skirt, finished off with a bit of lace. Once hers is finished, we will take Eden to do the same thing. Today at the fabric store we found some prints with elephants, others with zebras. Guess what Eden's dress will probably look like?

Ted and I seem to have caught the bug ourselves. Today at the fabric store we decided we might get some of it to bring home and recover the seats of our dining room chairs. We are thinking brown, with a variety of different prints - maybe even a different print for each of the six chairs...