High point of my time in Gaborone

On Sunday, I climbed Kgale Hill! Some might know this hill from the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency--I am told that Precious Ramotswe's offices are at the base of this hill--but I have not read any of these books, so that fact could be completely inaccurate. I do know that the hill has a large and healthy baboon population that is rumored to steal things from hikers. While we saw the baboons, they did not get greedy. There is also a quarry at the base of the hill, and luckily we were not hiking on an explosion day.

Climbing the hill requires some ability to scramble up and down rocks. The trail is not an easy dirt path to the top. I'm not sure how one of my Swedish friends in Gabs "ran" up this hill as part of a triathlon, but I suppose it's possible, though you stand a good chance of spraining your ankle. I admire a man we saw "exercising" on the hill who told us he regularly runs up the hill twice a day, four days a week. I'm assuming he did not have the following for a leisurely Sunday lunch at Sanita's Tea Garden, prior to climbing: a bagel with butternut squash, aubergine and pesto; a red tea milkshake, and cheesecake for dessert. I did. Regret? Only a little--I am going to try making the milkshake when I get back to New Jersey and find my superb blender waiting for me in storage.

Despite the heavy lunch, Lauren and Ian and I made it to the top of the highest point in Gaborone, and were rewarded with a view of downtown Gabs, the surrounding countryside, and the lake formed by the dammed Limpopo River. And we didn't drop our camera over the edge, like the tourists before us did. Check out the view!