It's Another Botswana Village Sunday

Nothing better to do on a lazy Sunday than go for a drive! After a delicious Saturday dinner at the UN Resident Coordinator's house, Ian and Lauren and I spent the second half of the weekend exploring some of the villages around Gaborone. Armed with a map of "The Greater Gaborone Trail," we set out to conquer it all in our little Toyota Yaris T3. We took the road heading south out of town, and just past Kgale Hill, Ian had to slow down to avoid the giant group of baboons hanging out on the side of the road. Luckily, even though Brits like to use their hand brake whenever the car is stationary, this instance was an exception--I'm pretty sure we would have been rear-ended it hadn't been.

Our first official stop was the Mogonye Gorges, but the map did not tell us we needed a 4WD to go the final few kilometers from the village to the gorges. But the theme of the day was "Ask the locals"--Excuse me, are there gorges around here?--and a woman on the side of the road told us we would never make it in our low-clearance car. We tried anyway, but despite our stubborn efforts, we eventually had to turn around. Botswana Roads: 1, Yaris T3: 0.

Just down the road was the tiny village of Manyana...a village where I assume the sun will always come out on the following day. This village hosts a few historic sites. It took us a while to find the first one--Excuse me, are there rock paintings around here?--but our efforts were rewarded with the discovery of a fairly official set-up. The tour guide, Justice, signed us in, and showed us various San (Bushman) rock paintings that are over 2,000 years old! At the same site is Mma Sechele Cave where, in 1852, during a war with the Boers, the pregnant wife of the local chief hid out to avoid the fighting. The cave is named in her honor. We could only look at the outside of the cave because the inside hasn't been properly explored, and probably houses snakes (given the large number of rock rabbit--groundhog--droppings around the mouth of the cave).

Justice then took us to the town's famous tree. Now, this tree is pretty awesome in its own right, with lots of twisted roots and branches. Apparently, David Livingstone thought so too, because he used to preach under the tree, and carved his initials in it. Dr. Historical Graffiti, I presume? The initials have since disappeared, but it's still cool.

By now, it was one o'clock, and we were hungry. We decided to check out the town of Lobatse for lunch. Lobatse is not on the "Greater Gaborone Trail" for a reason--the only thing there is a lot of meat. It is the home of the Botswana Meat Commission, various meat processing plants, and the High Court...draw your own conclusions. Fittingly, we ate at a braai place (Botswana BBQ), consuming some of the local livestock. Hurray for $3 steaks!

On the way back north, we stopped off in Otse to find the famed Cape Vulture Colony--the species is found only in Southern Africa. The dirt road may have been a bit rough on the car, and it again took some asking around to find the right dirt road--Excuse me, are there vultures around here? You know, big birds?--but in the end, mission accomplished. The giant hill has vultures flying all around it--luckily none mistook the Yaris for a piece of dead meat.

The final stop was the quaint village of Odi, renowned for its weaving cooperative. In spite of the directional signs, there was still some confusion about where the cooperative was--Excuse me, are there weavers around here?--and when we found the place, it had apparently closed 10 minutes earlier. It probably only opens, however, when tourists show up in their cars and stand around, because after a few minutes enjoying the fresh village air, a woman asked us if we wanted her to find the person with keys to the store. Having seen the steep price tags through the window, we politely declined. It was back to Gabs for us. Excuse me, but are there pictures around here? Oh, yes, of course: