Trip to Tuli and Tau

A few days ago we packed up and drove up to Tuli in a rental car that my dad rented. Tuli is a game reserve along the Limpopo River near the point where Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Botswana meet.

The Limpopo River between South Africa (l) and Botswana (r)

The bush camp

We stayed in tent houses about half a mile away from the main lodge. The tent houses were very big. Half of is a bathroom and the other half is a tent underneath a straw roof. The tent has two beds, a table, two chairs, and a closet. It has screen windows with cloth covers.

We soon gave the two tents we rented names. The one that Mitchell, Willie and my mom slept in we called "the snake tent" because Mitchell claimed to have seen a long snake slither into the bathroom. The other tent was named "the mosquito tent" due to the large amount of reproducing mosquitoes. My dad and I slept in the mosquito tent because my mom dislikes mosquitoes. She claimed that she was making a great self sacrifice and was sleeping in the snake tent for the greater good of me and my dad. Instead of being venomized by a poisonous snake, we were instead bit by numerous mosquitoes. In the morning it looked like I had acne because the mosquitoes bit me so much. Then my dad started squashing the mosquitoes but the fast ones got away and made more fast babies, so all he was doing was getting rid of the slow ones and making more fast ones. The next night I slept in the snake tent, because I doubted Mitchell had actually seen a snake.

During our time at Tuli it rained constantly, so mostly we only saw impala and a few giraffes. We did see a baby giraffe though.

The night game drive

We also had a small separate kitchen house that was shared by the five tent houses. Nobody else was staying in the other tents, but three people came in the day before we left. The people were researchers studying Vervet monkeys, as we had seen in Chobe. One of them was from Seattle, Washington, the other was from Spokane, and the other one was from Washington, D.C. The kitchen included a fridge and freezer. There was also a dry storage, a cooler, and a cabinet full of glasses, utensils, and plates. There was a table and because it was raining, we spent most of our time in the kitchen playing cards and eating snacks and meals. The kitchen also had a roof and netting so animals couldn't get in.

The kitchen

Dinner

Willie and Mitchell at the fire

We independently hiked up one of the surrounding mountains of our campsite. We found a lot of millipedes and animal droppings and we say a cave a small animal was in called a Hyrax. It was small and fuzzy like a marmot or a very large guinea pig. Strangely, it is related to the elephant. We climbed and climbed and got to the top of the huge pile of rocks overlooking our camp site. It was about 200 feet up and it was so windy that you could jump in the air and be carried a few inches. It was a little bit scary to be at the edge of a cliff with the wind blowing very hard. After we went up there, we came down.

The cliff near our camp

After we stayed in Tuli we went to Madikwe where Tau Game Lodge was. Madikwe is in South Africa just past Botswana and it is a one hour drive from Gaborone. When we got to the border, they asked to see our passports. My mom's passport got through, but everybody else, surprisingly, did not have enough days to be in Botswana. You can only stay in Botswana for a certain amount of days before you have to go. At first, my dad, my brothers and I had gotten 90 days to be in Botswana, but we had taken a one day trip to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls and after that our 90 days did not apply any more, but we did not know that. The people at the border did not allow us to go into South Africa and made us go back into Botswana to a nearby police station. At the police station they made us sign a few papers and pay 400 pula ($60). They said we would have to show the papers to the people at the border and we would get through.

Madikwe Game Reserve

The rooms at Tau Game Lodge

We then went straight across the border toward Tau Game Lodge. We drove through the Madikwe Reserve and into Tau. When we got to the gate, they let us in. Because of the border trouble, we arrived at 9:30 PM. We pulled into Tau and were met by a woman outside the door. She led us in and on the counter waiting for us was five glasses of juice. I knew immediately after that experience that I would love this place. We were led to our room, which had a queen sized bed, a smaller bed, and a fold-out couch bed. When we got in, we immediately picked which beds we would sleep in. Mitchell and I slept in the couch bed, my mom and my dad slept in the big bed, and Willie slept in the small bed. On the table were three small "Tau Cubz Club" backpacks. We opened them up and found a package with a Tau shirt in it (Tau means "lion" in Setswana), a coloring book (not that Mitchell and I would use that!), and an animal info book. In the smaller pocket of the backpack were a 30 gram package of chips, three chewy candies, a lollipop, and a package of gummies. I think Willie was in heaven there. We had a good night sleep.

Our room

It had finally stopped raining. The next morning we woke up (but dad had gone on a 5:00AM game drive) and played consecutive. Then we went to the lodge and had a good breakfast. Right after we had finished, we heard that we had been offered to go on a short game drive to see two male lions. It was 9:00 AM by the time we had finished breakfast. The game drive was going to be at 10:00 AM, so I thought I would swim in the pool. The minute I jumped in, I could feel a huge difference. The pool water was about 40 degrees and outside it was about 90 degrees. I guess the change in temperature was supposed to refresh the guests, but I got a bit of a shock. I soon got used to it and had a fun time in the pool, but sadly Mitchell jumped in, felt the water, and went out.

The Tau pool

Game drive through Madikwe

Track through Madikwe

Waterbuck

Zebras

Baby impala

Male lions eating a wildebeest

That was all he swam that day. Then we went on the game drive. We saw a warthog soon after we left the camp and then we drove a little and saw the two male lions underneath a tree. Our guide, John, told us that the animal that the lions were so disgustingly chomping on and disemboweling was a wildebeest. Jon told us that to become a guide, you need to face a lion on foot. At first, he was hesitant to do this and two other guides had to hold him by the belt to make sure he didn't run away. After practicing though, he was brave enough to roar at the lions to make him seem bigger than them so they wouldn't bother him.

After we had seen the lions for a good ten minutes and taken lots of pictures, we went back to the lodge. We later discovered a pool table upstairs as well as two computers. My dad, my brother and I played pool while Willie watched Snoopy videos on Youtube. Then we went back to our room and napped. After we napped, we went on a 4:00 PM game drive with a guide named Earnest. Earnest was the guide that took my dad on a game drive that morning. We went and saw the two lions we had seen before, but they had walked away from their wildebeest corpse and were resting in the shade about 50 feet away. Then we saw a brown hyena and Earnest said that they often liked to steal bones and crack them open to get the bone marrow. We watched the hyena go toward the dead wildebeest and pick out a leg bone and take it away.

The brown hyena waiting for the lions to leave

The hyena picks up a leg bone...

...and runs away

Then we drove over to the lions and took some pictures. After that, we drove around and saw elephants, impala, zebras, African buffaloes, and some faraway wildebeests. Then we drove up a mountain and got out and had some drinks and snacks. Earnest had brought along dried fruit, meatballs, nuts, and some juice, soda,  beer and wine. After we were stuffed and refreshed, we went down the mountain and started driving back toward the lodge.

Our guide Earnest

It started getting cold, so Earnest handed out blankets. We need them, but not for the purpose we suspected. I was looking for animals when a bug came and hit me in the face! Earnest told us that the bugs came out at night time once every year just after the first rains of the year. Pretty soon a whole shower of bugs was pelting us. Mitchell had the bright idea to hold up your blanket as a shield, but then we weren't able to see any animals. Eventually, the bugs were coming at us like bullets and I took my blanket down for one second and was pounded by about 25 of them! Everybody could hear me scream "Doh! My eye!" and "Doh! My other eye!" We finally got back to the lodge and I launched myself into bed.

Returning to the lodge at night

The lights along the driveway

Dinner at the lodge

The next morning we went on a 5:00 AM game drive with Earnest again. Mitchell did not want to come, so he just stayed in our room. Finally, my mom persuaded me into coming by offering me a Coke for lunch. We hoped in the Landrover and started driving. We saw some impala, including a baby impala that was about 5 days old. Then we went a little farther and saw the best sight yet. There were two lion cubs feasting on a wildebeest and there were also three female lions. We watched them for a little while and took lots of pictures. And then we spotted some more wildebeest and thought the lions were going to take them down, but they did not. It turns out they only hunt every few days because one wildebeest provides lots of meat. Then we drove on and saw some zebras, more wildebeest, three rhinos, giraffes, and little tortoises called terrapins that always stay in water. After we had seen all of these, we went back to the lodge.

Wildebeest

Elephant

Giraffe

Female lions

Two cubs eating a wildebeest

Originally, we were supposed to check out by 11:00 AM, but they let us stay for lunch. We had some roasted impala and fruit before we left. We said our final goodbyes to Tau and drove back to Gaborone. We had no trouble crossing the border this time and got home before dark.

Letter to Japanese Class

School

Mitchell and I in our school uniforms

You have to wear your hat at break time (not like smash time)

School in Botswana is a lot tougher than school in the U.S.A. First of all, the teachers expect all kinds of flattery, like Sir and Ma'am, which is totally unfair, because they are the ones who are shouting at us. Whenever our teacher leaves the room, she will come back and say "Who is the one that I hear talking?" The teachers also have no sense of humor, and would probably find a million mistakes if they read this over. Just kidding. My teacher's name is Miss Masheka. She is from Zimbabwe and she is a really nice teacher.

Miss Masheka

The good thing is that the math class (called maths in Botswana) is really easy. I have done pretty well at math here. I think we work harder at math back at JSIS. I am also learning stuff about Botswana, like history and geography, that I am not sure I will ever use in real life, but it is interesting.

This is the walkway outside of my classroom

The classrooms are kind of small, and they are also separate buildings, so every time you go to a different class, you have to walk outside in the boiling sun. There is also lots of shade.

My Standard 5 classroom

The back of the classroom

Playground

Tennis courts

The field (the strip of artificial turf in the center is for cricket)

The library and computer building (left) and classrooms (right)

My friends in school are Tich, a boy from Zimbabwe, Martin, a boy from here in Botswana, and Kirtesh, an Indian boy. They are very nice and I have already been to Tich and Martin's houses. I am also going to invite them to my birthday party. Some of the other kid's names in my class are Pako, Kabelo, Rosi, Refilwe, Alex, Shane, Mahmoud, Clara, Rashaad, Varsha, Chelsey, Safia, Frans, Thapelo, Cale, Reece, Martin, Desiree, Chikondi, Ian, Tawanda, and Colby. Most of the kids are from Botswana and Zimbabwe.  There are a few from South Africa, and a few from England.  There are one or two kids from Ireland, two kids from India, and one boy from America (guess who?).

Tich

Martin

Kirtesh

My friends and I outside of the classroom

We have to do like a billion tests. I think one day I had to do six!  After two weeks or so, I get back 10 test papers. I just got one back today. I also got the highest grade for my age in a calculator math test. I guess some of the kids have never used calculators before.

I like school here but I also can't wait to get back to JSIS!