It has been a lovely week. We have been in Botswana, which has been very relaxing and beautiful. The hustle and bustle of many other countries we have visited on our trip has dissipated, with the natural beauty of this spacious and sparse country coming to the fore.
Botswana's per capita gross domestic product was abut $250 dollars in 1970. Despite that starting point of extreme poverty, Botswana is now very well regarded, it has successfully navigated the post-colonial period that has been so troubling, bloody and destructive for so many other countries. The main reason for its progress was the discovery of and a corresponding judicious use of rich veins of diamonds just a few years after Botswana achieved independence. Of course, if its imbedded mineral wealth was known at the time, securing political freedom may not have been so easy.
Once diamonds were discovered, the government reacted contrary to many of its peers here in Africa, and throughout the developing world. It took several years for plans to be put into place to ensure that the riches soon to flow into the country would be utilized properly and justly. It plowed its new found dollars into roads, education and other social investments that have come good over the successive decades. It is a success story that demonstrates the resource curse, the economic theory that natural resources counter-intuitively lead to stilted or even repressed development because of the temptation to capture the rents of the resource extraction, is not axiomatic. There is a subtle pleasure of being in a country where one is not constantly hounded by touts. However despite the positive income statistics and ambiance, mud huts along the road remain a common site and the country is one of the hardest hit by HIV lowering average life expectancy to 29 by some accounts.
Botswana is large with a lot of open space. The three open space areas that we visited all stood out:
- Chobe National Park
This national park is at the extreme north east corner of the country, and borders the little sliver of Namibia. This park has tons of cool animals and we got into it via a boat safari. We had not thought about it before, by a boat is actually a prime way to see wildlife, as it is quiet and less obtrusive than a 4x4. From the boat, we slipped past dozens of crocs, hippos, antelopes, water buffaloes, kudu and a herd of elephants (with a tiny little baby that was impossibly cute), as well as hundreds of birds, including my favorite, the fish eagle. After seeing these big and dangerous animals up close, it gave me a little pause that our tent was a bit closer to the river than i would have liked! The evening was topped with a spectaculor sunset over the Chobe river.
- Okavango Delta
We've been itching to get to the Delta since we began planning our trip to the continent. As arguably the largest inland freshwater delta, it contains an abundance of life in its varying biomes and ecosystems from islands to permanent swamp. It is home to much of the fauna that Africa is famous for but not in the easily seen concentrations seen other places. Being in the Delta is more about enjoying this unique environment for the sensation of skimming in a dug-out canoe quietly at water level among the reeds, tromping through the islands, and camping away from any electricity, running water, or permanent structures. The sunsets were out of this world, huge skies, vidid colors all in the stillness that makes the Delta so peaceful.
One disappointment about the Delta was the amount of cattle that we saw there. Cattle are often ecosystem disturbers -- their manure brings black flies and infectious diseases such as giardia. We were told that the cattle were in the Delta because elephants had destroyed the buffalo fences and that people in the nearby villages will continue to graze their cattle there until the government fixes the fences. On the whole, however, we were delighted by both the quietude and environment of the Delta.
- On top of Botswana -
Tsidolo Hills
Our last night in Botswana found us at Tsidolo Hills, which are rocky outcrops that arise out of the Kalahir Desrt. The desert is a semi arid biome, one that is less deserty than i had anticated, with low shurbs and sprodaic trees growing improbably out of sandy soil. Driving in the 40km washboard dirt road, i was reminded of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, where a long drive is rewarded by a spectator setting, in that case it is Anazai ruins, and here we are coming to a world heritage site. You see, the hills are the tablet for thousands of San bushmen cave paintings, some done in the style we saw in Zim while others were more reminiscent of the art seen in those Anazai ruins in the American southwest, outlines of indigenous animals such as rhinos as giraffes.
Beyond the historical weight of the rock art, i was also intrigued by the mountains and had my eye on the largest as soon as we pulled into the camp. In fact, this peak, called 'the father', is the largest mountain in Botswana, which is not known for its alpine zones. The only problem was that this hike is supposed to take 4.5 hours, and i had less than 2 before the utter night of the bush descended. Let me give it a shot, this is going to have to a be a run instead. I move very quickly, in 4th gear the whole way and run to the trailhead, then leap up the rocky trail that is relentless up the slope. After 50 or minutes of serious pace, i am rewarded by the summit plateau, and the view is astounding. There is not another peak in the entire 360 degree horizon, the Kalahari is dead flat as far as my eye can see in every direction. The complete vastness of the terrain and country are manifest in this view, and i take a few minutes to enjoy the view and let my heart beat a little slower. The calm of the sunset on the west horizon is contrast with a vivid on the eastern horizon. Amazing.
Now i have to get back into 4th gear for the run/controlled falling down the trail and then fast run back to camp. It all goes swimmingly, and i pull into camp right for dinner having done the entire hike in 93 minutes, right as dusk is turning to night. Very tired, i carry the view and knowledge and satisfaction of being literally on top of Botswana. A great way to say goodbye to a place we have enjoyed greatly.
On to Namibia
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