Out to Africa August 28th

By Jain

We are on our way to Africa. After 5 weeks at home we are rested and raring to go. Well, I think it was only after a brief 2 weeks at home when  Jay said, "When do we go again?" He was ready.

Don't get me wrong, there's no place like home, yet it seems like there is always someplace calling our name, someplace where we long to go. I admit, being at home is nice, it is comfortable. At home we have our friends, daily routines, our favorite chair to sit back and relax, and our own bed. It is easy to fall back into the groove.  But somehow for us that groove makes us feel like we have one foot struck in a rut.

So it's off again flying the blue skies to our next destination Botswana and Zambia. We are loyal Delta customers so we are quite familiar with one of their slogans "Time on Board is Time Well Spent."  Don't believe it. If you have spent any length of time in the air, flying on an airplane ranks just above going to Dentist. Most of the time flying is long, boring and uncomfortable. At least at your dental appointment you're probably gonna be out of there in an hour, with your mouth numb to ease the pain, and when things get really bad you can kick the Dentist in the crotch. And besides, in the Dentist chair, you're sitting alone without that guy next to you that wants to be your next best friend. Like the guy sitting next to Jay now.  He is flying to Chicago to attend an air and heating convention. We know so much about his business I could do his taxes. ...and the things I know about his wife... but that's another story.

Our flight to Africa has got to be one of the worst. The total in the air flight time is 24 hours however when you add airport time that gets you up to 36 hours travel time. Fun? No!! You gotta be a real travel nut, or maybe what you're thinking, just plain nuts to go through that.  But then again that's the price you have to pay to get half way around the world and see the Big Five. The Big Five (count them) are elephants, lions, rhinos,  leopard, and buffalo. The five you are guaranteed to see on any African trip is warthogs, springbrooks ( a form of deer)  zebras, monkeys and Mosquitoes.

This will be our 3rd trip to Africa. Our first was to South Africa and next we visited Namibia. On our trip to Namibia we actually saw very few animals, because the countryside was in a drought with its rivers dried up. Animals go where there is water. Our location in northern Botswana is next to the Chobe river where the animals have brought real meaning to.. "It's 5 o'clock somewhere". Botswana has the highest game population in all of Africa so we are bound to see some.

Botswana is said to be desert like, flat country with one of the lowest populations of any country in the world. Located at the bottom of Africa just above South Africa, it is landlocked and borders South Africa,  Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe . The citizens of Botswana are known as Batswana with the Ba meaning plural. The single person is called Motswana...go figure..) The Batswana are, for the most part, cattle herders. That's what various tribes have done for centuries. Over the years the expanded cattle rearing is thought to have worsened their drought conditions. So the government has all but closed down many of the local tribes cattle businesses in the name of saving the environment. Of course it may have had something to do with where the diamond mining fields are located.

Because of the diamonds and growing tourist trade (up 200% over the last 5 years!!!), Botswana is a very stable country with strong banking industry. It is supposed to be a very safe country, but I ask you what country is safe these days? The biggest problem is HIV. Botswana has third highest HIV rate in the world. A couple of years ago it was 26% percent, now down to 21%. They also worry about unemployment and alcoholism. I guess not getting to raise cattle takes it toll.

For the next 14 days we will cover about one hundred miles from Chobe National Park through Zambia over to the Victoria Falls.  We are not on a safari but plan to take day safari trips to shoot the big five.. that is shoot like in camera shots. We hope to see a lot of animals and not be run over by an elephant, hippo or bitten by the 2 step. That's a snake that if you are bitten, you are guaranteed to take your last two steps.

Go Siame ( that's "See you later " in Tswana language)

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