Yesterday we drove out to Mokolodi Game Reserve, just outside Gaborone. It only takes about 15 minutes to drive out there, and it feels as if you are deep in the Kalahari wilderness, which actually you are. This is a wild place with wild animals. There are no major predators in this area, such as lions and hyena, although there are reportedly a few leopards around. We saw ostrich, warthog, kudu, impala, zebra, baboons vervet monkeys, and springbok, among other things. Last time we were there we saw elephants and rhino, but they eluded us these time around. On our last trip I took the picture of the rhino that is across the title of this blog. We have a family membership for Mokolodi now so we can visit as often as we want.

The Slender Mongoose

I looked outside this morning and was surprised to see a mongoose wandering around in our backyard. I took this picture of it, but as you can see it is not of the best quality. I am not sure how he got into the yard, but I hope he found his way back out. I am glad he came by for a visit, but we are not looking for a new pet.

Fridays at work

Fridays at work in the Embassy are a bit of a zoo. The official hours are 7:30-1:30, because we work an hour longer during the other 4 days. So all of the employees scamper around trying to get work done so by 1:30 on the dot they are running out the door to start their weekends. This is all fine and good for local employees, but Americans are work-a-holics. So, around 1:15 I get a few last minute calls from various folks (especially more senior to me) with requests that simply can't wait until Monday. Then Washington DC people start arriving at work and contacting us by phone and email, and can't understand that we may not complete their requests before the end of their work day, which has indeed just started. So, each week I type quickly, don't take lunch, try not to book to many appointments and try to keep up with the efficient efforts of my Botswana colleagues. And each Friday I pry myself away from the stack of work by 3:00 and finally call it quits. Fortunately this at least gives me a few extra hours of daylight to play with the kids!

What a gift a dishwasher is

I was pondering on Friday, what a gift a dishwasher is. For most of my life I recall having one, though I am sure at some point my parents didn't. Dane and I had one apartment for a short while, that didn't have one and that led to many dish duty disputes. However, we made it through. You sort of take it for granted, and some work better then others. When we owned our own home we weren't terribly worried about quality, we just hoped it worked. We'll I had the opportunity to teach our housekeeper how to use one. This house just got one for the first time, and she had literally never seen or touched one before. She was nervous about "breaking it" and in awe of it's magical powers. So, for the second time I showed her patiently how to put the soap in, load it and turn it on, and reassured her she wouldn't break it. And later started thinking it really is kind of magical. It's the little things that make you wonder some time.

I Fixed it.

I fixed the Land Rover yesterday. The new alternator came in the post, and I had it working within an hour. Now we are mobile again. We are going to keep it close to home for a week or so, and then we will see about another camping trip.

The only American fast food company that can be found in Gaborone is KFC. There are 2 of them here in Gabs'. I am proud to say that we have not gone there yet, and if I have my way we never will.

A small circus troop came to town this week, so we went out to see it with some friends. The show lasted about 2 hours, and had tigers, elephant, clown and acrobats. It wasn't Cirque du Soleil, but it wasn't to bad of a show for less than $10 US, per ticket.

Let me tell you a little story about this car of ours. As I mentioned before, this Land Rover arrived from Japan with a blown head gasket. It was in the shop for 2 weeks.

When we finally got the car back from the shop we wanted to go on a camping trip to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary for the long Labor Day weekend. We were all very excited to get out of the city and see a bit of the country side. After we drove for about 100km I began to notice that the tachometer and the speedometer were acting erratically. At first I thought we might have a short in a wire somewhere, but it became apparent that the the entire electrical system was shutting down. I realized that the alternator was going out and we needed to head for home quick. I shut off everything electrical that I could in the car, and started heading back to Gabs' as quickly as I could. We got within about 60 km of home when the juice finally completely drained from the battery and the car stalled. I got a jump from a nice guy who pulled off to help, but that only took us a couple of kilometers before it died again. We were in the middle of no where.

Thankfully we were able to get a cell phone signal from where we were. After making a few calls, we got the number of a tow-truck that would come out and get us. We sat on the side of the road for 4 hours waiting, but the truck finally arrived and loaded up the car on to a trailer. There wasn't enough room in the beat up old tow-truck for all of us, so Dillon and I, and one of the tow-truck guys sat in the Land Rover on the trailer for the trip back home. The trip home was slow going, and we were afraid that the tow-truck was going to need a tow-truck of its own as it slowly strained and sputtered all the way back home.

The kids were upset about not getting to go camping so we set up a tent in the back yard and roasted some marshmallows over the barbecue.

After searching all of the auto parts shops on Gabs' I couldn't find an alternator for this Land Rover, which seems a bit ridiculous because this is a very popular vehicle here. I went to the Land Rover dealership and they could get me one in a couple of days, but they wanted almost 9000 Pula (over $1200 USD) for it! I had a good laugh about that with the parts guy at the dealership, who I had met a few times before when dealing with my head gasket problems. He told me I should go to South Africa to get one cheaper.

I decided just to order a new one from the States for about $180. So now we are just waiting for the mail. It's been 2 weeks now and we will be lucky if we see it by the middle of next week.

This ends chapter one of what I am sure will be a thick novel on the never ending problems we are going to have with this vehicle.

I saw this cute little bird yesterday just outside the gate of our house. It's a Crowned Lapwing. He didn't seem afraid of me at all. I stood less than 6 feet away from him when I took this picture. I also saw 2 Yellow-Billed Hornbills in a tree a few meters away, but they wouldn't come out of the tree enough for me to get a good photo.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Yellow-billed_Hornbill

I hope I'm not turning into one of these birdwatching types.

Reception

Last night Cassandra and I attended a reception at the Ambassadors residence to introduce our new DCM (Deputy Chief of Mission) to the diplomatic community. There were many local government big shots and Ambassadors in attendance. The food was good, the weather was nice, and the speeches were short.

The Blog Begins

We have been in Botswana now a little under 2 months, so I thought it was time to get another site back on the web so we can keep in touch with all of you back home.
I guess I will begin with a summery of events up to this point.
We have been set up in a nice 4 bedroom 4 bath house about a half a mile from the Embassy. We have a small swimming pool in the backyard that we hope will be warm enough to swim in another couple of weeks or so. The yard is small but nice, and will be really nice after we do a little landscaping.
All of our things from the States arrived about 2 weeks ago and we have been putting things away ever since. We got all the paintings on the wall yesterday so we are about done now.
We ordered a 1997 Landrover Discovery from Japan over the internet. It is quite common over here to get these vehicles from japan, because the prices are much less than buying locally and they are all right hand drive, which we need here. Botswana is a former British protectorate, and because of this they drive on the opposite side of the road like the British.
The Land Rover arrived about a month ago but it has been in the shop ever since. First the head gasket was replaced, which the japanese car company compensated us for, but now the alternator is out. I had to order a new one from the States because there isn't one in all of Botswana that I could find. The mail takes a couple of weeks to arrive so now we just wait.
Things are good at the Embassy. There is alot of work to do, but Cassandra has some good employees to help her out. She already made her first week long trip to Maputo, Mozambique, which is one of the 3 countries she is assigned to (the other is Lesotho). It is the 3rd poorest country in the world, and they need a lot of help.
We have to go, due to a reception at the Ambassador's house. More on that tomorrow.