Maputo; Day 2

Friday morning we woke to find that the weather was still pretty horrible. It was raining and quite windy. We had booked passage on a ferry at 10am to take us to our next destination Inhaca Island. When we got to the ferry dock we found out that all the boats had been canceled due to the weather.

We went back to the hotel we had been in before to plan our next move. We were told that we could catch a flight over to the Island at 3pm if the weather permitted. So we sat around all day waiting for the weather to improve, and at about 2pm we went out to the airport to see if we could get on the plane. The weather had not improved , and I didn't feel as if there was any chance that our little plane was going to make the trip, but it wasn't long before we were up and off to Inhaca.

When we arrived at the hotel on Inhaca we just relaxed in our nice bungalow style room complete with mosquito net around the bed, and had a nice meal in the restaurant.

We had a bit of bad luck but in the end everything had worked out and we were optimistic about our next day.

Maputo; Day 1

As you may or may not know, Cassandra serves the Embassy HR need for not only Botswana, but Lesotho, and Mozambique as well. This means she needs to travel to these locations about 4 times per year. Cassandra was in Maputo Mozambique all last week , and we decided that I would meet her there for a mini-vacation on my birthday.

I arrived on Thursday to some pretty intense rain, and we went directly to an Embassy function celebrating 25 years of USAID in Mozambique. These traditional drummers and dancers preformed for the event. We were later told that they were not Mozambican, but South African Zulu's. Either way they put on a good show with lots of energy and intensity.

After that we went out to a restaurant for a wonderful dinner with some friends. I had the ostrich, and it was delicious. After that it was back to the hotel to relax and get ready for our trip to a resort on Inhaca Island, about 40 kilometers away.

Last Thursday I received word that our new car had arrived in Botswana. We had ordered this Toyota Landcruiser Prado from Japan in late September and it had finally made its way here. I went down to the shipping companies office so that they could break the seal on the container, and get the car out.

Now that the car is out of the container it needs to be processed through Interpol to make sure it has not been stolen, and then we can get it licenced and registered. So we should have it sitting in the driveway in a week or so. We can't wait.

Shea is 5

Today Shea turns 5 years old. We had a party for her on Saturday at the Embassy Rec. Center. She invited about a dozen kids to come over to eat cupcakes, and play in the sprinkler and slip and slide we set up. It was very low key, just kids playing and having fun.

BSPCA

On Friday Cassandra, Dillon, and I went down to the Botswana S.P.C.A to adopt a cat for Shea on her birthday. I was not sure how many cats they would have at the shelter, since many Batswana have superstitious fears about cats, but there were dozens to choose from.

The S.P.C.A has not only cats, but dogs, rabbits Guinea pigs goats, sheep, and a horse.

We picked out a friendly little black female cat that is about a year old.

More on that later.

Angola National Day

Our next door neighbor is the Angolan Ambassador to Botswana. Yesterday our neighbor invited us over to celebrate Angola's National Day marking 34 years of Independence from Portugal. It was quite an interesting event. They had traditional musicians and dancers performing, and at one point they pulled Cassandra and our other neighbor Marina out of the crowd to join in the dancing. We then found out they were being filmed for Angola national television. All in all a very interesting evening.

Tree Agama

This guy is a tree Agama. This one lives in my yard. We have 3 or 4 of these beautiful lizards living around our property. When they are frightened they can instantly change color to match the tree they are on making them very difficult to spot. In the afternoon they sit in the sun and turn these amazing colors. They get pretty big. One of the Agama in our yard is at least a foot long. This one is about 8 inches.

Rain Spider: In Memorium

This is the Rain Spider, and it grows quite large in southern Africa. I know because I took this picture which is of a specimen approximately 3 inches long in the back room of our house about a half an hour ago.
I know that it may pain some of you to hear this but I crushed it with my shoe moments after photographing it. I was actually a little unsure as to whether my shoe was going to be enough to take down such a beast, but it did very nicely.

T of C

A little over an hours drive north of Gaborone is the Tropic of Capricorn. We had to pull over and take advantage of this photo op.

Khama Rhino Sanctuary Part II: Rhino at the Water Hole

This game reserve has a nice restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. It also has a small swimming pool for guests to take an afternoon dip in during the hottest part of the day, when the animals are less active.
After taking a dip in the pool we met some friends for lunch at the restaurant. We had a nice relaxing lunch and had just finished paying the bill when this black rhino approached.
We stood only a few feet away in the doorway of the restaurant. He drank from the pool and got rhino slobber in the water we had just been swimming in. He then walked over to where some guys were sitting outside having some drinks. They sat calmly as it approached until one of them couldn't stand it any longer and got up and rushed to the safety of the restaurant. The other two were right on his heels.
After nearly toppling their table the rhino strolled over to where our chalet was ( in the background of the photo) and lay down behind it and took a nap.
There are only about 3600 black rhinos left in existence. We were very lucky to have had this experience.