Now you see it, now you don't

Because Russ finally got his papers in order last week (after spending over 20 hours at Immigration), we were able to leave the city with peace of mind and head out to Tuli Block for the weekend. We drove in caravan with Bill, Helen, and Zane five and half hours to the northeast into a remote corner of Botswana bordering South Africa and Zimbabwe. Southern African history buffs will likely recall the failed Jameson Raid (an ill-planned attack on the Boers from Cecil Rhodes and the British South Africa Company)which essentially ended Rhodes' plans to expand Rhodesia and the Cape to Cairo railroad.

We moved into a whole other climate zone and it was hard to believe we were still in the desert country of Botswana. While it was still hot, it was also quite humid. What was most noticeable though was how incredibly green it was. As we walked along the "green, gray, greasy Limpopo" river (Kipling's fairly accurate description), it felt like we were in the jungle with dense vegetation, spindling vines and low lying trees. This is high season for birding and Helen was keen to point out birds of particular interest such as the fish eagle, the woodland kingfisher, the starling, white-browed weaver, and red and yellow-billed hornbills.

However, it was low season for viewing animals because of all of the brush. We did manage to see several zebras, giraffe, warthog, waterbuck, kudu, impala, and wildebeest. Trouble was that poaching on the reserve is such a problem, the animals are a bit skitterish. We got mostly their backsides as they leapt back into the woods. We saw some fascinating smaller animals, such as the dwarf mongoose, tortoise, and chameleon. Oh, and a Mozambican spitting cobra, which startled us at about a meter's length. It was a baby and climbed up into a bush to make itself bigger. Even a cobra hood on a baby cobra is impressive and we kept a respectfully safe distance.

We ate well. Our krall consisted of three simple but well-decorated rondavels with a lovely grass lawn, and a separate outdoor kitchen lapa. We sat around a fire every evening and watched the stars. We napped, read, and took walks in the veld. Zane and Russ came across some animals on their treks. We played cards. Bill taught us how to play brag and that is our new favorite game. It rained at night, and we probably got ten inches over the course of three days, making for some really muddy roads. But the car handled it wonderfully.

We woke up early yesterday morning with strong feelings that the timing was not right to go to Zimbabwe today. It felt too rushed with Zane needing some help (his car is still not working) and then having to come back early to take care of some important business. Also, the traffic is quite tremendous given that everyone wants to leave town. So we contacted our friends in Harare to let them know that we will visit them later in January.

So we spent a good part of yesterday morning getting the car finally registered in our name. Ali, the son of our friends Khalid and Alla, sold us the car and was helpful in navigating the transfer process. It took us over an hour and half to find the right office, but once we were there, it was remarkably quick (unbelievable really given the long queues at every other government office we have ever been to here). When we brought Ali back home, we sat down to have Iraqi tea with his parents and then found out the big news - there is a major fuel shortage crisis in the country and most of southern Africa. What we know is that something happened to a refinery in South Africa and there is a severe shortage of unleaded fuel. This explains the extremely long lines at some gas stations. People have been queuing in line for half the day only to find that there is no more petrol out until the next truck arrives. So, we could not have gone to Zimbabwe even if we had still wanted to. Fortunately, we still have half a tank to get us around town.

It brought back a strange deja vu. I was only a kid when the fuel shortage hit us in California. Odd license plate numbers fueled on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Even plates on the other days. There was a certain order to it. Yesterday what we saw was chaos. Not the coup d'etat chaos so common in other parts of Africa. Just pandemonium. The Botswana Defense Force (with their automatic rifles, which is a fairly common sight in Africa anyway) had been called out and were blocking people from entering gas stations or mall parking lots that had access to the stations. This caused incredible traffic jams on major road. We however were able to avert most of it and got many errands done.

Like making copies of our car registration and passports and getting them certified at the Broadhurst police station. Across the street is the Broadhurst mall, which is our favorite shopping area because it is so African. This is where I find really delicious tomatoes and grapes, cheaper than at the markets (who have recently inflated their prices for Christmas and everyone's big end-of-year paycheck). There is an outdoor flea market with stalls of food and new and used items, as well as a regular indoor mall. There is always good gumba-gumba music blaring from one stereo box or another.

We checked out what the two big hotels in town are serving for Christmas lunch and may choose to go to one of those. It is way too hot to cook anything.

So we will be here through Christmas weekend and then see how things go next week. We might go to South Africa for 7-10 days and do a little camping. A lot of it will depend on the gas situation. We are enjoying the quiet complex and having time on our own.