The Amazing Race: Botswana

Last year, right around the time I heard I received the Fulbright and would be moving to Botswana, The Amazing Race was showing on television.  The show sent teams on a race through Maun, in northern Botswana.  Since I have several visitors scheduled to come visit in the next few weeks I asked the professor with whom I co-teach at UB to put me in touch with the San Bushmen from the show.  (My professor friend is a Bushman from that area.)  I am happy to report my guests will be participating in our own version of The Amazing Race! Amanda and Ashleigh, feel free to watch this video to witness the contestants attempting to harvest scorpions and start a fire from elephant dung.  There will be a test, so I recommend taking notes.

Ian Darke Calls a Date

One of the many courses I typically teach is Marketing.  I enjoy teaching that subject because there is so much creativity companies use to make people remember their brand.  Today ESPN released a video of Ian Darke, one of their football (soccer) commentators, “calling a date” in an effort to advertise the 2014 FIFA World Cup which will start in about 10 weeks.  I would love for this guy to come follow me around and commentate for a day. While “Calling a Date” was interesting, I would love to see what he could come with for “An American in Africa”:

“I Love Christmas Down in Africa”

This morning I left on my camping trip around Namibia.  I don’t anticipate having any Internet access during the next week and a half, so my blog will be going dark for a bit. Since I won’t be back online until after Christmas, I wanted to share this with all of you now.  My Uncle Dan sent me this holiday compilation video with a special African twist.  I hope you enjoy.

My 100th Blog Post from Africa: Happy Thanksgiving!

For those of you out there diligently reading my blog posts every weekday, thank you for being a loyal follower.  Today is Thanksgiving in America and this is the 100^th blog post since I moved to Africa four months ago.  In honor of this occasion, and more importantly, because I took some really cool videos while I was in Uganda, I put together a brief compilation of some of my experiences there.

Not everything I did in Uganda is in the video as I couldn’t record certain things, but I would like to acknowledge the following organizations which made my trip very memorable:

Encounter Africa Safaris which organized my trip, accommodation and travel partner to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to see the gorillas. http://www.gorilla-tracking-uganda.com/about-uganda-gorilla-safari-company.html

Uganda Wildlife Authority which provided the guide, porters and escorts during our gorilla trek. http://www.ugandawildlife.org

The Department of Tourism at Makerere University where I guest lectured for two days.

Uganda Bicycle which gave me a great workout mountain biking through the muddy streets of Kampala. http://www.ugandabicycle.com

Ricky’s Boda Boda Tours which gave me an excellent tour of Kampala on the back of a very safe boda boda (motorbike). http://www.kombitours.com/kampalabodatours

Ndere Cultural Center where I had dinner on my last night in Kampala and watched an impressive dance troupe representing different ethnic groups from all around Uganda. http://ndere.com

Holland Park in Jinja, the beautiful B&B where I stayed in Jinja, the source of the Nile. http://www.hollandparkuganda.com

***Disclaimer: Please be aware I was in no way compensated by these organizations for mentioning them on my blog.  Also, I found all of them through my own devices and did not receive any discounts or free services.  There is absolutely no ulterior motive in my naming these companies.  They all just made my trip a great experience, and in the event anyone reading this decides to visit Uganda I highly encourage you to consider using any of these businesses.  If I am fortunate to visit Uganda again in the future I expect I will be contacting most, if not all, of these companies again.

And now… for my video.  Enjoy:

Lost in Translation

I have been making great strides to improve my Setswana speaking abilities.  Unfortunately my efforts have yet to yield any real success.  Some days I feel like I am actually getting worse.  Today was one of those days.

In my 8am class, the class I co-teach, my students were doing presentations.  One of the presentations was particularly poor and the students had no qualms about telling their peers how disappointed they were with their performance.  Since I fulfill more of a supporting role, I followed the lead of the major professor.  He didn’t make an effort to curb the enthusiasm of the class and permitted them to be very vocal in their criticism.  As the debate became more and more heated, the students reverted back to their native tongue, leaving me completely lost.  However, I have the false belief that if I listen and concentrate hard enough when this sort of thing happens that somehow I will comprehend what is going on around me.  Sadly, this tactic does not work.  This was noticed by my pupils as one girl turned to another and said, “Oh look, Dr. Kelly doesn’t understand.”

After the debate finally subsided the professor kept using a Setswana word, “Rragawa” which basically means, “Do you understand?”  This was a new word for me, so I wrote it down, checked with someone that I had the correct meaning and pronunciation, and then went about trying to utilize it on my own.  That was where the plan fell apart.  In my noon class (which I teach independently) I asked the class “Rragawa?” Silence, then laughter.  No one had a clue what I was saying.  I had been so proud of myself that I had learned a new word, and now all of a sudden my hopes were dashed.  I told them I was trying to ask them if they understood me.  I was given about 10 different alternate words and phrases, but none of them sounded remotely similar to “Rragawa.”  This is not the first time this has happened, but my students are good sports and like me enough that they don't hold it against me when I embarrass myself on a regular basis.

Once class was over I headed to driving school.  Did I tell you my instructor’s name? Duckpound.  Yup, pronounced exactly like it sounds: duck-pound.  Duckpound does not speak English.  That’s actually not true.  His English is limited to, “Are you having a husband?... I am good guy, we should kick it… I will come to your place for dinner and drinks.”  “Yes I have a husband; no we will NOT be kicking it; no, you cannot come to my house for dinner and drinks.”  Duckpound and my driving lesson pretty much solidified my belief that Setswana may be my Everest.  After my driving lesson I decided there was no turning back; I hitched a ride to Alliance Francaise and signed myself up for Setswana lessons.

Nearly every day here brings with it a Lost in Translation moment for me.  If you haven’t seen the movie, it has an excellent depiction of my efforts to speak Setswana.  I am Bill Murray; the Japanese guy is pretty much every Motswana I meet here. And the two Japanese women laughing in the background represent anyone witnessing my attempts to have a conversation in Setswana:

Who Needs Zumba when there is Laundry to do?

If my mother were to visit the White House or Buckingham Palace I guarantee within the first 30 seconds of her stay she would identify no less than half a dozen ways in which the staff could improve their housekeeping efforts.

However, my mother’s true talent lies in doing laundry.  And not only is she good at it, she LOVES IT. Really, it is almost a hobby for her. When I go back to visit my mom takes great joy in asking daily, “Do you have any laundry? I’m going to do some laundry today, so give me what you have.  What about what you are wearing right now? Maybe I should wash it.” “I’m still wearing it.” “Well, take it off and I’ll wash it.  You know no one does laundry as well as I do.  My children are always the cleanest kids around.”

If my mother were to see me now she would disown me.  Here in Botswana laundry is not so simple.  The first challenge is the fact we have no grass, and lots of dirt.  And we walk everywhere. So, by default our clothes get dirty very quickly.  There is a reason everyone in Africa wears khaki.  A friend of mine wore a pair of navy trousers to work one day and by the time he arrived it looked like he had spent the morning rolling around in the dirt. No doubt any local who saw him that day took one look and thought to themselves, "Tsk, tsk, rookie mistake."

In college all the laundry rooms on campus were full on Sunday nights because everyone would wait until the last minute and then realize they had no clean clothes to wear to class the following morning.  Here procrastination isn’t an option.  You have to plan ahead for two reasons: washing and drying.  Once the wash is done you have to hang it outside to dry.  And if you’ve never done this before, the television commercials that say, “Your clothes will be so soft and fresh it’s as if they were dried in the sun” are lies.  Clothes which hang dry are stiff and scratchy, not soft.

But before you can enjoy your scratchy, dry clothes, they must be washed. This is not as easy as you might expect because they must be washed by hand.  And not only are they washed by hand, but you have to ensure you plan ahead which day you will wash them because of water restrictions.  We only have water four days a week here, so washing clothes, dishes, taking showers, or doing anything else involving water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays is nearly impossible.

I’m not sure how many of you have actually done your laundry by hand before, but there is a certain amount of art involved in the process.  Here is a video of me explaining and demonstrating how I do my laundry.  Enjoy:

There’s no place like home, or is there?

Here in Botswana I have a number of friends. A few expats, but mostly Batswana friends. When the other expats and I get together we occasionally exchange stories about things we just don’t understand here. A recent conversation with another American professor centered around meetings. Why do the meetings always start an hour late? Why is there so much formality involved in meetings? If you’ve already stated your opinion, why waste time in the meeting by reiterating your view, again, and again, and AGAIN!? Often these expat venting sessions end with a shrug of the shoulders, because we know we can’t change an entire culture, and a common exclamation, “There’s no place like home” or “Makes me appreciate home.”

This evening I was on my regularly scheduled, daily Skype chat with my BFF. As we were talking I was skinning a sweet potato. Lo and behold I had the surprise of my life. The sweet potato wasn’t orange inside, it was white.

This was my reaction:

I told him about it and he was equally stunned. Then he started telling me about cotton candy grapes. Apparently regular grapes are selling for $2.99 a pound in the U.S., while these new cotton candy grapes are $7.99/lb. The idea of fruit that tastes like candy is criminal to me. After our Skype session I decided to check out the cotton candy grapes for myself. According to the sources I found online, it took eight years to develop this “hybrid” fruit which has 12% more sugar than normal grapes.

My dinner this evening consisted of my white sweet potato, asparagus and a burger made from 100% Batswana beef. It was delicious. I’ve made this exact meal before, many times, in the U.S. But tonight as I sat there eating it I began to think about how much better it tasted then all the times I’ve made it back home. I’m guessing it’s because the cows here roam around all day and eat grass, instead of eating corn while standing still. And the sweet potato and asparagus likely did not have nearly as many pesticides and chemicals as American sources do.

In many instances I would agree that “There is no place like home.” But if there is one thing I like better here it is definitely the food.

University of Botswana 2013 graduation

This weekend was graduation here at the University of Botswana. Yes, it is the middle of the semester, but UB always does its graduation ceremony in early October. The graduates completed their classes and exams back in June, but had to wait until now to receive their diplomas.

Graduation was interesting, to say the least. First off, it was scheduled to begin at 6am. No one could explain to me exactly why it was so early in the day, but I was told, “That’s the way it’s always been.” But after arriving there I think part of the reason may have been the heat. And I was lucky because I got to sit under the tent with the faculty, so while I felt the heat I wasn’t subject to having the sun beating down on me which was a relief.

There was a lot of pomp and circumstance, as is typical with any official event here. And plenty of speeches. Though graduation began late, also very typical here in Africa, sometime after 8am, they surprisingly got through it rather quickly. It took only three hours for 3,076 graduates. Yes, that figure is correct. Here are some pictures with commentary.

The ceremony took place in the UB stadium, so here are graduates waiting in the stands for the ceremony to begin:

I took this picture at about 6:45am. As you can see the stands filled with families included lots of umbrellas to shield them from the sun:

After each and every speech, and there were easily close to a dozen of them, the Botswana Defense Force (BDF) band played “fanfare:”

Here were the faculty dressed up in their robes, which were much more fancy than what we have in the U.S.:

This was something I didn’t understand very well. Nothing says, “I love University of Botswana” like sitting on the school seal:

And then here is a video so you can get an idea as to what the graduation was actually like. As you can see here there was lots of shouting and yelling and cheering, which is to be expected. What you don’t hear is anyone calling the names of the students. As you can see, the graduates walk up in pairs, bow in front of the Deans, and then keep walking. At the end of this video you can also see the stage where the Deans were sitting, they all look like they are having an awesome time:

Off to the Maasai Mara

My conference is over.  I had a great time, but I am ready to go home to Gaborone.  Overall I think Kenya was a good host country for the conference.  The event had a very African feel to it in terms of the topics discussed, the food served, the hospitality and the entertainment.  Here is a video of local dancers from the Kenyan Night event.  Be sure to take notice of the Maasai Warrior sitting at the front table on the lower left side:


Though the conference is over I’m not leaving Kenya quite yet. Tomorrow I am headed to Maasai Mara.  The Mara is adjacent to the Serengeti in Tanzania.  Right now the Great Migration of wildebeest and zebra is taking place, so I’m told we may see thousands of animals on their way south.  The Mara is also well known for its lions, leopards and cheetahs, so I’m really looking forward to seeing some big cats.  No doubt I will have some more pictures to share soon.

A Visit to The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage

Yesterday I went on a tour in and around Nairobi with eight other people who were attending the Ecotourism Conference with me.  Despite starting late we were fortunate enough to see a number of really great places here.  We did a game drive in Nairobi National Park which was fun, but after having gone on safari in Botswana it really is true we have the best (and most) animals.  There were several Europeans in the group who wanted to see the Karen Blixen Museum, which for those who may not be familiar is the home and estate of the woman who wrote the novel Out of Africa.  Here is a picture, which you may recognize from the movie:

And we also went to the Africa Fund for Endangered Wildlife- Giraffe Center where we were able to feed the giraffes:

However, the highlight of the tour for me was definitely seeing the baby elephants:

I mentioned in a past blog post that Kenya has a serious problem with illegal poaching. In fact, the terrorist attack that took place here only a few days ago was partially funded by elephant poaching.  In the first six months of this year nearly 200 elephants were illegally killed for their ivory here in Kenya.  Despite significant attempts to halt poaching, including a national anti-poaching campaign called, “Hands Off Out Elephants,” it continues and experts predict all wild elephants in Kenya will be extinct within the next decade.

In many cases, poachers are looking for mature elephants with large tusks when they select their prey.  Since male elephants often exist in solitary, female elephants are targeted because several females are present in a herd, making it easy for poachers to obtain multiple sets of tusks at a time.  Baby elephants don’t have tusks until they are 1-2 years old, and even at that point; their tusks are so small the poachers don’t waste their time collecting them.  This means a lot of little elephants are left orphaned.  This is a big problem because without milk for the first few years of life the baby elephants won’t survive.

This is where the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust comes in.  The DSWT sponsors an elephant orphanage adjacent to Nairobi National Park.  Whenever a baby elephant is found without a mother, the DSWT flies to whatever park of the country the baby is located, brings it to the orphanage and raises it until about age 3.  Currently the Elephant Orphanage is home to 31 elephants between 3 weeks and 2½ years old.  Once the elephants reach about 3 years old they are reintroduced to the wild, which takes approximately five years.  Though this seems very costly and time intensive, the orphanage has a 98% success rate in rearing and reintroducing the elephants back into the wild.  And since elephants live to be about 70 years old, that is almost a tenfold return on investment in terms of time.

Here is a short video I shot of some of the baby elephants being fed at the orphanage. Enjoy: