After doing a few things to prepare, the plan was to leave Maun in the afternoon and drive out of town with our friends, Angela and Graham Young. Graham is the village trust manager for that area, which takes him in and out of the concession regularly. Note the decal on the truck he uses below.
Just as we were locking the door to go, Colin got a call for a charter the next day and agreed to take it. So, Julie grabbed a few of her things from our packed Pajero and jumped in the truck with the Young's. The truck was a regular open air safari truck that many of the tour operators use. Driving in an open air truck, reminded her in some ways of days gone by traveling in open boats on the Yukon River. Very invigorating! After getting there, we drove around seeing wildlife as we gathered fire wood for our evening meal.As we sat around the fire that night, we heard some commotion in the bushes and then a loud purring noise. Shortly after, while we were still chatting around the fire, we heard a soft roar of a lion nearby. We all froze and got very quiet, then Graham cheerfully stood up and said charmingly in his Welsh accent, "Well, I think it is time to put the kettle on the fire." In other words, "Let's just relax and have a spot of tea." In the morning we found the lion tracks to be very close and just on the edge of our camp. We were also visited in the night by a resident honey badger.
The next morning we ate breakfast and headed out with Graham as he made his rounds to different areas of the concession. We saw lots of impala, elephant, giraffe, warthogs, and zebra. Also, we saw a group of Tesesabe pictured below.
In addition to animals, we got to visit some of the special use lodges and camps on the concession. After we returned to the Kaziikini camp ground, Graham gave a tour of the cultural village site constructed for tourists. There were a number of traditional huts in a reed enclosed area.
There were items used to clean millet.
Also, a container to store millet and next to the container is a fish basket. It is lowered into the water to bring up fish.
This is a dead fall trap to catch smaller animals.
By the time we returned from the village tour, Colin had arrived and the sun was starting to set. We all stayed in the few traditional huts at the camp ground, rather than pitching a tent.
The huts were simple and clean.
Just before dark, we went to a nearby water hole. Along the way there was a elephant warning sign, as elephants are everywhere.
At the water hole was a young elephant taking in a long drink. This photo does not really give an idea of how large it was for a teenager.
If you click on the photo below to enlarge it, you may get a better idea of the how big the elephant was. It is in the background on the left.
Once again, we cooked our dinner on the fire and visited into the night. The honey badger returned while we were cooking dinner, but the lions waited until we went to bed for the night. In August it is still winter here and it was quite chilly in the morning. Colin was up early to get the fire going, and soon after we all gathered by the fire in the sun to get warm. Angela and Graham are pictured below warming in the morning sun.
Since Graham took over as manager of the trust a year ago, he has been gradually finding ways to improve the campsite. Below is the reception building getting a new thatched roof and reed siding.
A couple weeks after our trip to the Kazakiini Campsite, we decided to take a day trip to see if we could find Lake Ngami. It would be our third attempt. The FMS chief pilot had recently stayed with us for a week, and had given us some direction after he did a day trip to the lake during his stay. On the road south west from Maun, the bridge had washed out with the high water so we had to take a detour over the old bridge.
Note the sand bags piled on the sides for support and the strength of the currents passing through the culverts.
Since there is no road sign marking the entrance to the lake, we were told to look for the car door about 95 kilometers from Maun.
We found the car door and turned off the tar road to follow the sand track into the lake.
All we found at the end of the sand track was a bunch of cows and the lake water flooded up into the trees. Spring has arrived and there was pollen all over the water.
We continued on our quest and drove into the village of Sehithwa to ask for directions. There was an old man walking with a cane, so we gave him a ride and he pointed us down another road that he said would take us to the lake. When we got to the end of the road there was a group of school students on a field trip from Francistown that had also been looking for the lake.
The road just ended at the edge of more water, as the lake is flooded way beyond its perimeters.
One of the escorts that accompanied the group on the field trip, snapped a picture of us together.
Our hope was to see the large lake as a whole, so we traveled on an old gravel road that goes on the back side of the lake. There were some hills on the road, so when we got on top of one Colin got on top of our Pajero to see if he could see the large mass of water that makes the lake as a whole. By then it was late afternoon, and we could not find a way to see the whole lake. We realized that to truly grasp the size of the flooded lake, it may just be something that has to be seen from the air. The picture below is of Colin searching for the lake from on top of our car.
The flight schedule has continued to remain very busy. That is good, as all the profits go to help people in need through the Flying Mission care ministries in Gaborone. Colin always takes the time to explain that to the many tourist he flies out to different camps. The family pictured below had brought pencils, caps, and Juicy Fruit gum from London to give to children they hoped to encounter on their trip. Realizing they were headed home and had leftover items, they generously left a bag of items for us to use in our ministry in Maun. The kids and people here really appreciate even the littlest things we have to offer.
As was mentioned earlier in this blog, elephants are everywhere and Colin can regularly show passengers groups of them from the air as he flies back and forth from Maun.
Even when parked at Jack's Camp on an overnight, he had elephants tromping all around the plane. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, there are elephant prints on top of the truck tracks right up to the wing of the plane pictured below.
It is always a highlight for Colin to fly to the remote San bushman village of Xai Xai (pronounced Ky Ky) that is north west of Maun. On a recent flight he was delayed while waiting to pick up a mobile safari group, who were late in their arrival. It did not bother him, as he always enjoys the people and little children that come to the landing strip. It is not uncommon to see many of the young children caring for and packing around a sibling.
The children are always fascinated with the plane and Colin spent time entertaining them. He even allowed them to sit politely in the plane while they asked questions.
You can tell by the picture below, that it was no small gathering of children that turned out that day.
There was a large veld fire that burned most of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park that Colin flies over almost daily to go to Jack's Camp. One day he flew over and everything was as usual, then the next day he flew over and most everything was burnt black. It is mostly open grass lands with a few palm trees. The fire does not harm the trees and the grass will be growing back in a few weeks.
Even our favorite camp site at Njuca Hills was burned. All you can still recognize is the roads in and out of the camping spots.
With the fires, came dust devils that reached up to 5,000 feet. See them swirling in the distance in the picture below.
Every month we are able to provide a ministry of hospitality to different people passing through Maun. The last week of August, two Rescue One EMTs stayed at the flats on our property for two nights before participating in a special country wide event. They were providing medical support for the week long "Journey of Hope" breast cancer campaign. Twelve Vesper motor scooters traveled from Maun, Gweta, Nata, Francistown, Serowe, Palapye, Mahalapye, and finished in Gaborone. FMS in Gaborone helped to coordinate the ambulance and Rescue One team, and we were happy to host them here in Maun for a couple of nights.
The first of September quickly rolled around, and we were anticipating a visit from our old friend Tim Osborne. He had contacted us as he would be in Maun for that night, while picking up some clients he was transporting back to Namibia for a tour there. It was really good to see him, reminisce about old times in Galena, and catch up on current events also. We were disappointed that Laurel could not come though. When Tim left, they still had a client at their game farm so Laurel stayed behind to run their business. Tim is pictured below repacking his gear for the next day's journey.
The day after Tim left, Julie was hit with a terrible toothache. The tooth continued to get worse, so she had to fly down to Gaborone to see the dentist. It happened to be her birthday when an appointment was available, and it will certainly be a birthday to remember. She spent three hours in oral surgery when the tooth shattered while being removed. The highlight of it all was getting to spend time with the Spicer's in Gaborone. Deb Spicer is always there for Julie when needing to go to Gaborone. Once again, her compassion and help were greatly appreciated. Deb is pictured below with her daughter KG.
Many other friends here in Maun continued to call and text encouraging messages, as Julie returned to spend a number of days recuperating. One friend even brought a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers. During those days, she found this passage on a daily calendar. It was very appropriate. "Friends seem to be like aspirin: we don't really know why they make a sick person feel better, but they do."Just for fun, here are a few more snap shots of everyday life in Maun. The car in front has a bed on top of the roof. It was barely tied down and the driver was just crawling along the road while transporting it.
Another driver has the huge JoJo water tank balanced in the back of his truck. Again, the driver was just crawling along at a very slow speed.
Livestock is every where on the roads daily. In the next picture the on coming traffic is a small herd of horses.
We would appreciate prayer in a few areas. Julie is still in need of surgery on her thyroid and we are hoping to have something scheduled soon in Johannesburg, South Africa. Also, please keep her in prayer for continued healing after the extensive oral surgery she recently had. She is still very sore. The school break is over and Sunday school, in addition to Bible Club starts this week. These two main ministries will be Julie's primary focus for the next few months. All the children she has been working with are eager for the Bible lessons to start again. One of her previous students from Standard 4 has been coming to church regularly with us the last few weeks, and last week started bringing his little brother. It is so encouraging to see the openness here to the gospel. "The God we serve is able..." Daniel 3:17