in the okavango delta

hej folks.

well, i am telling you, it is not easy to find a cheap tour into the delta. but the delta and maun as well, they are expensive. i would have liked to spend a few nights in the delta, but unfortunaltelly, i8 couldn’t make it.

instead, i went on a mokoro-tour. a mokoro is a little boat with which polers take you through the tiny, tiny cannels that run through the eastern delta, that is thickly covered by reed.

during the day, it is hard to see animals in the delta. they would all come out mostly in the early cool hours of the morning. the special experience of a mokoro trip is the unique quietness of the boat trip. you would feel like you are completely alone in the world. besides, you can still see some nice birds… you know how much i love that;).

still, i was lucky to see at least some very amazing ones: giraffes and a hippo.

african attire

Kgaphamadi

I would have loved to put so many pictures online… but you will never believe how long this one allready took me. so, you and me will have to wait for more village experience to come.

the other day, we went to kgaphamadi. it is a settlement near pakalane in the south-west of botswana. above, you see the hut of a sangoma, a traditional healer. my chef speakes very badly of them. for him and many other christians sangomas use evil powers with which they might heal or not heal illnesses or sickness. but in the long run, they will bring distress to the people.

kgaphamadi is one of the poorer villages around. there is still no public transport and the kids walk to school every day – 10 kms there and 10 kms back. also, they don’t have running water or electricity and will have to walk for hours to fetch water.

we went to kgaphamadi as my chef likes to give out food baskets to the poorer lot of the village. that is, what we have been doing that day.

as for me, i mostly enjoyed seeing rural life. the diversity between town and village life is immense. in the towns you would feel like in your average european town, in the villages you finally arrive in africa – with all its good and bad sides. you will find solidarity next to outrange poverty.

in the villages, you will find traditionally kitchens. they would be quare compounds without roof, where the women would cook on fire wood.

life in the villages, doesn’t change much. you would wake up int he mornings, cook your breakfast and afterwards you would have time to go to see your neighbours. when there is work to do, you would normally do it in the wee hours of the mornings, as it is getting hot fast during the day. there are different things to do during the day, from ploughing the fields to cattle and goat herding.

i realized, i would be totally bored just after a few days, if i was living a life like that one. i do have so many possibilities how to organize my day, that people here will never know.

Maun

I arrived savely in Maun. I came by bus yesterday. The jounrey from gaborone took me close to 12 hours and now i’m excited looking forward looking the okavango delta up here in the north.

i will let you hear soon.

take good care of yourself.

meetings the chiefs

some time back, i had met the paramount chief of tlokweng, who is also the chairmen of the house of chiefs that advises parliament on certain issues. i came back today to say goodbye as i will be leaving tlokweng on monday, going up north.

on saturday, of of kgosi gaborones deputy chiefs, kgosi moses, had come to the wccc, where i work and joined a widows and widower breakfast we had had. we were cooking breakfast for widowed poor and giving out food baskets and clothing afterwards.

today, i cam back to the kgotla, the local government as you might call it, although that wont quite catch what the kgotla is all about. i came to speak to kgosi moses about last saturday and his long carrier in government and army. he is almost 80 years, now, and had quite a few stories to tell… years ago, he had met germans somewhere in tansania and still knew to great me with “guten tag” and “guten morgen”.

also, kgosi gaborone took some time for me, after i had booked an appointment with him a few days earlier. he told me to invite him to germany once and to come back to say hello, when i’m back in botswana. i would like do to both, although both requires money i don’t have right now.