Study Abroad, Botswana

We will not have access to Wi-Fi for several days, so here comes a long post!

Today was our last day at Thakadu, so we thought we would reflect upon our time here in Botswana so far and write about what we look forward to.

After almost two full days of airplanes and layovers, we arrived at the tiny Maun airport. Most of us, except for Alistair and Jenna (who got delayed), spent two nights at the Okavango River Lodge. Many of us slept in family-style chalets which included indoor bathrooms, mosquito nets, and raised beds: the most luxurious accommodations for the forthcoming six weeks. Early in the morning, we packed into open-air safari vehicles and after a 7-hour trek, arrived at Thakadu Bush Camp just outside of Ghanzi, where we have been since. We have been sleeping in tents, cleaning ourselves in open-air showers, and eating in a mess tent for about three weeks in the middle of this private game reserve. As a small group of sixteen students spending so much time together, we have grown incredibly close: we can all recognize each other’s voices and can impersonate each other seamlessly, we can recognize each other’s gait at a distance, and even whose water bottle clanks in which way. We really have become a close-knit, caring community and look forward to continuing our friendships back in Austin.

Aside from fostering meaningful connections, this program has been incredibly academically stimulating and enriching so far. While at Thakadu we had the privilege of engaging with a group of San people who taught us about their culture and allowed us to celebrate it with them. The group led a walk through the bush around camp, digging up roots and showing us special plants while telling us about their traditional medicinal uses. Later that night (Thursday) we attended a cultural dance, learning about San music and even joining in on the physically demanding dance around the fire.

A large part of our participation in this program has been assisting ongoing research carried out on plots all around the property by conducting vegetation surveys, weighing biomass, and even helping build a fence for one of the research plots–as you can see on previous blog posts. To complement our hands-on field work, we have also prepped data sheets for processing and entered our recorded data onto Excel sheets for the continuation of Dr. Meyer and Dr. Crews’ ongoing research on Kalahari vegetation response to climate change. With all that we have learned, many of us are enjoying thinking about how to apply our newly acquired skills in our own lives: our resumes will see some improvement with real-world experience that can help make us more competitive candidates for research positions.

Here at the camp, we have been lucky enough to have a peek at Botswana’s rich wildlife. Just in the short time we’ve been here, we have seen: ostriches, mongooses, kudu, springbok, impala, eland, wildebeests, Guinea fowls, zebras, and even two giraffes (caught on Dr. Meyer’s wildlife night camera). Our next journey, for which we leave bright and early tomorrow morning, is to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. We are surely going to see many more animals in the protected area with almost no human presence. Keep posted for pictures! We will be staying at Camp Deception, which is where Mark and Delia Owens, authors of our class-assigned book Cry of the Kalahari, conducted seven years of ground-breaking research in the 1970’s.

We should be getting access to Wi-Fi next Friday or Saturday, 23/24^th of June.

Reflections (and funny quotes) about our time in Botswana so far:

Shawn

“For me, my time here has been especially great for getting real-world, civilian experience relevant to the field I want to enter. I am most looking forward to seeing the larger animals at Camp Deception and later in Khwai: gemsbok, giraffes, lions, elephants, buffalo…”

Kiara

“I’ve had so much fun, and now I can put ‘vegetation analysis’ on my resume!”

Juan

“To be honest… this has been an experience overall. I built a fence. Learned some plants. Cut some grass. Still haven’t seen a giraffe, though. Not gonna lie, I’m looking forward to seeing some!”

Kelsey

“I love sitting around the campfire and listening to stories. My favorite ones are: Shawn’s dung beetle story and Steph not realizing that a pickle is actually a cucumber. We have also played some quality pranks, one being a scavenger hunt that included me climbing a tree to hide something. Ga ke itse. (‘I don’t know’ in Setwana).”

Virginia

“Botswana has enabled my peanut butter addiction… For anyone who cares, Choppie’s is better than SPAR’s.” (different grocery stores in Ghanzi)
“I love what we do to peanut butter.” (we go through a 1 Kg tub per day)
“Our last couple of days have been full of hilarious pranks, including giving Alistair some extra lumbar support.” (Virginia, Stephanie, and Sophia put rocks under his mattress)

Hunter

“You have your peanut butter, I have Squillos.” (the SPAR equivalent of Nutella)

Casey

“Guess I should go buy some more chips.” Casey, right after he found out that we pranked him by emptying his bag of chips and taping it back shut.

Steph

“My time here has been unreal, as I have indulged in Ricoffee (FAKE COFFEE) and pranking with my fellow cohort. Looking forward to camping out with the lions in the heart of the Kalahari. PS if you ever go camping, give Wilderness Wash a go. Not only does it act as a dish wash, soap, laundry detergent, and body wash but shampoo too!”

Michelle

“Natalie, can you teach me how to French braid? (once the lessons begin) Oh, no… it grows!”

Thalia

“Ooh, grab that plant! We can press it!” (we have acquired an impressive collection of pressed plant species, thanks to Ferny and Thalia)

Natalie

“I love how close and how tan we’ve all gotten together.”
“We should make t-shirts!”

Alistair

“My glasses are updating.”
“These bugs are wack.” (we started keeping tally of how many bugs got into our soup at dinner)

Meagan

“You guys are all right.”

Ferny

“KE RATA!” (‘I like’ in Setswana)
“Actually, this tree species is ____.” (everybody would ask Ferny to identify species)

Sophia

“I’m writing this blog post, what’s your quote?”

Jenna

“Just come up with something… I’m busy watching Germany win.” (redacted)

Francisco (our T.A.)

“Make sure you name the blog files according to the format I gave y’all. It works with my code.”
“Stay hydrated.”

Daryl

“How can you tell if an elephant has been in your refrigerator? (dramatic pause) You’ll find footprints in the butter.” (an animal tracker joke)
“You see, pranks are the sort of thing that just happen.”

Thoralf
"It's time to get out of here."

To all the awesome dads out there, HAPPY FATHER DAY! (grammar inspired by frosted text on a cake at Choppie’s)