Khama Rhino Sanctuary

We just got back from the National Khama Rhino Sanctuary. Apparently all the rhinos were dying in Botswana (mainly poachers) so Khama, the first president of the country, decided to set aside land and create a true Rhino Sancutuary. Some rich guy was persuaded by the Botswana Government to donate his land near Serowe, and they brought over 33 white rhinos and 3 black rhinos from across the country to habit the area. It's about a 16 square mile area that has 3 prominent watering holes, all naturally formed (but sometimes abetted by pump water when the land is particularly dry). It was cool to hear the Batswana tour guide talk about her country, the history of the sanctuary, and the rhinos; there was more than a trace of pride in it. A little different experience than the luxury of Madikwe.

We took a bus from Gabs to Serowe (4 hour ride, relatively pleasant once we got going on the A1 main highway). We wandered through the main mall at Serowe once we alighted, and ran into a nice indian aunti who pointed us toward the Tshwaragano Hotel, which is built into the hill that houses His Excellency Sir Seretse Khama's grave. It does provide a nice view of the whole town ("the biggest village in Botswana" we were told). It was a cute bed&breakfast that served us chips and beans&toast, along with milk, juice, tea, and fruit. They were quite baffled when we said "no eggs or meat" but managed to get the breakfast right in the end. :)

Getting to the right place was no problem, but once we got there we were sort of stared at blankly. It's something that I've noticed a lot about Batswana, something that Mosepele warned me about before we left -- I called it "underhandedness." The lady at the front desk basically said nothing and waited for us to explain why we were there. We tried to ask about any game drives departing soon, and she continued to stare at us blankly, then in an exasperated soliloquy to no one in particular, said "some people are just very difficult to understand." It would have been much more pleasant for her to directly ask me what I said, or to repeat something; but in Botswana people tend to wait for you to figure out that they're confused and want something more from you. It's as if we're supposed to take very subtle cues from the head movement, or body position, or respiratory rate, or something else that I must be missing...!

In any case, we ended up having 3 hours to kill before the next game drive. It rained on and off for those few hours while we chillaxed at the Sanctuary, but when it came time for our game drive the weather cooperated very nicely. Jyoti took this artistic picture of a tweetie bird's nest (apparently they're called "yellow weavers").

There was also this blue-monarch looking butterfly interspersing with some angry looking hornets around the swimming pool. Yes, we could probably use a lesson in entymology (it's blue, and has eyes like a monarch butterfly...).

A lot of the animals we had seen already (Kuru, Impala, ostrich, spring bok, etc.) so although we continued to take lots of pictures (what do you do with a 4 GB disk drive anyway?), I will only post some interesting pics. This one is a bird looking into the distance, enjoying the shade of a brightly lit cloud.

Here's Jyoti with a background of zebra. We learned that Botswana Zebra have not just black and white, but brown as well, whereas South African Zebra have just black and white.

And of course, what would a Rhino Sanctuary be without rhinos? We did see a few white rhinos, but no black rhinos. I like the bird just chilling at the feet of the baby rhino (2 yr old; after 1 more year with her mom she'll go off on her own!).

We also encountered a cool new species of gazelle called "Oryx." I love the black stripes. Probably the coolest animal I saw at the sanctuary.

And here's the sun setting on us as we leave the Sanctuary...