Travel Notes: Southern Africa

Welcome! It's been a while since I've written (last post on "Pdogg's Pages" was 4/22/08, a beautiful memory of Oasis Chiyu in Central Guatemala!). I seem to only find time to write when I'm traveling, so I've named the new Blog appropriately.

I am now in Southern Africa (Botswana x5 weeks; South Africa x2 weeks). It's my first time south of the equator, and I am eager to test the Coriolis Effect.

After a grueling 28 hour journey I finally arrived in Gaborone, the capitol city of Botswana, a full 25 minutes early. This meant that my driver (commissioned from the Botswana-UPenn Partnership, or BUP) was not there, and I had some time to kill. A large, loud, fun-loving Gujarati family was on the plane (one dadima, two uncles, two auntis, and two kids) from Joburg to Gaborone, and there was much rejoicing when another family (one uncle, one aunti, and four kids) came to pick them up at the airport. I didn't want to feel left out, and I was new and alone in this large (hah) city, so I went up to the uncle (Harshad Uncle) and introduced myself. He let me borrow his cellphone and I called the driver, who confirmed he was almost there, and got myself (and Jyoti) and invitation to their house for dal-baath whenever we wanted. His son goes to college at UChicago, and I promised to email him when I got back.

This story may seem bizarre, but as I've traveled all over the world, I have to agree with my dad when he says that Indians can be among the friendliest group of people -- certainly true for other Indians, but really towards anyone. I'm looking forward to seeing the Indian influence and culture here in Africa. I do get to spend 3 days by myself in Durban at the tail end of the trip (27% Indian!).

Re: travel plans within Botswana, I think Luke has convinced me that the Okavango Delta is a region that cannot be missed; and given how far away it is (taxi=>plane=>taxi=>plane=>canoe) Jyoti and I figured it won't be possible to do in just a weekend trip when she gets here. So I decided to fly out to Maun tomorrow, and spend a few days exploring the flora/fauna of the Delta. I'm very excited, and should be able to take a bunch of pictures to share soon.

Speaking of pictures, here is the first installment.