Narcisa needed to stop and do one interview at a lodge on the way down to the park so Daniel and I brought out laptops with us and studiously entered data while driving down. We reached the park around ten o’clock. The funny thing about these particular parks is that you have to go searching out the park offices – it’s not a simple pay to enter scheme. We came in the back way b/c the front way was too difficult with the amount of flooding that has occurred this year. The park we are visiting can be up to 80% covered by water during the rainy season. As such, we came across some bridges that needed crossing…these are not the lovely concrete/stone bridges that we all know and love…more like logs strung together with steel wire…or nothing at all. The first bridge we went across was the most sturdy…albeit it was also the longest. Gordon went across first in his baby Tracker and we followed in the ISUZU. Shortly thereafter there was another similar bridge that wasn’t too much of a pain. We then came up on another water channel that was a bit deeper although the water was clear for most of it. Getting down into and out of the channel was quite a steep drop off but after the Tracker managed to do it, it was hard for the ISUZU to turn its nose up at the crossing. We definitely sunk down a bit in soft sand and little water seeped into the bottom but no big deal – up we came on the other side and off we went on our African adventure.

We drove up to the park office and spoke to the park officials for awhile who were very friendly and helpful before we headed off to explore what the landscape looked like…which, by and by, is very different from the other areas we have been tromping around. The soil moisture in this park is a lot higher than the other areas and you can see a lot more green areas…the other thing you can see a lot of is wide expanses of grass areas with few trees and bushes – what I would think about when picturing an “African savanna.” We drove until we could drive no farther (stuck by a water channel that was not crossable) and had lunch right in the middle of a very large grassland – standing on top of a termite mound you could see grass all around and off in the distance was the tree line that bordered the water course that separated Botswana from Namibia.

After eating lunch we turned around and tried to find out way but were continually thwarted with unpassable river channels. We eventually turned around and started heading back…along the way we saw impala, elephant, buffalo, kudu…quite nice. We came up on the third of early water passages and off went the little tracker to do it’s thing. Then the ISUZU went off the steep, short incline into the water…almost immediately we were stuck with the nose down at an angle and the truck tilted to the right side. As soon as we dropped I felt a catch in my throat and reached down towards my boots…the funny thing about being in tense situations is the things I think about first…and the first thing I thought about was how I wanted my boots off if I had to get in the water….immediately on top of that thought was the amount of electronic equipment that was sitting between us in the backseat…figures the one day we bring our computers into the field…

As all these thoughts are racing through my head, I also noticed the water starting to seep into the car from Daniel’s side…he was like, okay water coming in, water to my ankles, water to my knees…c’mon, c’mon…meanwhile, I’m still fumbling with my damn shoes b/c it was so impt to get them off…but, of course struggling to even get them untied…meanwhile, Narcisa, Bill, and John are all wading into the water and everyone is like get out of the car and get the stuff out…I open my back side door only to see the water reaching the level of entry…I immediately took the plunge hoping it wasn’t so deep that I’d go under..thankfully, it was only waist deep…we started a train from poor Daniel stuck in the sinking truck handing me anything and everything important, me to Narcisa to Bill to whoever would take stuff to dry land. Paul, Daniel and I all scrambled out of the truck and then out of the water…I immediately grabbed my camera and turned around for a few shots…then decided maybe helping Binford as he continued sinking might be useful.

So everyone went back in the water (yes, wary eyes were looking around for the crocs) and got behind the tilted car with people standing in varying degrees of water depending on where they were and how tall….we all pushed while Binford accelerated but no luck…we then went around to the front of the truck and pushed back which was more successful…once back on the platform he had dropped off from, Binford was able to drive out of the water…yay!

Now we are all soaking wet from the waist down and standing around a car emptying itself of the massive amount of water that was collected in the cab and engine…while doing so, the alarm on the car short circuited and we had a lovely noise to contend with..the eventual solution to the alarm was to snip the wire to the horn…very technical I know but we could not find a driver’s manual. Decided during this time that the beers we had brought along would be best utilized if consumed. After getting most of the water out we headed off again..truck seemed to running fine, no alarm to contend with, and feeling good about the adventure. Came up on the baby wooden bridge and built Binford’s confidence back up by traversing across it with no problem. Came up on the big wooden bridge, watched the Tracker cross with no problem, got ready to go, and our truck died.

So, now I currently sit at the edge of Mamili National Park writing up my story…one reason why so long…have nothing else to do but twiddle my thumbs…i assume sometime tonight we will get help (Gordon went off in the little Tracker back to the lodge (hour away) for a bigger truck and some help. The guys (b/c I’m clueless and probably just in the way) have been tinkering with the engine since the engine died but to no avail. Think it’s connected to the silly short-circuited alarm system but can’t seem to fix the problem…ah well, just another day in Africa…

…the next day – just to top off the evening…George, the park manager, drove up while we were twiddling our thumbs and asked us if we were missing anything…and out from the back of his truck comes Binford’s backpack, complete with passport, airline tickets, etc….what a day…we did make it back to the lodge just after dark…Gordon came to our rescue with a reliable vehicle and a chest full of cold beer. Yay Gordon.

So, off we went in four vehicles – I was riding with Bill, Graham, and Brian in Graham’s own truck. The first part of the trip went well – we were even thinking we’d get in early enough to set up camp and do a practice transect before dark. At one point in the drive, I glanced out the side window and started spazzing – I was banging the window and yelling stop, stop, stop – near a pan (small body of water) there was a pack of wild dogs – this is something not often seen so was quite cool to take in – I couldn’t get it out of my mouth as to whether it was wild dog, jackal, or hyena. Anyway, we watched them for a bit (lazy and content under a set of trees) and then headed on. We passed the bridge (the bridge consisted of wooden logs set horizontally and vertically atop one another that creaked and bounced under the weight of vehicles) that would take us to the campsite…however, before heading that way, we first needed permission from the game warden. We continued up the sandy road (condition of the roads alternated between hard packed sand and completely not hard packed sand – as in Florida panhandle sand although different colors). We were in some of the really soft sand cruising along in second or third gear when WOMPH – we hit something hard and the back left side dropped and we were stuck. We got out and looked back to see the back left tire rolling down the road in the opposite direction – the whole entire wheel had come off the truck. Needless to say, this set us back a bit – the truck ahead of us had continued to drive down the road (the one who had the only person in the group who knew where we were camping for the night). We sent another vehicle after that truck while people worked on the wheel. I went off with another student (Bill) into the Mopani woodland to check things out and take a training sample (information to trace back to the satellite). Anyway, we finally got sorted out (with the wheel – quite an effort) and got back on the road. The whole ordeal cost us about an hour/hour and a half. We then drove around looking for the lead car – finally met up and headed to camp…got to the campsite in the pitch black but managed to get settled and fed and happy.

The next day we got up fairly early to head out to do some training samples. Logistics – no matter where we are – tend to be hazy and confusing which causes set backs on a regular basis. Despite this we manage to get some field work done and get a look at some vegetation change going on in the game reserve (this area has been a game reserve since 1962). Afterwards we did a game count in which we went off in our trucks to count as many animals as we could find…this effectively ended when we rounded the corner and found two lazy lions sprawled across the sandy road – this was the first time any of us had seen lion on the trip so everyone was very excited. We sat there watching the lions sleep, occasionally twitching and snorting due to the flies that surrounded them. One of the lions was sprawled on his back with legs splayed in the air…amusing. It was really something and kept us thoroughly entertained for a good half an hour. We finally headed back to camp – again arriving in the dark…this is something not highly recommended in the bush and yet we seem to do it on a regular basis. Go figure.

We woke up again decently early and headed out for more transects. We are driving along the road and low and behold, we round a bend to see five lions strolling down the road – quite remarkable and very cool…if anyone wasn’t awake by then this surely did it for them. The lions strolled right by our trucks and continued on their merry way and we continued along ours. The rest of the day was really good – doing multiple transects in the field has been extremely helpful in identifying different types of vegetation (I am fixated on a tree with the common name Kalahari Apple Leaf). We got done early enough to take a boat ride along the river which was extremely relaxing although not much in terms of wild life – however, no one need fear…we got back in the trucks to head back to camp and again saw the lions strolling along the road (the place where we kept seeing the lions takes you straight into our camp – which is where the lions headed). I only got one decent picture at night but uploaded the others b/c it catches the lions playing with each in the road…we eventually split off from the track they were taking and quickly made a fire at camp to keep them anywhere but with us for the night. Nighttime in the bush is something special – you get a fire going and sitting around listening to the sounds…a couple times jumping up to try to train the spotlight on the curious hyenas that were after our food (some issue during the day except with baboons – who, by and by, actually did make off with some food and get into a tent one day) and other times tilting your head back to find the Southern Cross and other constellations (some that people know…others that people swear exist…the more wine you drink, though, the more you can completely see where the other person is coming from in identification of the imaginary constellations).  The best part of the mornings is waking up to Rusks and tea – Rusks is a type of baked bread I have discovered that is an essential in the morning – great for dipping in hot tea.

The ease in which the wildlife (especially elephants) fade into the vegetation constantly astounds me. You can drive along and completely miss an elephant that is ten meters away just because you don’t see it…on the back roads we constantly are having to stop to allow elephants to cross…and giraffes. When we get to the tarmac (blacktop) the animals we slow down for are the cattle and donkeys. And on it goes…

The transects we wound up doing up in Linyanti were very useful in term of learning the vegetation of the area – I’ll probably know better the names of Southern African trees and shrubs than anywhere in the States. I think a lot of the names for vegetation would be great for pet names…just a thought.

This pattern subsisted for almost four hours with our boat consistently falling behind the smaller two boats. Around six o’clock, as complete darkness was quickly overtaking the fading light, the drivers switched boats so that Mike (another person knowledgeable about driving in the Delta) took over the helms of the big boat. Thus far, the boat ride had been extraordinary with water lilies dancing along and underneath the surface of the water and tall grasses stretching out across the horizon. Tree islands dotted the horizon and occasional wildlife could be seen off in the distance.

However, as dusk faded completely away Mike refrained from giving an actual arrival time to camp (arrival time had been about an hour for the majority of the ride even though we were heading into the sixth hour of driving), and people began to get nervous. And cold. Putting on all the extra gear available, people bunkered down into their seats and attentively watched as pitch darkness slowly surrounded the boats.

With Mike leading the way out boat shot out in front of the other two. We had to double back shortly after complete darkness b/c neither of the other two boats had headlamps. I was standing on the left side of Mike in the bigger boat illuminating the path ahead with the headlamp that I had tucked into a pocket at the beginning of the trip. Distributing a few other headlamps to the other two boats, the three boats stuck close together as we meandered our way slowly through the hippo channels. Mike had to navigate in complete darkness with the constant sweeping of the headlamp to light the path ahead. While the stars were unbelievably beautiful, it was not quite bright enough to steer by starlight.

Keeping a steady but fair pace our boat came out into a slightly open area. Still in the lead we cruised ahead towards where the channel narrowed down again. The other two boats were about 150 yards behind us. Suddenly someone at the front of the boat yelled hippo! Before anyone could react, the boat broadsided the hippo, with the starboard side of the boat lifting up as we went over the hippo. I was positioned on the left side of the boat and my next conscious thought after the boat struck the hippo was, how the fuck did I get in the water? When the boat struck the hippo on the starboard side, I was immediately knocked off the portside into the water. Landing on my back, I came up sputtering and gasping for breath in the frigid water. Almost immediately I looked towards my boat and started to swim towards it. The absolute last place I wanted to be was in the water. I realized within a couple seconds that I would not reach my boat quickly as they were continuing to move away (even while Mike was trying to reverse). I turned myself around and started swimming towards the next boat coming down the channel. It’s a surreal feeling…I could hear voices yelling across the water about hippos, Andrea in the water, Get Andrea out of the water, Don’t hit Andrea – she’s in the water…Personally, I didn’t really care if the next boat hit me straight on so long as they got me out of the water. I was swimming as hard as I could and yet felt like I was moving nowhere due to the waterlogged clothes and boots that were still on my feet. I did not consciously realize while I was in the water that my boat had hit a hippo – I only knew we hit something hard and that I did not want to be in the water when hippos and crocs were around.

The second boat swerved away from me to avoid front on collision and I desperately attempted to catch the front end where hands were outstretched to grab me. However, the connection never occurred and the second boat was rapidly slipping away. I was catty-cornered to the back right side of the second boat, already getting ready to aim for the third boat that was coming up fast behind, when someone managed to grab my outstretched right hand. I was hauled aboard and landed with a thump. I was still gasping for breathe and realizing just exactly how damn cold it was outside. Meanwhile, people were swirling around above and around me asking if I was okay. I heard someone else yell out wanting to know if I had been bit. Calmly I replied I was fine, but inside I was shaking. Then I realized I was shaking on the outside too – someone commanded me to strip out of my wet clothes and as I did so, dry clothes materialized from those around me. While this was going on the other two boats had pulled up along side the boat I had been hauled into…someone looked down into the water and noticed a light shining back up at them – my headlamp. While I was getting dry, a mission to retrieve the headlamp from the bottom of the Delta (not super deep) was carried out. The headlamp was retrieved and continues to work to this day.

The rest of the night was spent wrapped up in a couple coats and a sleeping bag sipping on Amarula. Everyone one in each boat was incredibly tense and quiet as we continued to slowly progress towards our camp. We finally did make it (after eight hours) and everything worked out (obviously) but it’s one adventure I still would have happily allowed another to experience.

Hiking up the slope, the terrain continued to increase in steepness and treachery with soft grassy cover giving way to rocky outcrops. By the time we got up to the top, one could barely see anything b/c the cloud cover obscured any view farther than 10 feet and the wind whipped hard from the north forcing a downward, southward viewing direction (luckily which corresponded to the path). The rocks were wet from rain and we walked along the edge of the cliff with a sharp drop, plunging off into the rocky depths below…okay, maybe not that dramatic but quite foggy and quite rocky.

We kept thinking we were about at the top as we reached the crest of one hill only to see another one in the distance. We finally made it, though, walking along a ridge with winds whipping all around us and our jackets soaked by the slanted rainfall. All the way up Patrick kept saying I hope we don’t get lost. Obviously, I replied, there’s only one way back…down. Of course, I ate my words…somehow we managed to go hike down the backside of the mountain and only by pure chance did we spot our car far off to the left. Though it took a ridiculously long time we eventually made it back and called it good for the day.

We headed to Derry (or Londonderry) this morning. Figured we’d check out the town and have some lunch and then head on to where we are staying tonight – Buncrara. As we were coming into Derry, police had set up with roadblocks and were directing traffic. We could not figure out what the point of it was but made up our own answers and left it at that. Neither of us brought any type of music to listen to in the car and while the BBC News/Entertainment radio channel was actually quite good (keeping updated on the rest of the world going to hell while we carry on our merry way) we figured it’d be a good idea to get some music while in Derry. We parked and headed into the center of town, in which there is a gigantic wall that surrounds the entire city. We figured to walk around it and then find somewhere to get a bite to eat. Derry is the second biggest city in Northern Ireland and sits right on the border between the Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland with the Foyle River running through the city. We walk into town and the first thing we see is a music store. Inside we went and after looking around asked the guy to recommend some Irish music. As Patrick listened I had the following conversation with the music guy:

“Is there somewhere we can get up on top of the wall near here?” (Me)

“You can do that just round the corner, but I wouldn’t be advisin’ it today as they’ll be marching.” (Music Guy)

“Who are they?” (Innocent and clueless Me)

“Oh, that’d be the Protestants marchin’ b/c it’s August 12^th, you know – cause of the whole red/green political thing.” (diplomatic Music Guy)

“Uh, so not the best time to be around here, huh?” (Sheepish Me)

“No, that’s why it’s so dead around here. Everyone just avoids the town center today…the only people around here are those involved in the march and the unsuspecting tourists.” (Music Guy)

“We’ll probably close early b/c it’s really not a place to be around. Things could be fine but all it takes is for someone to throw a bottle and the melee begins.” (Music Guy)

Right….so, long and short of it, we got our cds and pretty much headed back out of town. Figured we didn’t need to be around to see the marching…of course, the whole police barricade thing made much more sense as did the constant noise of helicopters flying around the city. Go figure. Might try to make it back up that way tomorrow when everything should be much more normal.

Well, we did wind up heading back to Derry to check out what we had missed the day before. Started to walk on top of it but saw a museum that was reputed to detail the history of Derry.  We went inside only to find out that the Derry section was closed for renovations but they had a very nice display for the Spanish Armada…hmmm…since we had about 4 pounds to spend we went ahead and paid for the slice of European history.  It wound up being quite good as there was a very knowledgeable guide who told us both about the Spanish Armada (and why a museum in N. Ireland felt it necessary to have such an exhibit – to do with the 30 or so odd shipwrecks that occurred off the NW coast of Ireland during the Spanish retreat after attacking England) and some history of the town.

The walk around the city was interesting although a bit surreal.  You feel as you are walking around a place where history is currently writing itself into time. Murals abound in this city too (like Belfast), with depictions of war/peace/figure heads/etc that are striking images seen from miles away.  There are also remnants of recent fighting and one building within the walled city that looks extremely fortified and has a bunch of cameras pointed towards Bogside district  - a Catholic, working-class, residential area developed in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries in which Bloody Sunday occurred.  We found out that the marching that occurred the previous day was to celebrate the apprentice boys (Protestant) from 1689 who closed the doors to the walled city to King James II (Catholic) when he wanted to turn the city (and all of Ireland) into a predominantly Catholic state.  The siege in 1689 lasted something like 109 days until reinforcement ships forced their way through to bring supplies to the desperate city.

Fire Robin – our friend that goes around burning everything he can for five months straight popped up at the lodge this afternoon looking for company. He invited all of us to go back to his place, take a boat ride to horseshoe to have some sundowners and then come back for dinner. Didn’t sound like a bad plan although I was quite content on the deck at the lodge with a dinner buffet close at hand. However, Luke, Jg, and Cerian were all game so not to be left out off we all went.

Now, in case anyone ever gets slightly nervous about boats and water in Africa it is probably a good idea to ask what one qualifies as a boat before being presented with a floatation device to carry you through the hippo infested waters. We got to Robin’s place with a metal motorboat in mind only to come upon a big, yellow raft (think white water rafting style). Cerian and I looked at each other and the only word that came into my head was, really? But, ok, Robin seems confident that this isn’t a problem, he has lived here for quite awhile and I trust he knows what he is doing so gamely continue on…we load the boat and are waiting to get in when Cerian suddenly says, do you hear that? Sounds like a leak in the boat…Sure enough a whizzing sounds was coming out of a small hole at the float of our very sturdy floatation device. We called to Robin who said it was no problem, not to worry about it. Luke, Cerian, and myself looked at each other, looked at the hole the whizzing sound continued to come out of, and proceeded to shuffle our feet and wonder at our sanity.

Now you would think at this point those of us that have had night experiences on African rivers would have had some sense knocked into us…silly assumptions…onto the floatation device we got and off we went…now, the Kwandu River is one of the prettiest rivers to be on…the water is the highest it’s been in thirty years b/c of the amount of rain that fell this year and the sides of the river are papyrus and phragmittes that the water carves through creating numerous channels filled with some of the clearest water I’ve ever seen in a river. We picked up speed and were cruising along until we came to a bend in the river and on the other side were numerous little ears poking out of the water indicating quite a few hippos. We slowed down about 200 yards shy of them and proceeded to have a curious stare-off with them. Curious b/c I am sure they were wondering what the small yellow thing was in the water, us, with mixed reactions – some curious to see the hippos others curious to know where the closest, driest, most elevated land was located. In any case, we continued to drift towards the hippos as they periodically bobbed above the surface…it’s when they disappear that I get very nervous…well more nervous might be more appropriate. At this point, Robin decides we should turn the engine off and proceeds to light up a cigarette. He also proceeds to say it’s when we are most idle that we are most vulnerable. Um, hello? Do I even state the obvious? Jg got some pictures, we all had a lovely look at the hippos and so why are we still idling 50 yards shy of these hippos??

We finally get going again and pick up cruising speed on a fairly wide open expanse of water. Up to the side is a bigger, pontoon-ish boat with two guys sitting on it. We sidle up to it and Robin asks if everything is ok. They are cool – just there for some reason I can’t remember but not important…they ask where we are going and Robin replies horseshoe (an oxbow lake on the Bwabwata side of the river towards the south side). Anyway, the guys are like, oh can’t get there – too many reeds. Oh, no no, says Robin, our boat is a lot smaller…not a problem and off we go again. The river narrows, we come around a bend, and skid to a halt. In front of us, blocking the way, is a bunch of reeds laying across the water. Now, at this point I would consider the most reasonable mode of action to return the way we came, find somewhere near the campsites we had passed to watch the sunset, and enjoy the view. Again, what a ridiculous thought. Robin decides to get a running start and rocket over the reeds…mmmm…needless to say we got stuck.

So, out come the oars with Luke and Jg pushing with all their might to dislodge us, Robin trying to get weeds out of the propeller, and Cerian and I trying to stay out of the way and pull on any loose reeds along the side to pull out. It was during this process that Cerian calmly states, there’s a snake in the boat. Immediately my feet are up on the dash as I glance towards the back of the boat where she is indicating. In retrospect, Luke mentioned he wouldn’t have minded a bit more urgency in her voice considering he was standing barefoot right where the snake was…in any case, we have a snake in the boat now. So rather than dislodging from the reeds, we are now all focused on getting the snake out of the boat, wondering if it is a black mambo, trying to find it sloshing in the water that was creeping into the boat from the back (or somewhere…we had a leak…did I mention that yet?)…Robin, for whatever insane, idiotic reason goes about scooping the snake out of the water and then proceeds to let it start crawling up his arm. Jg is like, um, do you know what kind of snake that is? No. do you know if it’s poisonous? No. oh. Ok. Sure. Very normal action.

We finally push ourselves out of the reeds and decide maybe it’s time for a drink. Or at least that’s why Robin thought b/c when Luke asked him for another bailer to help scoop water out of the boat, his reply was yes, I would love a beer. So, at least in one sense came well prepared. Cerian skipped straight to the gin minus the tonic which about summed up my state of mind. But, we were still mostly okay b/c sun still up, things were good and all was ok. Robin then decides to try one more time and hooray (for all that might mean) we almost clear the reeds and manage to pull our way through. From there we wove in and out of very narrow passages eventually coming out onto the horseshoe. It took probably a little over an hour to get there (contrary to the 30 minute estimate given at the outset)

For the record, the sun was just about down but we were good. I just ignored the fact that, yes, in fact we would eventually have to go back, and yes, it would be in the dark and starting drinking a rum and coke. Some elephants came out along the edge of the river and we decided (we? I don’t know why I write it like it was a collective decisions these things we did unless silence means agreeable consent) to putter along the edge of the water to get close to the elephants. Luke aptly stated Darwin Awards here we come. Sigh. If one took a moment to forget about it all, the fact we were sitting on some beautiful water in a beautiful setting watching the last remnants of the sunset fade away one could be quite envious. But then the reality of the precariousness of our situation crashes in and I wonder what possessed me to put myself in such a position.

It’s while we are sitting, bobbing gently 100 yards from the elephants that it becomes very, very apparent we are all sitting very close to the water. Why, yes, the boat seems to be losing air. A lot. Very fast. Awesome. Out comes the pump and we start taking turns pumping life back into our yellow floatation device. This is to become the routine on a 15-20 minute rotation for the next 3-4 hours. I’m sorry, 3-4 hours? I thought it was an hour out? Yeah..Apparently Robin has only navigated the river ONCE to get to horseshoe and really does not know with certainty the way home. But as long as he had his GPS we could just follow the tracks out. That was a great plan until the GPS fell into the water at the back of the boat and ceased to function. Needless to say we started back well after the moon was out (b/c, it was much better to navigate by moonlight than at dusk…which, fine, I can buy that but not if you don’t first know where you are suppose to be going) and off we went down on of the channel (periodically stopping to pump the boat back up to some level of floatability) trying to sort out the right way….after about thirty minutes we pop out into a clearing…looking around Luke is like, uh, I think we are back at horseshoe. And sure enough that is where we were…ok, nothing to do but try again. So, pumping ensues – which was actually a favorable pastime by now if only b/c the cold of the night was creeping in and poor Luke had gotten all his extra clothes soaking wet in the storage box that was supposed to be dry so he was wearing Jg’s sweatshirt and Jg only had his long-sleeve thermal under a shirt…Cerian and I were perhaps a bit better off but everyone was feeling the chill. Round two took us up and down various dead-end channels until we popped out in a very familiar clearing. Horseshoe. Again. It was at this point, Robin turns off the engine and lights up a cigarette. The whole time we have been trying to navigate through these channels he would keep saying, we’re very close now, I can feel it…it’s somewhere just around here. Uh huh. I’m sure it’s somewhere (vague hand motion in general wide-sweeping arc towards the reed maze) in that direction…thank you for the obvious. We are now checking the fuel…Jg asks if we have enough. I watch Robin shake the oh maybe ¼ full can and say we have plenty of fuel. Uh huh. I am meanwhile calculating my odds of how far it would be to trek on the BNP side of the river to the nearest camp lodge and would I rather take my chances on land than sitting in the floatation device (I refuse to call what we were on a boat) all night. But third time’s a charm right? Off we went again with myself alternating b/t keeping my head up or down and concentrating on secure grip of the floatation device).

I cannot tell you how excited the four of us were to come around a bend and see the same mess of reeds blocking our path that barred original entry. We all were pulling and tugging with smiles on our faces to get the damn floatation device back to the other side and continued on our merry way – we will still a good 7-8 kilometers away but eventually we arrived back to the field station. Relief was evident on all our faces and consensus 100% that no, thank you, we would not be staying to dinner. We get our stuff, climb in the truck, ready to go. Only to realize one of the tires is low. Damn. So, back out of the truck we go, out comes the electric pump, and in goes some air. It was now about 10:40 at night….we were supposed to be back at the field station by 7:30/8:00 for dinner. it took three hours to get back (I timed it out of curiosity when starting). We finally got the tire pumped enough to get home and headed back to the lodge. Was at this point I realized Cerian and I did not have a way into our room b/c we had left our key at the front desk which gets locked by ten at night. Luckily, they left one of their kitchen doors open and then another door on the inside so I was able to get retrieve it but that would have been brilliant. But, made it back safe and sound, had an extremely hot shower in the dark but could care less, and then went to bed. Woke up to two flat ties and a truck that wouldn’t start. And it didn’t even phase us. And so it went…

A Saturday afternoon, with the sun high in the sky, and the glare off the sand so bright that you still squint behind a pair of sunglasses (or at least I assume you would considering I had “misplaced” mine at the time). The objective of the afternoon was to conduct a soccer training session with a random assortment of kids gathered from the local villages. Bennety assured me he could arrange this so a little after 1:00 that day we all piled into the truck and drove towards the soccer field. We assumed no one would yet be there considering we are working on Africa time and promptness is not synonymous with start time for anything. However, as we pulled off the main gravel road to the school area we saw twenty plus kids gathered around one end of the soccer field. A cheer went up when they saw our truck and some kids were even doing flips. Needless to say they all seemed excited to be there and we were excited that they were excited. However, rather than stopping, we continued up the hill to collect Bennety and the soccer gear and when we came back a few minutes later I swear the numbers had multiplied.

All the kids stayed a distance from where we stopped the trucks but knocking some balls out onto the field quickly broke the ice. I should say the group was all boys of varying ages, heights, and ability with bare feet and keen to play. I had hoped girls would come out to play and a group did show up but wanted the soccer ball to go play netball which is the sport of choice for girls in Caprivi. Ah well. So it goes.

Anyway, looking over the 25 or so players we had and trying to figure out the best way to start we delved into 5 versus 2 keep away games although this took a bit of time and explanation, which was a bit harder considering the language barrier but Bennety was incredibly helpful…and once I realized some of the boys could understand me (a feat considering few adults can due to my accent) that made it easier. Hand motions came in very handy and smiles seems to work pretty well too. In any case, the exercise went ok… I left Bennety with a group, took a group myself, and left Deb, Greg, Jg, and Luke in charge of another. It was an interesting experience to come up with drills on the fly, manage the separate groups, and figure out the translation barrier on a rolling basis but fun nonetheless. Eventually, as the number of players continued to expand, we broke them into groups of 3 and 4 and played small-sided games.

Kids continued to wander out from wherever and within a short period of time we had two healthy groups of 20-ish kids on either end of the field – one group doing shooting and passing with Bennety, the other group small-sided stuff. We then decided to make it a full fledge 11 v 11 game and passed out jerseys which kids were super excited about. By now there had to be about 50-ish kids of all ages roaming about – everything from a two year old with sagging pants to fifteen year olds too cool for words but eventually dropping the facade and jumping in to play

.We let the two teams play for awhile, encouraging them to run their little hearts out, because we then pulled a few players and formed a team and played against another group. That was a ton of fun and our team had the upper hand for a bit, scoring a few goals and not having serious issues with pace. However, the players on the opposing team mysteriously kept getting bigger (as older boys continued to arrive) while our team was spending more and more time with hands on the knees. We wound up tying the game b/c by the time their third goal went in I think our team was pretty much acting more like stationary cones rather players. At the end of the day everyone was tired (or at least our group was…) and I think had enjoyed the day.