out of south africa: botswana

we left south africa two days ago, and have seen nothing but rain so far. even before we crossed the border, it was rain every day for a week. at least there, where we were staying, it was called the waterberg, and it made sense for it to be a bit wet. but their rivers were flooding and there were concerns of crocodiles being able to cross over dams and come down stream where they would find unsuspecting pray like children, dogs, and other usual animals. it was a great time with some good people in town, but the wet endlessly wet weather is getting old.



when the sun does peak out for a bit, you can feel it's hot rays instantly. i am reminded 'this is africa, not just a wet, april drive, and yes- the sun is hot as hell here'. the little glimpses of sun have recharged me, and hopefully, as it shouldn't be raining (dry season should be around here somewhere) i will get more of it and stop complaining about the rain.

if you have been keeping up with the news, you could have heard that an awb, or the ultra-conservative afrikaner party (pro-apartheid and called bitter-enders), leader was killed last week. while the president jacob zuma was quick to respond with a public statement lamenting the loss of such a leader, the tension within the country was unsettled. the waterberg, where we were, has a history of being a conservative strong-hold and still shows how hard it can be to let go of that today. many of the farmers there are worried about 'farm murders' (which isn't all that rare seeing that there was one just over a week ago) and can be .... closed minded and a little sore about the current state of south africa. but many of the 'farm murders' aren't completely random and seem to skew to folk who may not treat their staff or the community well, and therefore just point to the tension between conservative afrikaners and the unemployed, uneducated, unsettled black community. this whole situation could all just blow over, but all it takes would be one unhappy afrikaner set on revenge, or another unhappy black person set on showing their anger, to stir the flames even higher.

in other news, i saw my first baobab tree yesterday, and wow they are amazing. i'll share more after my trip today (weather permitting).

hope all is well,

tbk