Posting before departing Maun
Photo is from Kubu Island. The baobob tree which we used as a prop is about 1000 years old! Now, its 6:00 am in Botswana and the group will be departing at 8:30 for a four hour ride (in an enclosed mini van) where we will take an excursion to Tsodillo Hills and spend 1 night at nearby Swamp Stop before heading into the Okavango Delta region. I'll save the descriptoin of Tsodillo Hills for the student blog later today (hopefully we have a strong enough internet connection to post the blog later today).Students took an exam yesterday and afterwards had a chance to relax. Up until now they had not had the opportunity for 'down time'. I prepared for the group's next 7 or 8 days of meals, by going to the grocery store and stocking up on all needed provisions. Thats a lot of food for 14 people, plus 2 drivers! When we are in the Delta region, we will be cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner. We will have a kitchen to work out of and refrigeration. Uploading photos takes a long time thus they aren't necessarily matching the text in the blog. Once I return to the States I will upload photos in a more systematic way. Also we have no idea if the signal for the external modem will be strong enough to send blog messages, so if the airwaves go silent, you will know why. This time of day seems to work OK as there are fewer people attempting to access the signal. I'll do what I can. Debbie Hayward
Submitted by Stephen Kostman: Today was a calm day, most of us could sleep in a bit before taking our first exam. With the rest of the day to ourselves, we took time to reflect on what we’ve seen so far, as well as play with Stella the dog and Larry the crocodile. Some of us also began to think about what was next for us, anticipating all the different species of wildlife we would encounter. We have already seen so many amazing animals, from elephants to rhinos, and even a leopard. At this point in the journey, we definitely feel prepared for whatever comes our way, so we all feel very excited to see what comes next.
