Well, enough about logistical headaches. Maybe you’d like to know a little more about Gaborone. This is the largest city in Botswana, and it is located just minutes from the border shared with South Africa. There are somewhere around 350,000 residents, with more commuting into the City daily from nearby villages.
Originally the City had a circular layout, but it has expanded into a complex spiderweb and is now divided into areas called “Extensions”, an indication of how quickly it grew after gaining independence from Britain in 1966. We live in the area called “Village”, which is near Tlokweng where Chief Gaborone of the Tlokwa Clan established the first modern settlement in the 1880s. Across the street from our house is the Thapong Cultural Arts Center and Park, whose grounds encompass the first colonial fort built here in the 1890s. We live in a block of six two-story apartments, and there are six to ten others like this one on this street with no name. Our neighbors, who we met due to our recent power outage, all work at or attend the University of Botswana. They come from Nigeria, Uganda, and Bulgaria. Our backyard has a sour orange tree in it that is full of fruit right now. These are excellent substitutes for lemons and the juice is delicious on beans and rice.
Most of Gaborone’s action takes place in the “malls” that are scattered about the City. A “mall” can consist of anything from a small strip mall to an enclosed structure with shops and restaurants. Like the malls in the U.S., the stores are consistent from mall to mall for the most part, with minor differences. There are chain clothing stores, grocery stores, cell phone stores, furniture and computer stores, and the occasional misc. store such as a hardware store or laundry services. Prices are comparable to U.S. prices, with some things being slightly more or less expensive. One thing that puzzles us: how can people here afford the fancy clothes, furniture, and electronics that are so prevalent everywhere?
In the grocery stores you must take your own bag or you will be charged about 10 cents for a cheap plastic bag. Every store has a security guard at the entrance, and you must check any parcels you have outside the store before entering. When you leave, the security guard will check your receipt to make sure it matches the items in your bags. In an electronics store, this might involve the guard filling out paperwork to record the receipt number, item purchased, etc.
There are amazingly few restaurants, other than the chain upscale and fast-food restaurants associated with the malls. In place of restaurants, Batswanas set up card tables along the streets and in parking lots and offer food kept warm in chafing dishes. The menu usually consists of beef, chicken, stewed greens, and mealie meal (a side dish made of ground corn similar to polenta or grits.) Also for sale at these tables are individual candies, cigarettes, and scratch cards for cell phone time.
Traffic is horrendous. There are two rush hour times during which a relatively simple trip will take a minimum of three times the normal time to complete. The combi drivers seem to ignore every traffic rule and create their own lanes of travel. Many of the major intersections are double- laned traffic circles, which we love in the U.S. for their smooth efficiency, but reversing the lane of travel makes this very confusing for us. Most Batswanas living Gaborone do not use maps and cannot give you directions to anyplace, even though they know how to get there themselves. The landscape is completely hostile to pedestrians and one had better be extremely careful to avoid a collision with a vehicle. In some places, you would have to cross an open sewer ditch to access a shopping area unless you walked some distance to get around it. There are very few sidewalks and virtually no one stops for the few pedestrian crossings that are marked. Very few people ride bicycles and none of the bicyclists we have seen have been wearing a helmet.
Unfortunately, since April of 2009 there is no passenger rail service in Botswana. There is a large bus station downtown and one can catch a bus to many nearby villages and larger towns to the north such as Francistown, Kasane, and Maun. On Saturday, we caught a bus with our friend Karin to the village of Kanye, which is located about 40 km to the southwest of Gaborone, in a hilly region. It was our first cloudy morning since arriving here and the air had that wonderfully spicy smell that those who are familiar with the southwestern US will recognize as hope for rain. It was very chilly and I was missing my long underwear believe it or not! But we didn’t get any rain and it was sunny and warm before noon. Kanye is mostly notable for the prevalence of traditional architecture: round houses with thatched roofs and old mud walls surrounding portions of the houses. Most have solar water tanks and outdoor privies. About a 20 minute walk from the bus station, there is a nice canyon to hike with a perennially flowing stream. Again like the southwestern US, one must share the nature walk with the cattle, which are everywhere, but it was still beautiful and nice to be outside in a rural area. The people seem, on average, much more relaxed and friendly in the smaller villages, and we did not feel unsafe. Riding the bus gave us a closer glimpse of people we don’t interact with at the University, government offices, and shopping malls, and everyone treated us nicely. Obviously, there is a large divide between the wealthy and many people on the brink of poverty.
On Sunday, Karin and Pat kindly invited us to join them on a trip to the nearby Mannyelanong Hill Vultury Game Reserve, where we were able to observe nesting cape vultures along with nesting black storks: two birds we never imagined seeing together! We saw a host of other interesting birds (see the associated Page on this blog) as the areas was teaming with activity, and afterwards we tooled around the countryside enjoying the landscape. Crossing the road at a bridge we saw a gigantic bullfrog called….you guessed it…the giant bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus). It is worth googling!
There is still much to tell about Gaborone, but it looks like I have written an awful lot and I picture folks nodding off, so I will stop here. But if there is something specific you are wondering about, please ask in the comments or send me a private message at PriscillaJTitus@gmail.com
You are always in our thoughts and hearts,
Priscilla and Jon
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