Wildlife

Lunch yesterday involved a walk through Black Mamba Country. Black Mamba Country (BMC) is a field next to Las Vegas where there are grasses and so probably snakes, we’ve decided. There are probably many snakes in Botswana but the most fearsome is the black mamba. He is highly territorial and, when bothered by you, will chase you forever until you get your brother to shoot him with a rifle (so says a Zimbabwean Brit we met recently). Of course, snakes cannot chase you and bite you at the same time, but the black mamba can probably wear you down and then strike. He is so fearsome that there is a special task force of the Botswana Special Forces which comes to remove him from your property if he is spotted.

Anyways, as I walked through BMC I sensed a rustling under the tree I was passing. There, about five feet away, was a warthog. He was not threatening, and was apparently just chilling under the tree. I watched him sniffing about for a few minutes. That was my first spotting of wildlife on campus except for the cat which darts back and forth between the planters at night.
In other wildlife news: last weekend, on a cultural excursion arranged for the 40-ish international students by University (UB), we visited the Mokolodi Game Reserve, which is about 30 minutes from Gaborone. There we saw a giraffe, three elephants, various kudus and impalas and so forth, and some ostriches.