Standing in the Limpopo River

Two weeks ago, Dr. Mashini gave two Peace Corps volunteers a wonderful gift: he invited Megan and me to join him on a Sunday to do malaria testing in the Tuli Block! For those of you who don’t know, the Tuli Block has a game reserve in the very east of the country with some of the most incredible and diverse wildlife in Botswana. Since it is not nearly as well known or visited as Chobe National Park or the Okavango delta, Tuli is often referred to as the hidden jewel of Botswana. Nonetheless, quite a few people live and work in the Tuli Block, especially monitoring the borders with Zimbabwe and South Africa, so Dr. Mashini wanted to make sure they also had access to malaria testing and treatment. As you can imagine, Megan and I were practically giddy at the thought of going.

Early that Sunday morning, we clambered into the back of an ambulance and held on for dear life while we trundled along the bumpy terrain in the Tuli Block. On our way to the testing sites, we peered through the tiny side windows of the ambulance to try to spot some wildlife. Suddenly, the ambulance lurched to stop and Dr. Mashini started frantically pointing out the window. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out what was going on, and then I saw them, five gigantic elephants casually picking leaves off of a tree. They were beautiful and gigantic and terrifying. We took pictures as quickly as possible, but sadly my crummy ipod camera does not do well with zoom and they didn’t come out to well. Nonetheless, we kept zipping around the Tuli block for the next hour or so until we reached the border post where the malaria testing would take place.

Once Dr. Mashini was well set up, he told us we could go explore a bit while he tested patients. A guide graciously walked us down to the riverbed where we had seen a crocodile. Across the way we saw a gigantic family of baboons and some elephants all watching us from the other riverbed.  I couldn’t believe I was standing in a riverbed, staring at all these incredible animals.

The big rains haven’t come to Botswana yet, so the river was almost completely dry. In a few months it will be full again and there will be hippos happily floating about. After the malaria tests were finished, we were lucky enough to have a tour guide drive us around in one of their game cars. We saw ostriches, kudu, impala, springboks, giraffes, baboons, warthogs, wildebeests, and of course, more elephants. At one point we were quickly veering through the bush, the car took a quick right, and suddenly, right in front of us was a huge elephant running along. Before the elephant could turn around and see us and decide to charge, the driver picked up his speed to scare the elephant into running away from us. After a heart-stopping minute, the elephant ran off the trail and into the bush. Elephants can be extremely dangerous when they feel threatened, so our guide took no chances and got us out of there.

Finally, another highlight from the trip was when we stood in the middle of the connecting point where the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers meet.  This point had us standing right at the edge of where Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa meet. I climbed to the top of some big rocks, and took in the view.