KalahariLog
Friday, October 06, 2006
We flew from Gaborone to Kasane with Air Botswana, which is an airline with an interesting history. The company is government-owned but there have been plans to privatize it dating back to 2001. As it is, the national airline has 6 planes in its fleet: three 48-seater turbo props, two 70-seater jets and one 9-seater Cesna. The airline has managed to survive a nearly devastating blow that took place 7 years ago. A disgruntled pilot took off with one of the, at that time, 4 airplanes in the fleet and intentionally crashed it in the other two, killing himself in the process. For a while Air Botswana was out of business, as even the one remaining plane was grounded with technical problems. Luckily, the airline recovered, and we had pleasant, if bumpy, rides to and from Kasane on board one of the turbo props. I wonder if they repaired the planes from 3 years ago or bought new ones – maybe we were in one of the three airplanes involved in the collision?
Like in the old days, they still serve meals, and drinks (including wine, beer and the rest), even on the less-than-2-hour domestic flights we were on. Also like in the old times, there are no lines for check in and the recommended check-in time is 30 minutes before departure. The airport is a 15 minute drive from our flat and they have free parking right outside the terminal, which translates into waking up an hour before our flight and getting there with time to spare. Contrast this with, say, flying out of NYC, where it takes at least an hour to get to the airport and where another 2 hours are often needed to negotiate check-in lines, security lines, make-sure-you-have-no-toothpaste lines, etc. It is different here. We even accidentally took a pocket knife (Swiss-army type) on-board the aircraft. Yes, it went through an X-ray but they either didn’t see it (both times) or they didn’t mind us carrying it on board. All is not perfect, however, as one can only buy paper tickets, in person, at their office, after waiting in a long line, and at the security checkpoint the guard may or may not hold your passport in his mouth while thumbing through the boarding passes (my passport has a nice set of tooth marks).
Among the many animals, the banded mongooses and the vervet monkeys were the most entertaining to watch. We saw several mongoose families, in and around the lodges. Although they look like they would be related to rats and possums, they are, in reality, more related to cats and eat mice and rats! They also go after insects and snakes, which makes them quite useful and in many places they are trained as pets to keep nasties out of the house. Although we kept calling many mongoose, mongeese, one is supposed to say mongooses for the plural. Whatever they are called, they are also a lot fun to watch. They make tiny squeaks that sound like birds chirping and they are very playful (see movies here).
The vervets are small (2-3kg), similar to the capuchin and squirrel monkeys of Central America. One of the guides told us they are called vervet monkeys because their hair is as soft as velvet. In other countries they are also called green monkeys as the skin on their bellies is greenish or bluish. They can only be found in sub-Saharan Africa (except some isolated groups in the Caribbean that got there with the slave trade). We saw many of them in the parks (Chobe NP, Zambezi NP, Victoria Falls NP) but many more on the grounds of the lodges, near the swimming pools, at the bars, and on the lounges. They are cheeky little guys, stealing packets of sugar, food from the plates, and even our German Sudoku book (see movies here). Now our Sudoku book also has tooth marks. Vervets have been used in lab experiments for many years, and they are still used today to make polio vaccine. By the way, polio is appearing more and more and at border crossings there were many signs about new outbreaks in nearby countries like Namibia.
We also saw baboons but less frequently. They are bigger (15-30kg) and apparently, can be aggressive and a nuisance. Unlike the vervets, who eat anything, these guys are mostly vegetarian. This one was enjoying a spot of tea at the fanciest of hotels in Victoria Falls (a grand Victorian affair with chandeliers, white-gloved waiters, etc).
Like in the old days, they still serve meals, and drinks (including wine, beer and the rest), even on the less-than-2-hour domestic flights we were on. Also like in the old times, there are no lines for check in and the recommended check-in time is 30 minutes before departure. The airport is a 15 minute drive from our flat and they have free parking right outside the terminal, which translates into waking up an hour before our flight and getting there with time to spare. Contrast this with, say, flying out of NYC, where it takes at least an hour to get to the airport and where another 2 hours are often needed to negotiate check-in lines, security lines, make-sure-you-have-no-toothpaste lines, etc. It is different here. We even accidentally took a pocket knife (Swiss-army type) on-board the aircraft. Yes, it went through an X-ray but they either didn’t see it (both times) or they didn’t mind us carrying it on board. All is not perfect, however, as one can only buy paper tickets, in person, at their office, after waiting in a long line, and at the security checkpoint the guard may or may not hold your passport in his mouth while thumbing through the boarding passes (my passport has a nice set of tooth marks).
Among the many animals, the banded mongooses and the vervet monkeys were the most entertaining to watch. We saw several mongoose families, in and around the lodges. Although they look like they would be related to rats and possums, they are, in reality, more related to cats and eat mice and rats! They also go after insects and snakes, which makes them quite useful and in many places they are trained as pets to keep nasties out of the house. Although we kept calling many mongoose, mongeese, one is supposed to say mongooses for the plural. Whatever they are called, they are also a lot fun to watch. They make tiny squeaks that sound like birds chirping and they are very playful (see movies here).
The vervets are small (2-3kg), similar to the capuchin and squirrel monkeys of Central America. One of the guides told us they are called vervet monkeys because their hair is as soft as velvet. In other countries they are also called green monkeys as the skin on their bellies is greenish or bluish. They can only be found in sub-Saharan Africa (except some isolated groups in the Caribbean that got there with the slave trade). We saw many of them in the parks (Chobe NP, Zambezi NP, Victoria Falls NP) but many more on the grounds of the lodges, near the swimming pools, at the bars, and on the lounges. They are cheeky little guys, stealing packets of sugar, food from the plates, and even our German Sudoku book (see movies here). Now our Sudoku book also has tooth marks. Vervets have been used in lab experiments for many years, and they are still used today to make polio vaccine. By the way, polio is appearing more and more and at border crossings there were many signs about new outbreaks in nearby countries like Namibia.
We also saw baboons but less frequently. They are bigger (15-30kg) and apparently, can be aggressive and a nuisance. Unlike the vervets, who eat anything, these guys are mostly vegetarian. This one was enjoying a spot of tea at the fanciest of hotels in Victoria Falls (a grand Victorian affair with chandeliers, white-gloved waiters, etc).posted by Stephen Kobourov # 8:59 AM 
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