The day started out in a bit of a panic, because we had been planning for days to go back to Kgale Hill for another hike, but we had never verified with Boitumelo what time we would be leaving. Olivia and I set our alarms for 9, and the first 10 minutes of my morning went something like this: stumble out into the common room. Greet Olivia, ask if we’ve heard from Boitumelo. Go to the bathroom. Come out of the bathroom. Phone rings, Boitumelo calling. Asks if we still want to go on the hike. Informs me that everyone else is already ready to go. Chaos ensues.
But typical African style, after we rush to get ready in the 15 minutes that I told Boitumelo we’d need, we find out that she hasn’t called the combi to come and get us yet. So we ended up sitting, drinking coffee, wasting time. Sigh.
Had a very nice climb though, once we made it out to the hill. Last time we only had time to climb the smaller hill, but the day hadn’t gotten too hot yet, and we were fresh and vigorous, so we climbed the first hill and moved on to a bigger one. The views were GORGEOUS (see pictures). The hill is next to a big quarry, which is super highly secured, because they mine diamonds here. Apparently we would need visas just to get into the grounds. I felt kind of like a spy taking pictures of it. The group splintered a bit towards the top of the hill, but we got some good pictures together. Boitumelo went off and meditated on a rock for a bit, and we creeped on her and took a couple pictures.
Uneventful trek back down, until we RAN INTO SOME BABOONS!! THEY WERE SO COOL! At first we just saw one, so we were trying to be quiet and stealthy, but then as we made it back into the parking lot we realized that there was a whole herd of them (OK, I’m sure herd isn’t the right term, but you get the idea). There was one in a tree that got pretty close to us, and was a total diva. After we piled into the van, a female went by whom we guessed was in heat, because her… rear… looked vaguely cancerous? Kim said that she thinks their butts get swollen so the males know that they’re ready for mating. It was kind of gross looking, actually.
Some of us really wanted to go to a farmer’s market that Nikki (one of the BUP staff and basically a native Motswana, because she more or less grew up here) had told us about. The driver wasn’t sure where it was, but we stumbled on a coffee house/market where (mostly) ex-pats sold random kitschy stuff and live musicians did acoustic renditions of popular songs like “Oh my God.” Probably the classiest version of that song that’s ever been made. We were a little disappointed that it wasn’t actually a farmer’s market.
Schlepped back to the UB campus, because we all were pretty exhausted from the hike. Showered and stuffed our faces because we were also all STARVING. The post-hike exhaustion and food coma meant that we spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around and napping. Such a stimulating life we lead here.
Dinner, movie, sleep. Click on the picture at the top to see my pictures for today!
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