So much for keeping up the blog in the last month! I could come up with all sorts of excuses, but – actually, that might be fun. How about:
There were lions in camp?
Too many buffaloes on the road?
The power went out for a really long time?
There was no power to go out for a really long time?
I’ve never seen that many sable at once before?
We got distracted by Chinatown between Kavimba and Kachikau?
I was generally far too busy (watching elephants, drinking wine, I mean, doing research)?
Well, most of these are at least a little bit true. I’ve driven well over 4000 kilometers in the last six weeks, looping up through the Caprivi and back down into Botswana. There has been plenty of the unexpected – a last minute trip to Seronga, for example, and some damage to the car (and my ego, but not the rest of me). Mostly I have been spending time with the folks I am fortunate to call friends and colleagues in this corner of the planet. I’ve gotten some great ideas and suggestions for the field school I am planning to run next year, and I’m looking forward to that in new and challenging ways. As for the rest, it feels a bit foolish to try to summarise it all. Suffice to say, I will be full of stories in my usual Grandpa Simpsonesque fashion (When I was in Swaziland in 1999, we had a dead wildebeest in the back of an open Land Rover, and while trying to drive through a river at sunset we hit the bank and got buried in the mud. Now, mind you…) upon my return and will be happy to share them, with or without the gin and tonics we make with lemon instead of lime here in the bush.
There were lions in camp?
Too many buffaloes on the road?
The power went out for a really long time?
There was no power to go out for a really long time?
I’ve never seen that many sable at once before?
We got distracted by Chinatown between Kavimba and Kachikau?
I was generally far too busy (watching elephants, drinking wine, I mean, doing research)?
Well, most of these are at least a little bit true. I’ve driven well over 4000 kilometers in the last six weeks, looping up through the Caprivi and back down into Botswana. There has been plenty of the unexpected – a last minute trip to Seronga, for example, and some damage to the car (and my ego, but not the rest of me). Mostly I have been spending time with the folks I am fortunate to call friends and colleagues in this corner of the planet. I’ve gotten some great ideas and suggestions for the field school I am planning to run next year, and I’m looking forward to that in new and challenging ways. As for the rest, it feels a bit foolish to try to summarise it all. Suffice to say, I will be full of stories in my usual Grandpa Simpsonesque fashion (When I was in Swaziland in 1999, we had a dead wildebeest in the back of an open Land Rover, and while trying to drive through a river at sunset we hit the bank and got buried in the mud. Now, mind you…) upon my return and will be happy to share them, with or without the gin and tonics we make with lemon instead of lime here in the bush.
