Dinner at the Ambassador's House

I am positively stoked that I can now include the following sentence, "oh, I had dinner at the ambassador's" when my family and friends ask what I had been up to in Africa.

The American ambassador, Katherine Canavan, was a very nice and elegant hostess.She told us about how she had become friends with some of the filming crew that was in Gabs to shoot "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency." To show their appreciation for her help and friendship, they enhanced a part of her garden and placed a bench with the sign "From No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency to the No. 1 Ambassador Katherine Canavan." I was very excited because my No. 1 ladies back home, the PEO, had the McCall series on their summer reading list and many of them were major fans! I can't wait to show these pictures to the PEO ladies.

The party was bitter sweet because it was a farewell party for many of the embassy members. Here's us bidding g'luck to our friend at the embassy, JC. We shall miss his company for sure.

On a brighter note, the farewell party was a lovely way to say goodbye. The food was excellent and the company, cheerful and friendly.

Livingstone, Zambia

To get to Livingstone, we took the ferry. Few years ago, a ferry on this very river tipped over and many people drowned or were eaten by crocs. This did cross my mind as I got on the ferry.

First thing I did when I got to Livingstone was to ride a helicopter over the Vic Falls. As I watched the view below, someone jumped off the bridge on bungee cord! I hope that the $100/jump was worth the money - my helicopter ride was totally worth every penny. Reminded me of when I saw the niagara falls with my family on a helicopter.

Then we walked around the Zambian side of the falls. There hasn't been much water yet but the fall was still amazing!

We finished the night at Nguma Zanga Restaurant. There was singing, dancing and great food.

Here we are in anticipation of our food.

Woke up to a beautiful view of the Zembezi River from my bed.

The last dinner we all had together at the Waterfront Lodge. We couldn't resist but to try some of the Zambian national beer, Mosi. 3.5% alcohol content of goodness.

Chobe National Park

On my way to Victoria Falls, swung by the Chobe National Park - easily accesible from Kasane. Here is an African hare. Looks similar to the one that ate my mom's plants in her yard back home, hmm.

Look at the cute warthog babies! Run, Forest, run!

Once again, the gate of the national park was decorated with various bones. Three guesses which animal in the picture has the biggest head? (Hint: it's not the beautiful Swiss or the girl in green!)

The road we had to travel on... I'd driven on the California desert sands before so I was very apprehensive at the speed at which we were crossing this sand highway...
Baby on tummy or...
...baby on back?

Ahhh... another beautiful sunset in Botswana.

Moremi Game Reserve

A baby elephant! Some of those in the car called out "Dumbo!"

A big tree with lots of places to sit.

The black mamba! One of the scariest creatures out there in the wild. The venom can kill you in 10 sec!

I saw a pack of lions...

...and right next to the pack of hungry looking lions were two tourists that were stranded! Their engine had quit working while they were taking pictures of the lions. We helped them out by pulling their car with our 4x4 away from the lions.

Above all, my favorite creature was this little guy. Or maybe the black mamba...

Okavango Delta

Okavango Delta is a beautiful area in northern Botswana. There are many luxury lodges on the Chief Island that is only accessible by a small plane.

I chose the option of driving as far north as possible then taking a day's worth of supplies in a mokoro (dug-out canoe) to an island for camping in a tent.

Here's our group enjoying a peaceful mokoro ride in the afternoon.

There were many of these beautiful water lillies in the water.

Of course, my favorite part of the day was once again the sunset.

Camping in a tent was definitely challenging, especially in the 42 degrees Celsius heat (!) but the days were so memorable as we befriended the local polers who accompanied us on the trip and walked around the many small islands accessible by our mokoros.

Maun

When it rains in Angola, the water travels down to Okavango Delta then down the Okavango River through Maun. Beautiful sunset over Okavango River.

Botswana scarecrow.

A well deserved sun downer before returning to our tents! We've got Swiss, French and American all in one table!

Baines Baobab

In 1858, an artist named Thomas Baines accompanied Dr. Livingstone on his travel through Botswana. He painted a group of ancient baobab trees on an expansive salt pan which today is called Baines Baobab.

Indeed these baobab trees are magnificent! Cecile, my awesome travelmate from Paris, commented that she was reminded of sequoias in California.

Beautiful baobab flowers.

Nxai Pan National Park

Makgadikgadi Pan & Nxai Pan are expansive salt pans in northern Botswana.

For some reason, all the entrances to national parks are decorated with animal skulls and bones. I asked why that was but no ranger was able to give me a satisfactory answer. Just as I entered the park, there were four cheetahs, just enjoying a siesta in the shade.

As we drove on, there were many giraffes. It was amazing to see them run - such graceful animals!

At the man-made waterhole, many animals came by to drink water. Here's a family of elephants enjoying the water as the sun was setting.

Driving in Botswana

As you drive along the road in Botswana, away from the big towns, you see mostly amazing endless sky and occasional villages. Just the untouched mother nature. But there are some signs that tourism is changing the landscape more and more. For example, there's this road sign for a lodge on the road to Nata village from Kasane.

The road sign also had a companion - a huge aardvark calling all tired motorists to rest their heads in the lodge! I thought I'd somehow landed on my way to Vegas from San Diego. The resemblance is uncanny, as those of you who've driven many a times to Vegas know.

Then sometimes, you come across a pleasant surprise! A big herd of bachelor elephants busy getting somewhere. They are Namibia bounch if they keep going straight, I think. But as my friends will tell you, my sense of direction is nothing to bet your chips on (continuing with Vegas train of thought).

The elephants were all bachelors for sure. You can't tell from this picture but just trust me on this. My anatomy knowledge is better than my sense of direction - and many of the elephants had what the other motorists were calling the "5th legs." Sometimes you are required to stop your car and pass through a veterinary fence. These are constructed to prevent transmission of infectious diseases that could adversely affect cattle such as the Foot and Mouth disease from the buffalos.

That's only a slight impediment for a determined elephant though. Look at how cute he looks with this knee bent so high up on the air!

Chobe River

Chobe River flows in northern Botswana. If you take a river cruise, there's plenty of opportunities to see vie sauvage! I was a bit apprehensive because I saw this big sign posted near the docking station as I was boarding the small motor boat. And sure enough, right away, I saw a whole lot of the creatures that the sign warned me about...

I tried to stay as far away from the croc but this brave little water monitor tried to fight the croc for its eggs! Apparently, the water monitor really likes croc eggs. Yum~

Some vegetarian antelopes! More my style...

Although these vegetarians (hippos) are rather exciting. They are mysterious creatures. As conspicuous as they are, not much is known about them because they spend most of the day as a group in the water and come on land only at dusk - hard to put a treking collar on these guys! There are many myths about hippos. Like they sweat blood - they do secrete red substance that act as sunscreen. And that they kill more people than any other animals - no one's really taken an actual count to my knowledge.

The boat driver told me that this antelope is called "toilet seat" because of the white circle on its derrier. Hmm.

Another beautiful sunset in Botswana, the place with endless sky...

University of Botswana

University of Botswana (UB) is located down the street from my building, BHP (Botswana Harvard Partnership). It was established in 1982 with money from His Excellency Sir Seretse Khama's One Man, One Beast campaign. Batswana (the people of Botswana) donated cattle, grain money, etc. to erect this institution of higher learning to be self-reliant in educating its future leaders. BHP and UB has a partnership so UB students can come to BHP to participate in research and BHP benefits from the students' talent and enthusiasm.
A picture of a former student requesting her transcript.

Beautiful trees and gardens fill the campus. Just beyond this tree were many dorm buildings. I didn't take a picture out of respect as some students had left out their laundry on the window sills.

The entrance to the library. The tree looks very happy as it was raining when I took this picture.

A statue I found of a mother holding up a laptop to her child. I guess we really are in a new era of technology.

Dream wedding

This blog entry is about a wedding I atteneded in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa over a weekend.

Now, you may be asking yourself why it is that my weekend trips tend to be to South Africa. When you live in Gabs, you are only a 1hr plane ride from Jo'burg, which is the connecting point for flights all over South Africa and throughout the rest of Africa. Many of the places I visited so far was a total of 2-3hrs in flight time. So it makes for a good weekend getaway.

There are various lodging options. This one is called The Stone Cottage and overlooks the beach. Each cottage was named after a family member of the owner.

There are also hotels right on the beach. This one had a dramatc interior with plush sofas.

There are also excellent dining options. This restaurant is called Franco's Kitchen and the wedding party ate here together the night before the ceremony. It had an amazing window that opened to a panoramic view of the ocean.

Here is the wedding party eating a hearty South African breakfast - corn fritters, bacon, eggs on homemade bread!

There were a lot of activites for the wedding party to enjoy. Here we are hiking the beautiful Robberg Peninsula.

On top of the hill overlooking the above beach, there were so many beautiful seashells.

One cannot fly directly into Plettenberg Bay so we had landed in Port Elizabeth. Fortunately we had a chance to visit the town library that was commissioned by Sir D'urban.

Special thanks to my housemate, Beca, for the pictures.

Gabs life part II

One of the activities that must be mentioned would be the Quiz Night at the Bull & Bush pub and grill. You form teams and compete against other groups to see which of you is the best at trivia. Here I am sitting with the Fighting Quakers (the UPenn team).

Another activity people like to do is "braii" or barbecue. Here is a picture of my housemate, "the San goddess of gardening," grilling some choice meats. Yum...

Here is how she got the name, "the San Goddess of gardening." By the way, as my other housemate is kindly pointing out with her finger, she is wearing the Botswana flag as a scarf. The Botswana flag pattern is very popular for cushions, shirts, skirts, and scarves in Botswana.

Modikwe, South Africa

This blog is about the host-genomics workshop held in Modikwe.



Dr. Max Essex, my US PI and mentor, invited me to this meeting where I met an amazing group of people: PIs, research study coordinators, laboratory director, etc. One of the many many highlights of being a Fogarty in Botswana fellow! (yes, shameless advertising. This could be YOU!)

It wasn't all work and no play! We all had a great time.

There were many wonderful opportunity to see animals right near the lodge. Check out the baby elephants!

These are teenage lions. We were too close to them for comfort I thought...

But I certainly did not mind being close to the monkeys, one of my favorite animals! They were eyeing the muffins I was eating for breakfast. Brad, our awesome safari guide, told us that the monkeys show up for morning tea because they like muffins but they don't show up for the afternoon tea probably because they don't like cake. Truth or myth? I am not sure.

Durban, South Africa

This blog is about my visit to the Fogarty fellows in Durban over a fun-packed weekend.

I traveled on a special day - it turned out that it was 1000 days to the start of the World Cup in South Africa (as indicated by this gigantic monster machine in Jo'burg airport domestic departure area).

Essenwood Crafts Market. You can get some great homemade crafts here. Springbok purse or snake skin wallet, anyone?

Of course, a trip to Durban would not be complete without Indian food! Durban has a huge Indian population: the first wave of immigrants came during the Dutch settlment in 1600's and the second wave in 19th century with the establishment of the British sugarcane plantations. (Note: 3/5 at the table are Fogarty fellows.)

I know you want more pictures but I was only there for a weekend. Only so much one person can do...

Kalahari Desert

This is a weekend trip I took to the Kalahari desert.

If you drive north from Gaborone, you can drive into first, Khutse, then CKGR (Central Kalahari Game Reserve). This is a picture of the typical road conditions: tar road littered with donkeys, cattles and pedestrians.

THE reason I love living in Botswana is the sunset... Even in the city of Gaborone, you will get amazing sunsets like this.

I know you can't see it... but the food pyramid shows that at top is the "super predators" and somewhere below is the "major hervibores." I only saw the major hervibores during the weekend and frankly, I think I liked it that way.

I know what you are thinking: why am I standing so close to the puff adder? Well, to take a picture of course! If you look closely, you will see that I caught the snake just as it's sticking out its long red tongue... yikes!

Things to do in Gabs

I often take cabs (US$ 3.50 within city limits) to places around town because Gabs is huge! Here is a cab ride I should've declined but by the time I noticed that the cab driver was taking swigs from his SuperMalt Beer bottle, I was almost home.

Another option for transportation is little mini buses called "combis." They cost about US$ 0.35 and they go all over the city. The cars are packed and you will most often find yourself half sitting on your fellow passenger's laps or vice versa. You can purchase a combi route map for US$ 1.50 at various shops in the train/bus terminal (the final destination of all combis).

Now for things to do around town. One of my favorite activities is to try different restaurants in Gaborone. There are excellent Indian food. Above is my roommate Sarah's favorite place called Ashoka in the African Mall near our home. (You wouldn't have guessed it from the great blinding picture of the Great Wall of China!)

Another excellent way to spend a weekend morning or workday evenings is gardening. My other roomate Beca's favorite manure: the elephant boluses. Beca's got a green thumb. I will post some pictures of our blossoming garden later.

There are various other activites also. Every month or so, the young artists of Gaborone put together a poetry slam. Here is an artist doing a spoken word piece about love and HIV.You can visit the nearby towns and villages for cultural events too. Here is a picture of the Kgotla (to the right hand side of the picture) in Mochudi. The chief of Mochudi passed couple months ago and we attended his funeral.

More to come.

Gabs life

This blog will be a small taste of Gaborone city.

Time flies! It has been 3 months since I've been living in Gaborone, Botswana. Gabs!


I took this photo of a rubbish bin in front of the city hall. What you can't see is the brown dirt field behind the rubbish bin. Not so green.

Here is another picture to drive the above point home.

If you were expecting pictures like this of giraffes and other animals, move onto another blog! Gabs is a city. Before I moved here, I spoke to people who've been to Gabs before about what to expect. The unanimous answer was "urban sprawl."

So you may be asking, where is this picture from? A friend from SF took this picture at a nearby Mokolodi Game Reserve. I have not been there yet myself.

A picture of the Game City shopping mall. Game the name of the Gabs' Walmart. If you can't find it in Game, then you are out of luck. Unless you are willing to make the 5 hour bus trip to Jo'burg, South Africa.

Good news is, you can find most things (i.e. electric current converters, wooden salad spoon, sunscreen) at Game.


Oh! By the way, Nando's (the eaterie pictured here) is a great fast-food chicken place. I'm not sure why this is the only picture I have of the mall.



There will be more coming in the future!