On the ground, and surrounded by living things...

Smallish planes do something to me. As soon as I took my space in the 50-seater flying me to Gaborone, I passed out without grace or warning. Oblivious to takeoff, I woke up only as the captain’s voice sounded over the radio informing us that the temperature in upcoming Gaborone, my new and temporary home, was 54 degrees. The entire planeload gasped in collective shock and fear.

Fortunately, ol’ Cap had gotten his numbers mixed up, but the 34 degrees that assaulted me on my exit from the plane was a shock, since I’d spent only seconds outdoors in Johannesburg and my last real exposure to the elements was in chilly Vancouver. What stroke of genius commanded me to wear a polyester shirt en route, I’ll never know, but life is a sweaty learning experience.

Jo Walls, my liaison with Somarelang Tikologo, met me at the airport. After checking that my journey hadn’t fully destroyed my energy, she and her adorable (and grabby) 1-year-old Zak, took me on a rapid-fire tour of some of the most vital locations I’ll need to know here. Several wild goats and semi-domestic cattle lazily crossed the road in front of us at various intervals, confident that their ability to dent the car with their inertia would deter any collisions. They were right.

I met the staff at my new employer’s office, all the while peppering Jo with incessant questions that revealed my fundamental ignorance about the vast country I’m in. Jo patiently showed me the banks I’ll need, gave me some maps I was unable to find in Canada or online, and ran me through the shopping district nearest the (powered, air-conditioned!) guest house I’ll be in for the next few days. There’s a wonderfully inexpensive internet café and two remarkably well-stocked supermarkets within five minutes’ walk.

More remarkably, Jo has arranged a meet’n’greet barbecue at her house for tomorrow afternoon, to acquaint me further with my new coworkers and possibly even meet some folks to share a house with. By this point I was bordering on ridiculously thankful, but the best was yet to come…

Jo and family are going on a wildlife drive at the Mokolodi Game Reserve, and invited me along! Elephants! ELEPHANTS! ELEEEEEEEEEEEEPHAAAAAAAAAAANTS! I never expected to get a chance to see real wildlife so soon… JOY!

Actually, I’m already glimpsing the surprising variety of creatures that inhabit this remarkably parched land. The trees nearest the guest house are thick with weaver bird nests, gourd-like enclosures that are woven from grasses and sticks and hang upside down from branches with the entrance at the very bottom. According to Jo, these nests are painstakingly built by the male weaver while the female looks on, and voices her disapproval of an inadequate nest by snipping the supporting branch, and then waiting for the hapless male to construct another home while the prior one lies in ruins on the ground below.

Lizards are everywhere, and it’s amazing to see geckos scurrying in spirals up desert trees while I do something as mundane as carry my groceries home. They lurk inside my kitchen, which is apparently a good thing, since they devour the omnipresent but thankfully non-malarial mosquitoes.

None of it has fully sunk in yet, like the strange fact that I just bought a very ordinary load of groceries... in Africa! As happened in Japan, there’ll surely be something that drives the unfamiliarity of my surroundings right into my brain, but it hasn’t happened yet. Maybe getting devoured by elephants will do the trick. Only one way to find out!