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May 14: Pilanesberg The day started with taking care of some tasks around Gaborone, mostly shopping. However, before going off to do that, we went into the embassy again with Helen and, because we were fortunate enough to catch him for a brief free moment, met the ambassador, Robert Kreuger, a former senator from Texas. The second time in the embassy, I began to notice how secure a place it really was. The buildings were well away from the surrounding walls, making it less vulnerable to car bombs placed outside, windows were small and sparsely distributed, and even though the embassy buildings surrounded a nice open courtyard, there were only a few entrances to it, and those easily defended. Once we got done shopping for trinkets (I wound up with a substantial arm full), we packed up and headed off to the Pilanesberg game reserve in South Africa, about four hours southeast of Gaborone. Ken had a lot of chances to flash his diplomatic passport. As we left Botswana, one of the customs officials wanted to search our van. It turns out, however, that you can't search the vehicle of anybody carrying a diplomatic passport, since they have diplomatic immunity. Ken waves the passport, and the problem goes away. A bit later on, we made a left turn on red somewhere in South Africa. The road system was built by the Brits, so like everywhere else in southern Africa, they drive on the left. Our maneuver was the equivalent of an American right turn on red. But apparently that's not legal in South Africa. Cop pulls us over, Ken waves the passport, problem goes away. Judging by the many posters by the roadside, South Africa was facing an election in the near future. Most of them were populated by the usual electoral claptrap: "Let's put South Africa back to work" and the like. However, I found it interesting that one party had as it's slogan "Fight back against the ANC." Most disturbing, however, was one that said simply, in white letters on a navy blue background, "No mercy for criminals." Seeing as we were apparently in flagrant violation of traffic laws, I found this rather threatening. Our lodgings in Pilanesberg, on the edge of the game reserve itself, were a bit like those near Victoria Falls, fully equipped cottages rather than hotel rooms. However, they were a bit more conventionally western: solid walls and tile roofs rather than canvas and thatch. That night, we cooked chicken over native thorn wood and had it with Ken's family's barbeque sauce. Yummy. |