I’ve been in Botswana for a little over 2 weeks now and I am in love with everything here! I decided to make a list of facts/ what it is like to live here just so everyone else can get a feel for what Botswana is really like from the time I got here until now….
1. When you’re driving, you most likely have to stop more than once for either dogs, goats, cows or donkeys (even if you’re just driving 2 minutes up the road)
2. Be grateful that grocery stores are close, the closest one here is 2 hours away and that includes the ferry ride across the Delta.
3. Living on the Delta and having an open field behind your house means every night you’ll see a sunset better than the one the night before.
4. Bug nets are a blessing.
5. No one goes to the bathroom in the middle of the night, we go outside.
6. Camping out in your tent consists of seeing how many people you can fit in a 2 person tent (my record is 4), watching the stars, and hearing donkeys walk around the field all night with cow bells on them.
7. If you drive anywhere in the morning, you’ll most likely see an elephant.
8. If you’re ever sick in the bathroom at night, its fun to look up at the sky and watch the stars. (I saw a shooting star)
9. African food is the best food I’ve eaten on the race so far, seriously its amazing.
10. The bugs here are huge and at night some fall from the sky and land in the sinks. Bug spray and lighters do the trick.
11. Whenever kids see you while you’re driving, they will have the biggest smiles and get so excited to see the white people.
12. You can buy an island or a large plot of land for 50 cents.
13. If you have land with a fence around it and an elephant knocks your fence down, the government has to pay for it.
14. Trucks are called buckies.
15. Showers are fun, showers with hot water are better. If you want hot water you have to build a fire and make sure you take military showers.
16. If you look out while driving, you’ll see a lot of animal bones.
17. You can never predict the weather here. One night you’ll be thankful for your sleeping bag and blanket from the plane and other nights it’ll be 90 degrees. The best nights are when it rains.
18. Ear plugs and eye masks are gifts from God and they’re the only reason why I sleep at night.
19. I’m more than ready to walk on the hot sand at the beach next year, I’ve been practicing here everyday for the past 2 1/2 weeks.
20. Donkeys lay on the side or sometimes in the middle of the road to clean themselves.
21. Always be grateful for whoever chops your firewood for you at home (Alex this one is for you), we chopped down a couple trees and bushes with a small hand ax and 2 person saw for 5 hours and the blisters on my hands are real.
22. Bringing a water bottle that cleans my water while I drink it might be the best decision I’ve ever made. The water here is yellow and tastes like iron.
23. Picture a lot of sand and some trees with huts everywhere and a sand road. Now picture that with a very modern bright red building in the middle of everything. That my friends would be the post office and its the only place with wifi and air conditioning.
24. Always make sure you shake your clothes before you put them on, there is a good chance a bug will be in it.
25. Everyday you will step on a small spiky ball thing that will get stuck in your foot about 5 times a day.
