Animals

The roosters in Botswana don't know how to tell time. They crow all hours of the day and seem to get louder in the wee hours of the night. The fighting dogs do drown them out on occasion. Sometimes I think the dogs are there to protect my host family’s property from other dogs. Some nights the frequency of the fights is unbearable. 

It's difficult to tell what chickens belong to my host family and which ones are just visiting. All the animals come and go through the open gates, or holes in the fences and no one seems to mind all the crossover of lives stock. It's not uncommon to see goats, cows and donkeys wandering down the streets. They are often seen on the edges of the highways, though I'm told there are hefty fines if the owners let their animals wonder near the highways. My host family has their cows at the cattle post. I would love to visit the cattle post and they tell me they will take me there. The farms are family owned here and it’s a completely open market. No licenses, regulations, or zoning required to open what they call a Tuk shop on your property to sell mobile phone airtime, sodas, snacks, fat cakes, even food from your cattle post. Anyone can sell anything from anywhere.

 

It amazes me how many animals there are in Botswana. When I was in Gaborone a few weeks back there were baboons in the parking lot scavenging the garbage. They didn't posses any fear of humans and had no issues looking you straight in the eye while sitting on the wall of the parking lot enjoying their findings. I think I saw about 8 of them in all shapes and sizes.

We went to the rhino sanctuary just outside Serowe. It’s a huge park and we saw lots of white rhinos, many with babies, zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, birds, impalas, spring bucks and more!

Thanks for the awesome camera Mma Pa!