Jeff & Michele - "The Royces In Africa": May 2006

Back from our trip to the "bush". We went to a place we had never been before called the Khama Rhino Sanctuary in Botswana.

It's only a 4 and a half hour drive from our house. Our friend, Richard, also came along (also works for FM). So there was Richard and Jeff in the front and Ron, Loretta and I in the back bench seat and the back back was loaded down with food, camping gear, and bedding, tools..etc. We rented a "chalet" at the sanctuary to make things easier, no setting up tents and all that. It was a rather rustic chalet with large gaps in the joints of the walls, but the beds and bedding were clean and nice and we could set a fire under the water tank and have hot water. They also had some chairs, dishes, pots and pans and cutlery. The toilet was a proper toilet but it was outside, with a fence of poles for a bit of privacy around it. It was quite nice looking up at the stars while going to the loo.

We had great game viewing. I think we saw the rhino every time we were out.

The way people usually do it is you roll out of bed at about 6 a.m., throw some clothes on (you probably slept in them anyway), grab a cup of tea, and dash out for about 3 hours. This is good lighting for pics and the game is usually out and about. Then you come back to camp, fire up the gas cadac grill and cook up breakfast, eggs, bacon, toast...

Then you take a nap, or a shower, or read your book. About 3 or 4 in the afternoon, you load into the 4X4 again armed with cameras and binoculars and you game drive until just before dark.

Then you light up the fire and get some nice coals for cooking up some meat. You have a nice dinner and then heat up some water to do the washing up. Then it's bed time.

Most of the folks in the chalet slept nicely, MOST. The first night, as soon as lights out, Jeff hears a rustling, local mouse. So he shooos it out of the chalet, luckily Mom got to sleep after that, Ron and Richard were up in the loft so they went right to sleep. Then the mouse returned. Jeff packed away all the food back into the containers and we got a cat nap in. The next night was more exciting. Some mice, but with bushy tails (like a squirrel but not a squirrel) came snooping around. Then the mouse came along as well. Luckily mom, was sleeping blissfully. Jeff and I had the flashlight on the bushy tail. It was up in the rafters above our heads. Then we saw the hairless tail of the mouse. We heard a scuffle a squeal and then we saw fluffy tail and hairless tail right beside each other. Then we heard, crunch crunch crunch. And slowly the hairless tail got pulled up into the rafter until hairless was no more. In anycase, after that fluffy was full and tired so Jeff and I got some sleep. Ahh adventures in Africa.