Let's learn about: Botswana! - Normal Fauna (feat. rodents of unusual size)

So one day after dragging my sad, tired carcass home from another grueling derm clinic, the other, non-derm residents came up and asked, in their normal cheerful, well-rested way, "Jeremy! Want to come with us to the Yacht Club for drinks?" My first instinct, as usual, was to spit in their smug little faces and tell them to go get bent -- but then I thought, "Yacht Club?? But Botswana is a land-locked country!" So, my curiosity piqued, I excitedly grumbled something like, "yeah, I guess so... whatever" and then leapt dejectedly into the cab!

Apparently the Gaborone Dam has lead to the formation of a large lake that allows for some of the expats to to tool around aimlessly in sad little catamarans and generally make asses of themselves by calling themselves a "Yacht Club".

Kidding themselves

Their facilities did make for a nice view, however, and there was even a restaurant that served french fries with peri-peri sauce that were reportedly very delicious! But of course when we were there the power was out so the fryer was non-functional. Welcome to Africa! (That's what everyone says when something third-worldy happens in Botswana. We say it a lot. It's like when someone says "It's not that bad" about Cleveland.)

Nice view. Electricity not required.

The horizon is slightly off-level in Botswana

Nice place to watch the sun set

While I was taking pictures of the lake and sunset I happened to catch the silhouette of what looked like a giant gerbil on top of a rock and I thought "What the hell is that?!?" (I also say that a lot).

So majestic 

Giant gerbil 

Possibly good eatin'

Questioning the waitress yielded the name "rock hare". I learned much later that these guys are actually rock hyraxes, which I had heard of before. One might never guess, from their diminutive size, but the wonders of modern molecular genetics has taught us that hyraxes are actually the closest living relatives to modern-day elephants! Despite this, the elephants almost never invite the Hyraxes around for supper and are always making excuses when they're invited to the Hyraxes bar-mitzvahs. Yeah, you forgot. Sure, elephant, sure.

The Gaborone Dam

Another fun thing to do in Gaborone that doesn't require any electricity is to climb nearby Kgale hill (pronounced kah-ley). The information in my resident handbook indicated that it was a fairly strenuous climb, taking about 45 minutes to reach the top, with very nice views of the entire city. It also mentioned that there had been some muggings recently and to be careful. Good advice at any time, right? Evidently the other residents took this to mean that it would be non-stop muggings all the way to the top and they visibly braced themselves for knife attacks every time we passed someone on the trail. Would you believe we weren't mugged even once? So disappointing. I was not disappointed, however, to find the baboons mentioned in the guidebook loitering around the parking lot.

Baboon

George W. Bush

The guidebook also mentioned to make sure your car doors were locked as the baboons had been known to get into the cars in the parking lot and make off with anything that caught their interest. I figured they would probably have some good stuff so I tried mugging one of them but he didn't have squat.

Not a valet, despite what they tell you

A particular species indigenous to Gaborone is the so-called "heavy metal cowboy". I have been on the lookout for these since day one of my trip and have only seen a single representative -- on my way from the airport, no less! So they are appreciably rare.

Heavy Metal Cowboy

This subculture dresses in black leather "cowboy" attire, no matter the weather and attend heavy metal concerts that are put on in back yards and small bars all across Botswana.

Howdy!

Murica

The Pilane Court flats plays host to a dizzying array of exotic wildlife that you can see each morning and evening on your way to and from the bathroom. One must simply glance down at the floor to observe the following:

The Leopard-Spotted Carpet Lizard

Easily startled 

Observe the subtle camouflage. He blends expertly into his environment.

This is the common black shower spider. They are known to inhabit showers and bathtubs and are extremely poisonous, or so I imagine.

Actual size*
*not actual size.

This is a young Blue-jacketed Apple-stealer. This particular one belongs to one of the House-keepers who lives at our flats, and frequently stops by my room to check for loose apples. If you look closely, you can see that she has indeed found an apple and appears to be about to snack on it. They are quite friendly and may be taught simple words in English such as "Hello" and "Bye-bye". 

Blue-jacketed Apple-stealer

Well, that's it for now. I just finished my last week of clinic and have a week of well-deserved vacation coming up. I'm sure there will be lots more pictures to come.

Signing off, from Gaborone.