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Looking Back on Botswana

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

JANE

So, I’m back from Africa and settled back into my life (after considerable jet lag). It’s hard now even to believe that just a week ago, I was driving around the wilds of Botswana in a safari vehicle, looking at rhinos and giraffes and elephants. It all seems like a movie that I went to see, and now I’m out of the theater, dazed by the bright outside light and realizing that I ate a little too much popcorn (or, in this case, one too many ‘fat cakes,’ a Botswana staple consisting of a big ball of friend dough dripping with grease).

This trip to Africa made me feel both younger than usual and older. I felt younger to realize that I still had the nerve to go exploring and camping in remote places, with my 2 girls and some camping equipment. It also made me feel younger to try new foods, meet new people, and to see new things. However, the trip also made me feel older, in that I had more anxiety about things than I had ever had in the past. Part of this is probably due to the fact that it was Africa I was visiting and not Wales (where I ventured when I was 19 and traveling by myself for the first time).

Part of my anxiety was also due, I’m sure, to the fact that I didn’t have my husband with me—for the first time in about 28 years! After all, Tom is always so on guard against every possible hazard to our kids that it makes it easy for me to relax and be laid back.

But the biggest part was probably just due to the fact that I’m 58 years old and a little too aware of the bad things that can happen to good people. While Becky was excited to see the very interesting lizard on the roof of our camping tent, I couldn’t help but imagine that lizard dropping down on us in the night to give us a fatal, poisonous bite. While Becky and Josie both enjoyed steering the rental car through the sandy roads into Khama Rhino Sanctuary, I kept imagining us stuck in the sand on a backwoods trail, with no one to come and rescue us or bring us water. It made me feel old to be conscious of every mosquito bite, fearing dengue fever or malaria.

JANE ON SAFARI

I have to admit it: when our plane touched down in Philadelphia, and I knew, for the first time, that I had gotten at least one of my girls safely back on this side of the ocean, part of me breathed a huge sigh of relief.

But then, I have to remember that there was also another part of me that was ready to pack up and go again.

I guess there’s still some life in the old girl.

Tags: africa, Botswana, camping, dengue fever, elder women, malaria, oops50, travel, women over 50, womenbabyboomerwriters
Posted in Aging, Beautiful Women >50, Family, Journey, Main, Travel, World | 4 Comments »

My African Adventure: Part III

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

I’m back home, safe and sound, so I thought I would just give the highlights of the trip. I’m still a little jet lagged, so bear with me if I repeat myself. The pictures, by the way, come courtesy of my photographer daughter, Josie!

1) Seeing a mother warthog with her 3 babies:

2) Seeing a herd of elephants rolling in the mud under a hot, hot sun at Madikwe Game Reserve:

3) Watching the sun set at Tuli Game Reserve while elephant shrews and lizards ran around the rocks at our feet:

4) Visiting the little town of Serowe, with its fabulous museum that features a room dedicated to the life of novelist Bessie Head, as well as great exhibits about the Khama family (rulers of Botswana over the years):

5) Seeing a leopard—a very rare sighting—out for an evening stroll and watching lions drinking at a watering hole:

6) Catching a mother and baby rhino in our spotlight on our night drive through Khama Rhino Sanctuary

7) Playing “Categories” with my girls while waiting for our afternoon safari drive at Tuli, while a monkey stole our opened can of tuna fish!

Realizing that we probably weren’t going to die out in the wilderness, even though our 2-wheel drive rented car was having considerable difficulty navigating the sandy roads at Khama and the rocky, potholed roads at Tuli

(more…)

Tags: africa, Botswana, elderwomenbloggers, elephants, family, Gaborone, giraffes, hornbill, travel, warthogs, women over 50, women over fifty, womenover50blogs, zebras
Posted in Journey, Main, Travel, World | 7 Comments »

The African Adventure Begins!

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

We arrived in Africa after a grueling but fun 29-hour trip. The heat here is overwhelming…a constant sauna…but, since it’s dry heat, you can tolerate it.

After getting situated in the place we are staying, we walked to a nearby mall and had a delicious dinner of Indian food and went to see “New Year’s Eve” in English–at an air conditioned theater. We could easily have been back home, except for the “chicken” flavored popcorn. The next day, we explored Becky’s city, visiting her university and moving her into her new dorm room. We were also visited by a stranger, who scaled the wall and the iron gate at the house, apparently to rob the house. But, since I thought he was the gardener, who was due to come that morning, I went up and introduced myself to him and said, “You must be Mr. Mompati! How nice to meet you!” He looked startled and said, “Yes, Mr. Mompati. Can you let me in?” He was pointing to my host’s office door. I said, “Yes, I can, but I need to go get dressed first,” as I was in my bath robe. When I came back out, he was gone. I didn’t realize his true identity until the real Mr. Mompati arrived the next morning with a big smile on his face. I thought he was trying to pull a fast one on me, until I realized that he knew all about me and my girls–and my purpose for staying in the house. After some discussion back and forth, I realized how close I had come to letting a thief walk right into my host’s office!

We tried to start the big jeep of a car that we were going to borrow–the one with an extra tank for long hauls–but it wouldn’t even turn over, so we have ended up renting a car. I can’t say I’m too disappointed: 1) it is automatic instead of manual, and I was having anxiety attacks thinking about trying to shift with my left hand, while getting used to sitting on the right side of the car and driving on the left side of the road 2) it is gloriously air conditioned! It doesn’t have 4-wheel drive, which might be a problem in the game reserves, but I’m hoping we can work around that. Now, if I can just stop putting on the windshield wipers every time I want to signal that I’m going left or right (since even the hand controls are reversed on the wheel).

Tonight, we take our malaria medicine and get ready to leave early in the morning for Khama Rhino Sanctuary–and Tuli Game Reserve–that is, if we can find our way to the road!

Love from Africa!

Jane

Tags: mature women over 50, oops50africa, oops50beautfulwomen, women over fifty, womenover50writers
Posted in Beautiful Women >50, Journey, Main, Travel, World | 3 Comments »

Jane: Things on my list before my trip to Botswana

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Oops, I was supposed to post this for Jane as she was flying off to Botswana with Josie to visit her daughter, but I had too many things on my list this past week. So, here is Jane’s post - just a little late! Annice

Tell me again, whose idea was it to schedule a surprise birthday party for her husband’s 60^thbirthday one week before Christmas? It was worth it—I’ll say that. The party was a blast. Tom was surprised beyond my wildest hopes. Our friends and relatives came from far away places. My wonderful niece and her husband came from Virginia with their two baby girls to complete our workforce made up of Lizzie and Janson (her fiance), Josie, and my wonderful friends Heather, and Nora, her daughter. Together they decorated, cooked food, took pictures, arranged the room, welcomed guests–and generally made it all possible. And Sadhvi gets an Oscar for her acting job that led Tom into the room “to borrow chairs for the weekend.” Josie made an incredible 4-tier cake with the theme of “A Man For All Seasons” (with a season on each tier). I got so wound up from seeing so many people I love in one place that I’m still having trouble unwinding! It made turning 60 seem like a great thing, and I’ll let you know about that in a few years.

Tom, Josie, and the Birthday Cake!

But whose idea was it to schedule a trip to Africa 3 days after Christmas? This trip promises to be an adventure, and, most importantly, I’ll get to see my baby girl instead of missing her for another six months! But, needless to say, I’m not ready for Christmas, and I’m not ready for Africa. I’m guessing it will all come together, “one way or t’other,” as my mother used to say.

Here is what remains to be done today:

1) Shop for about five things that are still missing for Christmas

2) Find a plug that can convert to African power, so that I can plug in my C-PAP machine and sleep at night while I’m traveling around Botswana

3) Buy wrapping paper and wrap presents

4) Get international texting put on my daughter’s phone so that we can let my husband know that we arrived safely in Botswana

5) Call my credit card company to let them know I will, in fact, be in Botswana, so that they don’t kick out every transaction I try to do

6) Find the passports that I stored in a safe place for the trip

7) Get one of those passport holders you can wear around your neck

Go to the evening service at our church for Christmas Eve

Jane and Josie

9) Breathe deeply

10) Pack for Africa

11) Clean the house

12) Bake Christmas cookies.

I have a feeling that numbers 11 and 12 are probably going to go down the tubes!

Happy Belated New Year to all of our readers! Off to Botswana!

Tags: feeling overwhelmed, midlife journey, oops50humor, women's journeys, womenwritersover50
Posted in Family, Friends, Journey, Love, Main, Parenting, Travel | 1 Comment »

Jane and Josie Are Going to Africa!!!!!!

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

I didn’t think it would be possible. I could not imagine how I could ever get there. I had resigned myself (sorrowfully) to the idea that my daughter would be in Botswana for a year, and I would not get to see her—or to get any glimpse of her amazing new world. We knew we couldn’t afford to bring her home for Christmas; and we didn’t see any way that we could get over there. I was just going to have to stop worrying about her and accept the fact that I would not see her for nearly 10 months.

Then, the miraculous happened. First of all, I had a visit with my wonderful sisters at the beach, who all encouraged me to think creatively about getting there to see Becky. My sister, Katie, told me about how people can donate frequent flyer miles to other people. My other sisters talked about ways to raise money for the trip. My youngest daughter, Josie, said she was determined to go, and, since she suspected I would not let her go by herself, she offered to pay for herself and for part of my trip out of her hard-earned babysitting money.

Africa, here we come!

After I got back from the beach, my sister, Sheppie, sent me a donation in the mail, “for your trip.” That was just the beginning of a string of incredibly wonderful, generous acts by friends and family. Here’s a summary: my wonderful roommate from college, Cindy, donated her frequent flyer miles to me; my incredible mother-in-law, Henny, gave hers to Josie.

So, we knew we could get to Africa—and that we could even stop in Holland on the way to visit with family! But we still had no idea how we could afford to do anything once we got there. And then, the miraculous happened: a friend of a friend of my husband’s, a wonderfully generous man who will remain nameless (in case he doesn’t want the publicity), offered us the use of his house and his car, for an extremely moderate fee, during our visit. And, he told us how to see all the things we wanted to see—the elephants, the lions, the rhinos, etc.—without breaking the bank. He told us about the out-of-the-way nature parks that tourists don’t usually visit. He gave us tips about how to camp and cook your own food, instead of staying in luxury safari lodges. As things turned out, he even designed a 9-page itinerary for us, with tips on all the little things we should know, such as which line to stand in for Customs, how much a taxi ride from the airport should cost, what to bring with us from the States, etc. I consider him our Fairy Godfather for this trip—and this is a man that we will not even get the chance to meet in person, since he and his wife will be away on a cruise when we are in Botswana!!!! (more…)

Tags: africa, blogging, generosity, travel, women over 50
Posted in Family, Parenting, Relationships, Travel | 9 Comments »