Here are a pair of reedbok. They
aren't common to see, especially both at once. They are smaller than
impala, but bigger than steenbok and have shaggier hair and a very full
tail. the male is either chewing something or making a rude
remark.
Here are a couple of little elephant shots
that I liked.
We saw how they smooth the roads which get
very rutty when it's wet and have very deep sand when it's dry. They drag
big old tires behind a tractor.
They use these tractors also to break up
the elephant dung on the roads. There are so many elephant in northern
Botswana that the roads get covered with dung. Elephant dung burns like
fire-starter so they have to keep the roads clear of it so the roads can
continue to act as firebreaks.
Here is the tent we were to have stayed in
at Chitabe.
As we flew to Chitabe, we could see burned
over areas and even some small fires still burning. We hadn't even settled
in at Chitabe when the manager came and told us that the wind had shifted and
the fire was coming right at the camp and everyone was being flown out as
quickly as possible. We hadn't even opened our suitcases so we went right
with her then. When we saw how close and how big the flames were, we
were in full agreement with being evacuated.
There were only ten guests--six were flown
to Little Vumbura which had space, but since we had just come from there, they
flew us to Jao. Some people get all the luck--see next letter about
Jao.
Chitabe didn't burn. They were able
to bring their heavy road equipment in and cut a new break between the camp and
the fire which the fire didn't jump. The whole staff was out beating
flames. It was a very scary time for them.