The bush is so dry and trees are leafless, all except 2 trees on The Plot. But this will now start changing as we had our first rains on Friday night. Only 5 mm and it came with lots of lightning and thunder.
Little Sable is doing well and is now just over a week old.
Sue and I witnessed one of our milk goats giving birth on Saturday. Making it even more special is that it is a little girl.
We have named her Sable owing to her black colour, with white face markings
PS I have updated our weather page for your interest. https://ourbots.wordpress.com/letlhakane-weather/
According to WorldAtlas Botswana tops the list of countries that are doing the most to protect wildlife.
It is really not difficult for us to get reassurance of why we live here, but once again we get it.
For the top- 10 list see: Which Countries Are The Best in Wildlife Conservation?
This cute yellow mongoose comes to where ever we are sitting to get chicken bones we leave out for it. It is becoming so relaxed around us and it comes within 2m.
The bush now is very dry and most trees have lost all their leaves. Below are pictures of some of the plants giving some colour during this season.
Presently with no water out in the bush, birds are attracted to the few water points we have at The Plot, so bird watching is great (see our bird list)
Cold, cold and more cold. June this year was the coldest June we have personally ever recorded since we moved up here 8 1/2 years ago.
Things are looking a bit more warmer at the moment. Chilly mornings and nights continue, but during the day, out in the sun, it is shorts and t-shirt weather.
I have updated our weather page for those interested
Botswana has been very well led during this epidemic and restricted infections to only 227 confirmed cases and only 1 death. Most of our confirmed cases were/are truck drivers coming into our country and a lot of these have returned to their home country.
Rumour has it that Letlhakane has had a case, but I can’t find any official proof of this, so I am not sure if this is genuine or not.
Life for us, under present restrictions, means we need to wear masks in public places and shops. Before entry into a shop your name, temperature and contact number is recorded.
Botswana does have, however, a petrol shortage owing to truck delays at our borders, so we are under petrol restrictions. We can only refuel with P250 per car, which is roughly 30l. We have had days here in Letlhakane where there is no fuel at most garages and hence long queues at a garage that does – up to a km.
With good rains in Angola highlands over the rainy season the Okavango, Chobe and Zambezi Rivers are all in full flow. The Zambezi has also caused major flooding in Zambia as well.
The photo below, of the Chobe River, was taken last week, by Stanza Mbanga Molaodi of African Bush Lovers Travel & Tours Safaris.
Lock down is a thing of the past, however we are still in a State of Emergency, which will still be in place until the end of September.
Botswana has been divided into 9 zones, all movement within a zone is allowed. Movement across zones is by permit only. Basically all businesses are open again and schools go back this week.
On the important side; the sale of alcohol is allowed under strict regulations. We can now buy alcohol from Wednesday’s to Saturday’s. So tomorrow we can enjoy our first lemonade for over 2 months.
The sale of tobacco is still not allowed. But some restrictions have been eased as we are now allowed to buy lighters. 🙂
We had our first taste of winter here in Letlhakane, late last week, we froze with temperatures dropping under 10C.
I have updated our weather page for those interested. https://ourbots.wordpress.com/letlhakane-weather/
Winter is creeping in quickly – Mornings are very chilly. We have already had a few days recording under 15C.
Beautiful colours of the Mopane Tree in autumn
The bush is drying out, the Lowveld-cluster Leaf has started loosing its leaves and the autumn colours of the Mopane can be seen all over.
It would seem (as should be) that our rainy season has come to an end – even the rain gauge has been packed away for winter. It has been a dismal wet season and it is the second lowest rainfall we have recorded since we have been living here in Botswana (now 8 1/2 years).
See my updated weather page at: https://ourbots.wordpress.com/letlhakane-weather/
With the whole world focusing on the devastating Coronavirus an amazing natural event is easily be overlooked. The waters of the Okavango, Zambezi and Chobe Rivers which comes from the highlands in Angola are at their highest levels for years.
After travelling some 2000 km from the ‘Water Tower’ in the Angolan highlands, the first waters of 2020 Okavango flood have finally reached Maun. This years floods are the highest recorded for the last 5 years.
Let’s hope that the waters continues into the Boteti River and fills Lake Xau (see: https://ourbots.wordpress.com/2012/09/24/so-where-does-the-boteti-river-go/ )
The Zambezi River only just touches Botswana, forming the border between ourselves and Zambia for a distance of 150m – the world’s shortest international border.
However it is in flood – in fact it is rising to levels that makes it the biggest flood since 1977/78. There is now a second wave of the flood en-route and water levels at Chavuma (on the Zambezi at the Zambia/Angola Border) have risen by 523% compared to the same period last year. This could be the biggest flood since the Kariba Dam wall floods of 1958. Kariba will probably fill.
Botswana has recorded 24 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and we have unfortunately lost 1 person to the virus. Below is our latest breaking news – which is wonderful.
We have moved into the easing of lock down restrictions now, however still no tobacco and alcohol
😦
Businesses have started re-opening, but are only allowed 25% of their staff force at this stage.
I have 2 staff, so I am battling to work out which half of which staff member I should have.
Somebody leave a case of beers and a carton of cigarettes at my gate and I will attempt to guess who did it.
81/2 years ago Sue and I arrived in Botswana and haven’t regretted it even once. With the coronavirus shutdown it gives me time to reflect back on the great life we have had and still having here in this wonderful country.
Any move is always a stressful time and ours was no different. We moved here in December, with no planned truck to deliver our furniture. Truck companies were rushing to deliver before their Christmas break and that didn’t include our stuff. So we had to camp in our house and this went on until well into January.
Our first Christmas here was somewhat different to what we had become used to and came without a tree or decorations.
A paragraph of my blog at the time reads “Apart from a couple of blow-up Father Christmas’ around town there is not really a Christmas atmosphere at all here in Letlhakane. No Christmas carols and at about 45C Santa will frazzle in his big red suit, but I will leave out a Castle and some biltong for him just in case.”
Moving into a desert also had some adaptations and in my post 10 Ways Of Knowing You Live In A Desert
Point 1, which amused friends and family, was “There are more bottles of water in the fridge than beers”
This would also be point 1 if I wrote a post “10 Ways of knowing You are Coming to an End of a Lockdown”
Lekhubu (Kubu) Island, Orapa Game Park and the Boteti River to follow soon…
Our president announced last night that we are going into a 3 week gradual relaxation of shut down regulations.
The first week 1 May – 7 May remains at full regulations as we presently know it. Week 2 – certain restrictions will be removed and week 3 the remaining regulations will be lifted. So by 22nd May we will hopefully be totally out of lock down. This of course is dependent on no new cases.
Botswana has had 22 positive cases of the virus and 1 death.
Our drinks and cigarettes have run out and our fridge is looking very dismal. The sale of drinks was banned about a week before our shutdown started. It was for 30 days and that “ended” yesterday, but with the shutdown this was extended – our stocks did last until day 29.
I see that the latest thing is to, on social media, challenge people to do things and nominate others. So – I challenge all reading this post to send drinks and cigarettes, you have to complete this challenge by sunset today. In fact cigarettes in 5 minutes. 🙂 🙂 I wish.
Day 4 of our 28 day shut down. Botswana now has 6 cases, but still only 1 death. People here are adhering to the shutdown, which is really great.
As far as we go: None of the mines have closed in Botswana so Sue is still working, more at home than at the mine, however.
Both of us have permits to travel to The Plot, which is a great relief. We are restricted in our movements though. We can leave home at 7h30 and have to be back home by 16h30.
Reports are coming through that the Okavango River is flooding in Namibia and the highest it has been for the last 5 years. This is wonderful news for the Okavango Delta, which was very very low last year.
Hopefully the delta will overflow and water will flow in the Boteti River again.
The Zambezi is also in flood and has reached the highest levels since 1977. There is a second wave coming through which is a big as the first wave and could be the biggest flood since 1958.
Above: Sue and Bonnie after a hard mornings work in Cailie’s Cove.
Note the bottles of water 🙂
