Equus caballus

Science in action! To my delight, the Wildlife Biology class took to the field (Gaborone Game Reserve) on Tuesday. The assignment: “Doing your own ecological research.” Ha HA! Finally, after years spent following experimental procedures and answering other people's questions, I had the chance to pose my own. Naturally the focus of my interest was a collection of termite mounds. Really they are the most bizarre, architectural curiosities. The ant hills back in Canada don't even hold a flame to some of these 10 foot giants. Pending approval from my professor, I plan to investigate the following questions: When and why are termite mounds abandoned? What other organisms utilize termite mounds, both when they are active and also abandoned? Sadly, due to time and resource constraints, the designed experiments will only be hypothetical...but at the very least it's a lesson in hypotheses formulation. Driving around the reserve I also laid eyes upon a Nile Monitor Lizard. Surprisingly large creatures with an uncanny resemblance to Komodo dragons. I have yet to see a snake in Botswana, but given that the vast majority of them are poisonous, I'm not too broken up about it.

Science in theory! To my dismay, the Conservation Biology class hosted its first exam. I needn't have worried...it was just like sitting down to an exam at the University of Memphis...but even better. A fat portion of lovely short answer and long response questions. None of that dastardly multiple choice, second guessing, erasing, changing at the last minute folly associated with scantron sheets. We'll see if my positive assessment matches up with the results though (unfortunately, it rarely does).

Science...in the process! I toiled away another Friday working in the National Botanical Gardens. Though I was armed with heavy duty gardening gloves, the scythe was not on the menu. Instead I met with the head Botanist and was introduced to project “plant inventory”. Despite being in operation for several years, the National Botanical Gardens have not identified or quantified all the plant species represented in the park. Nor do they have a map (the concept of such a thing seems quite foreign to Batswana when “walk that way and turn at the big Marula tree” has always sufficed). I simply opened up Google Earth, located the gardens by satellite photography, copied various images, and compiled. Voila! A map of the gardens, overlaid with a grid. Perhaps not ready for public consumption, still perfectly suitable for noting the location of different plant species and creating a sketch of the layout of different plant communities within the garden. My reward for the day was a special viewing of Lithops, a genus of succulent plants native to southern Africa. Locals refer to them as the “living stones”. To the organisms credit, at first I thought I was looking at a pot full of rocks. Thus, Lithops has ascended to the title of my favourite plant species (alongside the perpetually happy three-toed sloth, my favourite animal species).

Now, enough with science! I passed a tranquil weekend out in the “Botswana boonies”. WAY out. The cab driver was wrestling his charge down a dirt road, umbrella thorns battering the car on all sides, by the time we finally arrived. Our destination: Arne's Horse Safari. Though the website looked promising (and a review from another group of international students was mostly positive), I was shocked by a number of things. Maybe my experience as a devoted horse rider and jumper has left me with unrealistic expectations? Still, there was blatant maltreatment of the animals...I'm hoping out of ignorance rather than wilful disregard, but that isn't an acceptable excuse. I counted eight horses in total, but according to the owner, only two were actually fit to be ridden. All the animals were angular and their ribs showed through plainly. One of the horses had a swollen ankle, bloody in parts and covered with flies. There wasn't a full water bucket in any of the six occupied stalls. I opted out of taking a trail ride after two from our group returned on unhappy looking mounts who were quickly unsaddled and returned to their stalls. Without grooming, or any other care such as a quick hoof-pick. Again, no food and water was provided. It is quite possible that they received due attention later in the day when I wasn't observing...but I can only hope. I had a strong urge to hand over the 40 Pula fee, intended for the trail ride, just to buy the horses some oats. Or maybe a curry comb. Vet fee perhaps? I understand that there is not a lot of wealth in the rural areas of Botswana, but I cannot condone owning eight miserable horses when there hardly seems sufficient resources to properly care for two. I'm still unsure whether my participation as a paying tourist in this venture is keeping the horses from imminent death, or in fact sending them directly there by funding the owners who treat them so poorly. However, I am landing this judgement based on years of experience at modern, well funded riding centres. Maybe these conditions are just the hard reality for animals out in the dusty remote areas of the country. With little hope of effecting any change, I tried to enjoy my time out in the wilderness. There is something wonderful to be said about fire cooked vegetable curry, an African sunset, and two excellent travel companions. We slept out under the stars and watched lighting storms etch the sky on the distant horizon. Superb. The following morning I reluctantly opened up my study notes for the drive home. A reality check and a week full of exams was waiting.