A "bush" room of her own

Monday in Maun

I’m at Bon Arrive` the café across from the Maun Airport, where I’m waiting to meet Kim. She and her husband, Stuart, own a mobile safari company and live in a thatched, storybook house by the Boro River (although not within view of the water but a quick walk). I’m preparing to hand her many pula to rent the cottage on the property – a modern, beautiful place, a one-bedroom studio-type space with a deck from which to watch an array of bird life. Dare I say I might do yoga out there, albeit without a mat?

A Canadian volunteer who works with an NGO, Living With Elephants, is finishing her 5-month stint today. She said this was the best place she found in all of Maun, and now I’ll be taking her place. Hooray and Huzzah, Huzzah!! It’s great news because the cottage is in the bush, definitely scenic, and yet in a fenced compound that should provide a safer setting than some neighborhoods. Kim is fun, too, so I’ll have a new friend to hang out with....They are here....

…They have just left my table. It’s a done deal. I officially am their renter. I met Stuart, the husband, and their son, Kyeren, who has agreed to work with me on a new children’s story when I move to their place. I think he’s 9. He is quite excited by the prospect that we will work on a story together. I said all I need to know is that he is an adventurer, and he assured me he is.

This is a load off my mind to have a home to know will be mine come July. The next challenge – a huge one – will be finding transportation. The thing about the cottage in the bush is, it’s in the bush. So I won’t be able to walk around and find a combi or a taxi, but I figure if the best cottage in the village landed in my universe when I met Andrea on my first day in Maun, on Feb. 26, then the rest will sort itself out in due time. So now I’m having a nip of red wine to celebrate and checking out the pilots at the next table – you know, I would really love to learn how to fly planes here – but they look hardly older than the little boy Kyeren. Neither instructors nor dates who are pilots appear on the horizon, only a top-notch rental property. That’ll do.

Sorry I don’t have a photo to show you. You’ll have to remain in suspense until later.

Meanwhile, I stopped in to see my stand-in Maun parents, Joe and Cathy Wanzala of the “Are we ever happy we have an Obama bumper sticker!” fame.(See the bottom of the first page, blog photo) Cathy was pleased to hear about the Boro River cottage and assured me that they will still be keeping up with me, including being on the lookout for a bakkie (i.e. a truck) or a Land Rover. Tomorrow, I fly by bush plane to the Savute Camp at the Chobe Naional Park to sleep again under the Southern Cross and listen for the sound of lions.

Let’s roll!
(p.s. This will be my last entry for a while. Know that your emails have been uplifting and your support is felt miles away, across the globe. Thank you. And the story of my night out on the town --and village at the Jazzbrew -- with Sechele will have to wait.)