By Sam

A day off for the volunteers already!

For most of us, today (Tuesday) started at a leisurely pace and an opportunity to catch our breath after Yesterday’s baptism.  With internet access being elusive at best, much of my time this morning was spent hunting down an opportunity to blog…

Clare, however, found herself giving an interview to Botswana TV first thing in the morning for an upcoming news item to be broadcast after the TV crew have filmed us in action at Mosielele Primary School on Friday. A pretty positive 15 minutes of fame!

The amazingly helpful Ravi at BCA had helped us to organise an afternoon safari to Modikwe just over the border in South Africa, so we set off with much excitement and a pocket full of Rand for some Big Five spotting.

And we were not disappointed – even by the time we reached our departure gate we had seen impala, giraffes and zebra!

Our guide Takura (aka Charles!) was entertainment all the way, with no vegetation an obstacle in his quest to get us close to the wildlife.  We managed to spot 4 of the Big Five – lion, buffalo, rhino, elephant; with only the leopard proving elusive.

We were incredibly lucky to get so close and personal to a lioness, her 4 cubs and a recent kill, that we could hear the crunch of bones as the last cub tucked into his tea (not in front of the vegetarian!!)

Having to be quiet brings out the child in us all and makes everything funnier – in mischievous mood, Clare had Michael MacIntyre (Ben) freaking out when she pretended to be a spider with a bit of grass from the back of the jeep.

Her come-uppance came later, when we stopped for a drinks break at dusk and discovered we had not one but two spidery passengers, which Takura cheerfully identified as Black Widows. Rachel and Clare nearly cried – not so brave  now, Clare, eh?

We weren’t sure if it was the spiders or the tales of the mystical tiny human called a tokoloshi that causes mischief and spends your money whilst you’re sleeping, but Clare was somewhat subdued on the dark drive back to the safari lodge…

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