SHINNanigans: Khama Rhino Sanctuary

It’s sad to think that our time in Botswana is almost over for now. I say ‘for now’ because I hope that Julie and I have the opportunity to return some day. It is a beautiful country and we have met some amazing people who in the short time we have been here have helped us see a lot of the beautiful country. Speaking of amazing, Julie and I ventured out into the great wide open Monday and Tuesday and drove northeast of Gaborone about three hours to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary. We took the eldest Shinn child with us, who was as we have dubbed her ‘the greatest tour guide on the planet.’ Along the way we got to drive across the Tropic of Capricorn. Can’t say that I have done that before. Established in the 1990s to help save the African White and Black Rhinos from extinction, the sanctuary is home to some thirty to forty white rhinos, two black rhinos and a wide variety of other African wildlife. As usual, our trip around the reserve did not disappoint.

On this trip we got to drive ourselves around the park. Our friends’ four wheel drive Toyota did quite well in the soft desert sand. We started our tour Monday at about 1:00 pm and managed to drive most of the north end of the park before sunset at 6:00 pm. Right at the start eagle-eyed Julie spotted a large gray tent up ahead so we approached with caution. The large gray tent turned out to be a male white rhino. His four to six thousand pounds looked quite impressive. Just on the other side of the road we stirred up three ostriches. It was nice to get a good look at these birds up close as well. We did not get a great look at them when we ventured down south to Madikwe Game Reserve. We also saw lots of zebra, wildebeest, impala, springbok, warthogs, and birds.

After dinner at the restaurant in the sanctuary and a good night’s sleep in Chalet F, we drove around the sanctuary Tuesday morning before breakfast and getting back to Gabs in time for tennis and piano lessons. Unfortunately the morning drive wasn’t very fruitful – perhaps on this day, the shortest day of the year, all the animals needed a little longer to warm up and get going after overnight temps in the 40s. It was cold sleeping for us in the unheated chalet with openings between walls and roof (well, chicken wire only, to keep out the critters) and thus a cold downdraft on the head all night, but there were lots of blankets. Highlight of the drive up and back was seeing a total of 82 lilac breasted rollers along the A-1 and A-14 highways!

Here also is a picture of the ‘main mall’ in Gabs (Mike, this is for you; have more pix we’ll share when we get back). We stopped by there on Sunday before going to a cookout (called ‘braai’) with a group from the Shinns church in the US – about 10 from their church arrived last week to work with churches in some neighboring villages. They will head back to the US on Saturday.