July 18 & 18 - South Africa Days 11 & 12

Today we are taking a “cultural tour” of the area. If I am being honest I was not so sure I wanted to do this as it takes up the better part of the day and I was somewhat looking forward to just relaxing at the lodge. However, part of this is to go out and see the world and in Botswana we don’t really meet any of the locals, other than the camp staff, and I am not going to see any more of it by sitting in the lodge all day. I have to remind myself that this is not about a vacation sometimes and think about a friend of mine, Steve Daley, who is always the first one to jump into a new experience.

The tour is organized and run by the owners of the lodge and one of their goals is to support local artists. In doing this they offer cultural tours that will take you around the area and bring you to several of the artist workshops. As such we stopped by two wood carvers, a pottery and a seamstress, all of which make their own crafts by hand. I’ve just started my trip and not really keen on hauling around a bunch of stuff for the next three months but the prices were so inexpensive and some of the items so nice I could not resist picking up a few things. I’m guessing that this will not be available in Cape Town, and if it is I am sure it will cost twice as much or more. I bought small items but now what to do with the stuff?!

We visit two wood carvers, the first of which is Thomas Kubayi uses handmade tools to create his benches and musical instruments. The other carver is Lucky Ntimani uses more traditional tools but works with kids and when we are there he has about a dozen 8 to 12-year-old kids learning wood carving. The other thing he does with them is teaches them to play music and while we are there they perform for us a couple of songs. One of the other things the boys do while we are there is start a grass fire that quickly starts to spread onto the neighboring property. Nobody seems all that worried about it however and Lucky and a couple of the boys take to jumping around it, beating it with sticks until it eventually goes out. You can actually see it starting in the picture below.

 

There is also a pottery and seamstress that we visit. At the pottery shop they provide a demonstration of how the build pots by hand and in about 10 minutes a woman turns a big lump of clay into a 12” round pot. All by hand and without a pottery wheel, she just molds it by feel.

 

We also visit some of the local shops in Elim that I would compare more to a street bazar or what I suspect the old Maxwell Street flea market in Chicago was like before Univ. of Illinois Chicago bought it up and shut it all down. Largely a series of poorly erected tin shacks where you can buy vegetables and fruit; live chickens; get your hair cut and braded; the brakes on your car fixed; have lunch at a temporary restaurant out of a big black pot; buy clothing; and so on.

 

It is about 4 pm by the time we get back to the lodge and generally hang out until dinner, which was again awesome! The chef comes out at the end to check on how things were and then proceeds to sing us three songs. He did this the night before and I have to say it is a bit odd for me and reminds me of the mariachi players at the Mexican restaurants in San Antonio on the River Walk. I find them annoying and wish they would go away and this has a bit of the same awkwardness to it. However, unlike the mariachi bands playing for money from the tourists, this guy is quite proud of his work and is not looking for anything. So it is kind of hard to be annoyed with it and I feel a bit guilty.

The following day we return to Botswana with a vehicle full of groceries for the camp. We get back around 2:00 pm and mostly lounge around the camp the rest of the day playing Uno or Cambio and doing laundry.