BOTSWANA-PLANET BAOBAB

PLANET BAOBAB-THURSDAY 30TH MAY - SATURDAY 1ST JUNE:

MAKGADIGADI PANS: THURSDAY 30^TH & FRIDAY 31^ST MAY

AIMEE:Planet Baobab

FRIDAY 31st May 2013

Today we had a lazy morning we woke up at 7 o clock and stayed in the truck for quite a while. When we got out of the truck we had breakfast and did some work. And when we had finished our work we went to the swimming pool because it is so hot here in Botswana. We stayed at the pool for most of the afternoon and also did some schoolwork there.

 

At 4’ o clock we went on a lovely and interesting  nature walk. Did you know that  people call the baobab trees the upside down tree because the branches look like roots are in the air. They also say that all the trees fell from the sky and the baobab tree fell upside down. We also learnt that you can light fire on Elephant dung and it can stay on fire for 15 km to use as a torch when walking at night. Because the Elephants eat so many  leaves and grass and their digestive system is not that good, we could see whole leaves and twig in the dung. Also just a fact never build a house within 400 meters from a termite mound or it will eat your house up. After that but still on our tour we went to a watering hole and had  sun downers  and just so you know we did not have beer we had fanta and popcorn. When we had finished our tour we went back to our camp and had curry& rice that dad made.

These are made of concrete & painted. Beautiful!

BRYCE: FRIDAY 31/5/2013: This morning we did some work around the pool at Planet Baobab. It is very nice to swim in the pool here as it is so hot. I think that we all got a bit sun burnt.

In the evening Mom, Mitch, Aimee & I went on a nature walk. Our guides name was Jono. This is what we learned. You must never build your house or hut within four hundred metres of a termite mound because they  get food from about four hundred around their mound and if you do they will eat away at your house. You can use a termite mound as a compass and this is how. The termites are nocturnal so they work at night they use mud to make their mounds the sun rises in the east so the mound is wet and dries from the east side first, while it is drying on the east side it is falling over to the west side and once the sun cames to the west side it dries and stays this way. So the way that it is leaning is west. At the end of our walk we had sundowner and no I did not have any alcohol.:-)

 

MITCH: 30 May-1 June:Today we left for Planet Baobab. When we arrived we went straight to the pool. The pool was quite cold but it was refreshing. We have this huge baobab on our site. After the pool we came back and had a braai.

Today we had a lazy start. At 10:00 we went the pool. I did my Maths and English and I did some reading. At 1:00 we had lunch then we went back to the pool while  Dad had a sleep.

In the afternoon we went on a walk with our guide Jhono. Our first stop was at a big baobab tree. Were we are staying there is a lot of sand and baobabs are very heavy so it needs strong ground because when it rains the sand sinks and then there is a big wind the the tree will fall over but were we are staying if you dig 1 metre deep you will find lots of rocks and if you dig 4 metres deep you will find water. Did you know that a baobab is 70% water and30% wood? Our next stop was at a termite mound. What ever you do don’t build a house within 400 metres of a termite mound because they will eat it away. Did you know that termites are the same as bees? The termites have soldiers and workers and a queen. Our next stop was at a water hole were we got a cold drink and popcorn. In the water hole we saw a very small duck. When we were leaving we heard an owl screech and Jhono whisled back at it. After the nature walk we went back to the campsite and had curry.