Mahalapye to Palapye (Pics)

July 6th, Day 25:

We woke up early again in order to try to fix Eric's bike and get it rideable for the upcoming journey that day. However, we were under time contraints because we had told the Botswanan Tourism Board (BTB) Office in Palapye (where we were headed) that would be there by 3pm because they close at 5 and wanted to show us around the area. Not wanting to spurn their hospital, we made it a priority to make sure we were there on time. Our best hope was to search the town for any stores that might have anything close enough to the correct type of bike skewer that could work temporarily. Eric set out on a mission to search for these pieces while I stayed with his bike trying to rig up a temporary fix. After an exhaustive search of the town for several hours Eric returned empty-handed. I had meanwhile managed to tape the frame onto the wheel relatively securely so we figured it could potentially last long enough to get us to a bigger town. However, it was far later in the day than we had anticipated departing so we decided we would have to hitch part of the way to Palapye to make it in time for our meeting with the BTB.

We got a ride from our professor friend we met the night before part of the way, and biked the other section and managed to arrive in Palapye at 3:15. A man from the BTB was waiting for us in a 4x4 vehicle and he escorted us to the office. Upon arriving we were greeted by his colleages and given a briefing of the tourist destination in Palapye. Palapye is the newest of the BTB offices (roughly one month old) and was established to try to help promote tourism to other regions of Botswana besides from the game reserves. Palapye has important cultural sites that the BTB is trying to develop, so the men from the office decided to take us into their car and giev us a several hour tour of one of the main sites they are developing- Moremi Gorge.

Moremi Gorge is rouhgly a one-hour drive west of Palapye and is a site of particular cultural and spiritual significance. We had to stop in a small village prior to entering the Moremi Gorge area in order to ask permission from the village elders, and once it was granted we made-off for the gorge.

Getting to the gorge itseld was difficult. The BTB is beginning to develop the area for camping but have to build roads, so we had some pretty extreme off-road driving in which we climbed in and out of river beds and almost gut stuck in sand several times. We finally made it to the entrance to the gorge and got out of the vehicle. Moremi Gorge is a small creek that runs between two large, jagged cliffs. The creek is said to flow with holy water, and 2-species of large vultures live in the area, circling high overhead. Though unfortunately we did not manage to see any of these vultures, our
guides pointed out a great deal of their 'droppings' as we hiked through the gorge. The area is also frequented by Leopards, but we were lucky enough not to run into any of these, as Leopards are the most evil of the large cats in my opinion and not something you want to encounter. Unlike lions, Leopards are known to kill for the sheer pleasure of it; often massacring and entire herd of cattle only to eat one of them. The hike was nice and we finally made it to a beautiful pool in the center of the gorge, but were told that we were unable to swim seeing as it was holy water. However, we were allowed to drink the water. Eric declined, but I was very thirsty so I drank up. Later that night I got very sick... but let's not speculate.

Anyways, we arrived back at the BTB office after dark and went with Ntuli, our friend from the BTB office, to arrange accommodation for the night. An expert negotiater, Ntuli managed to get us the room for almost half the price. We thanked him as well as the guesthouse for their hospitality, and then went to the room to go to sleep.

However, despite our exhaustion we ended watching TV for an hour before going to bed thanks to the show 'Cheaters'. I don't know if anyone has seen it before, but we both agree that it is the single most disgusting but entertaining reality TV show ever made. The host, Joey Greco, looks like your classic middle-aged psychologist and has
guests come to him to find out if their partners are cheating. Joey Greco then sends his 'squad' of detectives to follow the guests partners for up to 2-3 weeks without them knowing and oversees the entire operation as if it were a top-secret military operation using all sorts of code-names and secret-ops lingo. Then, as the finale, he returns to the guest and shows them footage of their partners infidelity in an extremely biased manner and masterfully works the guest into a frenzy. Just at that moment when the guest is most upset, Greco calls into his operatives and they report the location of the
'cheater' at the most inopportune time possible and rush the guest there with a camera crew and squad of about 20 people. The ensuing confrontation involves quite a bit of swearing, fighting, and screaming and Greco talks the guest through it in the most incredibly manipulative way, further fueling his show with emotional struggles. Great show.
 Then we went to sleep.

-Aaron