23rd April

It is customary for CCB to treat volunteers either to a game drive or a bush walk and as my days tracking are effectively game drives I opted for the bush walk at Thakadu game farm which is about 45 minutes away. On the way we cleared away long grass from a camera trap otherwise when it waves around it triggers the camera and wastes batteries. Within minutes of getting to the game farm we saw a beautiful male impala right in front of us. From standing it leapt over a five foot fence like a harrier jet, straight up and over - magic. A minute later we saw a warthog, not beautiful,  and a tortoise about the size of a dinner plate. The lodge house is very rustic and looks out over a pan which is floodlit by night. A man called Douglas whose family came from San bushmen but in Zimbabwe led us to a small village where we met a family who were very friendly and greeted us hand on shoulder. They speak in the strange clicking language and with Douglas interpreting we asked about their lives and they showed us the plants they use for medication, for energy, contraception, headache, backache, sore joints etc. They showed us how to make fire and we all had a go (I was the only one to produce smoke). It was very interesting if a tiny bit stage managed. Without getting into the politics of it theirs is not a different world and they can't survive in ours any more than we could survive in theirs. In our group there was me and Rick and three other ladies,  one from the UK and two from the USA so we all got on really well and had dinner together back at the lodge . The three ladies are all working in Africa and have very interesting jobs. I particularly liked Peggy from California who is a couple years older than me and works for the Peace Corps here in Ghanzi advising on health care matters. Aids is still a big problem here and the mortality rate is high especially among young people. There are huge hoardings in the town listing where you can get free condoms.
We had a very good dinner,  I had eland fillet chargrilled with mashed potatoes (on the menu as mush potatoes) and Kalahari truffle sauce, like a rich mushroom gravy. Peggy and I really hit it off and she's invited us to dinner at her home on Saturday with another English friend.
We got back about 9pm and when I went to the shower block/toilet there was a huge black and white spider on the wall behind the cistern. "Oh my God" I said. Then I saw the scorpion on the wall behind the cistern."OH MY GOD" I said. There was no one to tell so I scarpered off bed and now double and treble check my shoes. I wanted to see one as it's my star sign but I don't want it looking over my left shoulder when I'm on the loo. TMI?  Sorry...
Sending a photo of me hopefully,  tried for ten days to get it to rotate and compress. It just doesn't want to so please rotate it yourselves.
More later..