Chiefs and Mokolodi Nature Reserve

The ISLP team had a full day of activities. First thing, we visited the chiefs of Africa monument and learned a great deal about the history and independence of Botswana. The guide was knowledgeable, proud, and passionate about his country. He made the history of his country come alive to our students. Next on the schedule was a trip to the art and history museum, but like many other places that we have traveled on these trips...the posted hours were not the operational hours, so the only art and history that we could see was outside of the museum. We then took a short ride to the Parliament buildings. We walked around and took in the sights of the government buildings and courtyards.

Next we took a ride outside of the city to the Mokolodi Nature Reserve. We hopped onto open Jeeps and took off into the reserve. It was amazing to see impalas, ostrich, zebras, giraffes, wart hogs, cheetah, and an animal that looked like a large deer with huge ears. They were in their natural habitat and roaming freely. Thankfully, we stayed in the Jeep...until we were able to get out at the cheetah cage and pet Duma a cheetah that had been orphaned as a cub. As you can see from the pics, Duma became part of the team. At the end of our trip, the reserve had a table set up for us to eat lunch outside by the lake. It was a truly wonderful day, and we all enjoyed it immensely.

Tonight, we met in our groups to finalize our work for tomorrow. All of us are excited to get started on our service projects. Everyone is doing well.