Apologies for the not posting when I said I would post.
Well, this is it. My final post. I will talk about my trip to Cape Town, South Africa and the flight back to the United States (where I am now).
I had a lot of expectations for Cape Town. People said "Its great, you'll love it!" Now I have realized that the people how had said that had never lived in the United States. None of my expectations lived up to Cape Town. Sure, its the most Europe like place in Africa, but its still not great. The only thing that really impressed my was Table Mountain. It is now one of the New 7 Natural Wonder Of The World (keep in mind, the word "New" is in there. Somebody decided to recreate it). You can either hike up or take the cable car. We took the cable car. At the top, the view was astounding. You could see all of Cape Town, the bay, and the harbour on the south side. It is also very windy up there. After staying up there for about an hour, we went back down.
The next day we drove down to Cape l'Agulas. Cape l'Agulas is the southern most point in Africa. Basically that is the only point on the world where you can pick up a rock in the Indian Ocean and through it into the Atlantic ocean in under a min. After that we saw the South African Penguins. Yes there are penguins in South Africa. They are fairly close to Cape Town, on Boulder Beach. It's called Boulder Beach because of all the boulders that are on the beach.
We tried to go to Roben's Island (the prison where the late Nelson Mandela spent 30 years of his life for protesting the government) but the first day it was too windy, and on the second day it was delayed and we didn't want to miss our flight. I will not go into the death of Nelson Mandela for political and social reasons.
The rest of the trip was mostly spent at Water Front, the shopping area on, well, the water front; and a various other places around Cape Town. Cape Town is the only place in Africa I would probably live for more than 2 years.
Later in the day we had to head back to the airport to catch our flight back to Gaborone. We we got there, it turns out it got delayed. So we would have been able to make it to Roben's Island if we wanted to.
-------------------------
The second thing I want to talk about is my leaving. I have now officially left Botswana and now in the United States. I will be moving back into North Carolina within a week or so (right now I'm currently at my grandfathers in Plainwell, Michigan).
The pictures for this post will be up when I get my camera back. It got packed up by the movers when they were packing our house.
The blog will continue to stay open for and undetermined amount of time. I will let you know if and when I decide on a date.
I want to thank everybody who read the blog. Sorry the post weren't more annual and (many) of the pictures weren't posted.
So this is it.
Cheers!
Matthew Handley
20131226
20131117
Adios Botswana: The Packing
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been pretty busy.
As some of you may know, my time in Botswana was extended. I would have left in August, but the National Guard could not find a replacement in time. So now we are leaving in December. This means that my time in Botswana is coming to an end. I will have one more post reguarding our trip to Cape Town, South Africa (that will be out in 2 weeks) and then I will create on more, final post. The blog should stay open after that be, I don't know.
Cheers!
Matt Handley
As some of you may know, my time in Botswana was extended. I would have left in August, but the National Guard could not find a replacement in time. So now we are leaving in December. This means that my time in Botswana is coming to an end. I will have one more post reguarding our trip to Cape Town, South Africa (that will be out in 2 weeks) and then I will create on more, final post. The blog should stay open after that be, I don't know.
Cheers!
Matt Handley
20131006
Syndication
I want to let you know that this blog is now bigger. I have syndicated it to another site in order to get more viewers.
Here is a list of new sites.
Wordpress.com
It is still called The Weekly Post, but many of the gadgets will not be there. I'm still working on the formatting and such so please bear with me until its done.
Thanks!
http://theweeklypostmh.blogspot.com
http://theweeklypostmh.wordpress.com
20131002
Rustenburg, SA
(THIS POST CAME EARLY!)
After living in Botswana for almost 2 years now, I have not been to South Africa. For those of you who do not know, South
Africa is the country at the southernmost point in Africa.
We did not go to the
capital (Pretoria) or Cape Town. We went
to one of the more close cities.
Rustenburg. The first thing you
notice when you get to SA , is the way things move. In Bots, at the border post, it will take you
15-30 min to get your passport stamped.
They need you to fill out a form, etc.
On the SA side, all it is “What is the registration number for the
car?” And stamp, stamp and you’re on
your way. Also in SA they have large
highways. In Bots, the longest road
(highway) is the A1 form Lobaste, to Gaborone, then to Francistown. That road go’s almost 500 Kilometers. And it is two lanes. In South Africa, (from where we were) they
had 4 lanes. What a luxury.
This is where Rustenburg is.
The main event for us
was the canopy tour. Basically a zip
line over a canyon about 25km from Rustenburg.
(On a totally different note, Rustenburg is the closest place to Botswana
(3.5 hr. drive) with a McDonald's.) Now I
know I said before that doing things in Africa like zip lining and bungee
jumping are not the best ideas (nothing is to OCIA standards here). But it was safe and enjoyable. We got a dvd of our ride and parts of it will
be on YouTube on the second episode of Sights and Sounds of Africa (premiers
October 12th).
We also went to the
Bush Babies Monkey Sanctuary in a town nearby.
Basically this place takes in monkeys that were once pets and introduces
them into a natural environment. One of
them climbed up onto Ella and stole R100 (100 South African Rand [about
$10.00]). We got it back but it was
kinda in pieces. There is video of this
and it will also be on Sights and Sounds of Africa.
The only other stop we
made was on the way back to Gaborone. It
was at South Africa’s Pilanesburg National Park. It is a really nice place. It kinda reminds me of some National Parks in
the US, but in the US we don’t have giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, etc. But in the centre they had a restaurant and a
convenience store.
That’s all for
today. Kind of a short post.
Just to give you a
heads up, Sights and Sounds of Africa will be premiering on October 12th. The pilot episode is about Tsodilo
Hills. Please watch and comment and
subscribe.
Also please listen to
my music. And Like and comment and
subscribe.
Cheers!
Matt Handley
+The Weekly Post
Special thanks to Bing
Maps.
20130917
Maun, Tsodilo Hills, Gweta, and Nata
- nounA continent south of Europe and between the Atlantic and Indian oceans.About 11,700,000 sq. mi. (30,303,000 sq. km.)
- adjectiveAfrican
Botswana – [bots-swah-nuh]
noun
a republic in
southern Africa: formerly a British protectorate; gained
independence in 1966; member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
275,000
sq. mi. (712,250 sq. km.). Capital:
Gaborone.
Botswana is full of
animal and cultural diversity. It is home to meerkats, the white
rhinos, and the highest concentration of elephants in the world.
Maun is a small city in the north of the country.
We were here back
in January with my Aunt and cousin. (there was a video made, but I
did not get permission to put it on The Weekly Post Video Bar.) This
time it was kinda boring. (previously we did a fly over [a video of
this is currently in processing]) We did horse back riding. Let me
say that I cannot horse ride well and leave it at that. Also which I
thought was kinda odd, was that in the cafe by the areoport (Maun
Internation Areoport) there are two North Carolina license plates.
One with the NC State logo and the other a plain one.
Either way we moved
on to Guma Lagoon Camp next. In order to get to this place you have
to drive thirty minutes on a 4x4 track or take a charter fight to an
air strip and take a two hour boat ride. We drove. The day after we
got there we went to Tsodilo Hills. Here is some background info on
Tsodilo Hills. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 2004 and is
home to over 3000 rock paintings. These paintings were created by
the San people. The witch doctors would go into trances and when the
came out they would paint what they saw in the trances.
Later we did a boat
cruise which was nice, but if you are very pale, you can get lots of
sunburn like I did. Regardless, we did fishing and birdwatching.
Moving on we went
back though Maun to Gweta, Botswana. Gweta is a small village that
doesn't really consist of anything but Gweta Lodge. I talked about
this on a previous post. This time instead of staying in the lodge,
we did the night out on the pans.
The image above
shows an aerial shot of Gweta, and the Magdigadi Pans (the big white
things). In the winter (April – August south of the equator) there
is no water in the white parts. In the summer you cannot drive out
their because you will get stuck. Since it was the end of winter we
could. The other group we were with was a group of Spaniards who
were overflow of the Planet Baobab lodge (just down the road). It
was interesting because it was cold and the really warm when we got
in our sleeping bags (provided by the lodge). After that interesting experience we moved on to our final destination, Nata.
Just down the road
from Gweta, Nata has a little bit more than just one lodge. It is
also home to Nata Bird Sanctuary. Nata Bird Sanctuary was created by
the three nearby villages. We did a game drive out there in the
evening.
That's all for this
recent trip. BTW, for thoughs of you who do not know, I have been
extended through December. I will probably be back in Raleigh a few
days before New Years though.
Be sure to check out the Weekly Post Google+ page.
Also, I'm looking
for feedback on some of my own songs. You can listen to them on the
Weekly Post Video Bar or go to my YouTube channel (02CD406).
That's all for now
Cheers!
Matt
Handley
Special thanks to :
Dictionary.com and Bing Maps
Post No. 13012
20130727
General Update
Hey guys.
This is general update on me and the blog.
We now have a Google+ page. This will make it easier to connect it to the blog and chat to various people. So go ahead and +The Weekly Post.
Next it is definite that I'm being extended to December. This means that I will be staying in Botswana until December 2013.
I have 2 new songs from my new album II on YouTube. Be sure to like, dislike, comment, and subscribe.
Not much else to post.
Cheers!
Matt Handley
https://www.facebook.com/matt.handley31
@02CD406
+The Weekly Post
This is general update on me and the blog.
We now have a Google+ page. This will make it easier to connect it to the blog and chat to various people. So go ahead and +The Weekly Post.
Next it is definite that I'm being extended to December. This means that I will be staying in Botswana until December 2013.
I have 2 new songs from my new album II on YouTube. Be sure to like, dislike, comment, and subscribe.
Not much else to post.
Cheers!
Matt Handley
https://www.facebook.com/matt.handley31
@02CD406
+The Weekly Post
20130526
Europe Trip Part 3: Ireland and Back Again (The Lost Post)
Ireland. I have never seen such a green country. It is almost the exact opposite of Botswana. Hey, it's me matt again, and this is the lost post of the Europe Trip Series. I apologize for the delay. Today i'm going to tell you about my trip to Ireland.
The ferry from Pembroke, Wales, was longer than expected. Instead of the two hours we were told, it took 5. When we dock in Cork, we quickly went to find the B&B in the small town nearby. This was my first night eating in real Irish pub. Instead of ordering pork, i ordered a burger. It is still the best burger i have ever had. (Botswana has great beef, but bad hamburgers). The next day we spent mostly driving to Tralee. (see picture from our hotel/apartment on left) This is where my two cousins were born and raised. My Aunt Cathy and my late Uncle Pat Joe live on the outskirts. This town is the second place i would live in on this trip (1st Paris, 3rd the small village in France were we spent the night). The next day we drove around the Dingle Peninsula. We saw the beautiful Irish Shore, and Ella and I actually got in the water. (Note to self, don't go wading, much less swinging, in December). On our way to Dingle, we went past this church which was crowded with people. It looked like a funeral.. the Police, who were directing traffic, were trying to get us to park, but we told them we were just passing through and went along. Apparently the funeral was for a local football (soccer) star.
A day later we went to visit my uncle's sister and our distant cousins. the were the nicest family. When I get a picture of all of us i will post it. Later that day as we were driving on to Dublin (the capital of Ireland) we stopped the most photographed castle in the world. The Blarney Castle, home of the famous blarney stone. The story behind the Blarney Stone is the king (who lived in the castle) was sick. So he went to see a local witch doctor. The witch doctor told him to kiss the Blarney Stone and he would get better and he would also be a much better man. Here is a list of famous people who have kissed the Blarney Stone:
Pictures from Ireland:
The ferry from Pembroke, Wales, was longer than expected. Instead of the two hours we were told, it took 5. When we dock in Cork, we quickly went to find the B&B in the small town nearby. This was my first night eating in real Irish pub. Instead of ordering pork, i ordered a burger. It is still the best burger i have ever had. (Botswana has great beef, but bad hamburgers). The next day we spent mostly driving to Tralee. (see picture from our hotel/apartment on left) This is where my two cousins were born and raised. My Aunt Cathy and my late Uncle Pat Joe live on the outskirts. This town is the second place i would live in on this trip (1st Paris, 3rd the small village in France were we spent the night). The next day we drove around the Dingle Peninsula. We saw the beautiful Irish Shore, and Ella and I actually got in the water. (Note to self, don't go wading, much less swinging, in December). On our way to Dingle, we went past this church which was crowded with people. It looked like a funeral.. the Police, who were directing traffic, were trying to get us to park, but we told them we were just passing through and went along. Apparently the funeral was for a local football (soccer) star.
A day later we went to visit my uncle's sister and our distant cousins. the were the nicest family. When I get a picture of all of us i will post it. Later that day as we were driving on to Dublin (the capital of Ireland) we stopped the most photographed castle in the world. The Blarney Castle, home of the famous blarney stone. The story behind the Blarney Stone is the king (who lived in the castle) was sick. So he went to see a local witch doctor. The witch doctor told him to kiss the Blarney Stone and he would get better and he would also be a much better man. Here is a list of famous people who have kissed the Blarney Stone:
- Mick Jagger
- Winston Churchill
- The Simpsons
- Matthew Handley Jr. :)
Anyway it's supposed to bring you good luck. In Dublin we went to the Vikings Museum. It was pretty interesting. I only have one good picture, and I'll put it up at the end of the post. We also saw the Book of Kells. This is part illustrated version of the Bible the monks drew when they were visiting Ireland. There are only 4 copies in existence. They are all in the Library at Trinity College of Dublin. Other than that there wasn't much else in Dublin.
The ferry ride back to England was short, because we were on an express boat. then we proceeded to drive back to London. We stayed again at the St. Davids Hotel, (great service and breakfast, but lousy rooms) and continued on to Paris the next day.
Our flight was scheduled to leave Paris at 11:30 PM. When we got to Challes de-Gaulle Aeroport in Paris (at 10:00PM) the flight desk lady said, "You do know that ze flight to Joehannesburg has been delayed until tomorrow morning? (sorry i just had to add the accent in there)" this was news to us, so we stayed a t a hotel in the aeroport. We left the next morning (Christmas eve) and landed in Johannesburg around 7:00 PM. Since the small aeroport here in Gabs closes at 8:00PM, we had to stay in a hotel in the Johannesburg Int'l Aeroport overnight. We finally arrived in Gabs 12:00PM Christmas day. Other than the ending I had a great trip.
Pictures from Ireland:
Again, sorry for the delay of this post. It wont happen again.
Vic Falls Video Update: The name of this video is now Around Africa: Victoria Falls & Kasane. It should be on YouTube by the end of the week. It will also be on the Weekly Post Video Bar (close out of the post. Move your cursor to the right side of the screen and click on: The Weekly Post Video Bar.)
Thanks for being faithful for this post!
Until the Around Africa: Victoria Falls & Kasane video comes out,
Cheers!
Matt Handley
Senior Editor of the Weekly Post
20130525
Blog Update
Hey guys!
As you can see my blog underwent some changes recently. I'm am going to list those changes below.
1.) New Logo - this is a screen shot of my new animation. It will be featured on my vidoes as well.
2.) Adds - these have been on for a while now. please comment on this post if you think they are bad.
3.) Theme - i have designed a new theme. Please click on a post to read the whole thing! again comment if you like it.
4.) The Weekly Post Video Bar - this is a new bar that is a quick link to all of my videos.
5.) the Posts - this is a new series i'm starting. I'm trying to live up to my blog's name by now posting every week. These posts many have nothing to do with Africa or me. Another word to describe it is ramblings. But let me know if i should stop.
And now you can also find my blog on search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo, Mypoints, etc.)
Also! Please comment on and rate my music. The songs are featured in the Video Bar.
Cheers!
Matt Handley
As you can see my blog underwent some changes recently. I'm am going to list those changes below.
1.) New Logo - this is a screen shot of my new animation. It will be featured on my vidoes as well.
2.) Adds - these have been on for a while now. please comment on this post if you think they are bad.
3.) Theme - i have designed a new theme. Please click on a post to read the whole thing! again comment if you like it.
4.) The Weekly Post Video Bar - this is a new bar that is a quick link to all of my videos.
5.) the Posts - this is a new series i'm starting. I'm trying to live up to my blog's name by now posting every week. These posts many have nothing to do with Africa or me. Another word to describe it is ramblings. But let me know if i should stop.
And now you can also find my blog on search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo, Mypoints, etc.)
Also! Please comment on and rate my music. The songs are featured in the Video Bar.
Cheers!
Matt Handley
20130519
Music (Update)
20130518
Music
Hey guys.
I apologize for the Victoria Falls video not being on YouTube yet. Windows 7 does not like traditional fire wire. As soon as i fix this problem i will let you know via this blog.
the main purpose of the post is to let you know i'm making music. I'm uploading my songs to YouTube as I type this. When the videos are finished uploading i will put links on this site. I completely open for feed back via any of these:
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/matt.handley.31/)
Twitter (@02CD406)
YouTube (02CD406)
Please, any feed back is acepted.
Again i will let you know when i put the Victoria falls video on YouTube.
Cheers!
Matt Handley
I apologize for the Victoria Falls video not being on YouTube yet. Windows 7 does not like traditional fire wire. As soon as i fix this problem i will let you know via this blog.
the main purpose of the post is to let you know i'm making music. I'm uploading my songs to YouTube as I type this. When the videos are finished uploading i will put links on this site. I completely open for feed back via any of these:
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/matt.handley.31/)
Twitter (@02CD406)
YouTube (02CD406)
Please, any feed back is acepted.
Again i will let you know when i put the Victoria falls video on YouTube.
Cheers!
Matt Handley
20130425
Gweta Lodge
As it turns out (as you can see) there is Wi-Fi at Gweta Lodge, here in Gweta, Botswana. So I'm going to tell you about our trip today to the Makgadikgadi Pans.
The vehicle we used today was a cross between a pick-up truck and a game-drive truck. Today we went to see some of the biggest baobab trees. The first one we went to was big. It was called Green's (or as the San People know it "Gwetsa") Tree. The reason it is called this is because Green was a missionary. He carved his name into the tree in 1875 and with a small cross next to it. Again today I got video, but as I said in previous posts, I will upload it to my YouTube channel next week*. The next tree we saw was even bigger. The missionaries used to drop their mail in there, and it would be picked up by passer-byers and dropped off in Cape Town (South Africa). If you thought the first one was big, this was is ten times the size.
After the baobab trees, the driver decided to show us the meerkats. For those who were a OLLS, remember when Mrs. Liles showed us those Meerkat Manor tv shows? Well, I will say they are much smaller in real life. Anyway, they are hard to describe on a blog post so please see the video when it comes out**.
We will be at Khama Rhino Sanctuary tomorrow night, and then back in Gabs on Saturday.
Until then!
*My YouTube channel is 02CD406
**I will post the videos on my blog as well, so just keep checking back.
The vehicle we used today was a cross between a pick-up truck and a game-drive truck. Today we went to see some of the biggest baobab trees. The first one we went to was big. It was called Green's (or as the San People know it "Gwetsa") Tree. The reason it is called this is because Green was a missionary. He carved his name into the tree in 1875 and with a small cross next to it. Again today I got video, but as I said in previous posts, I will upload it to my YouTube channel next week*. The next tree we saw was even bigger. The missionaries used to drop their mail in there, and it would be picked up by passer-byers and dropped off in Cape Town (South Africa). If you thought the first one was big, this was is ten times the size.
After the baobab trees, the driver decided to show us the meerkats. For those who were a OLLS, remember when Mrs. Liles showed us those Meerkat Manor tv shows? Well, I will say they are much smaller in real life. Anyway, they are hard to describe on a blog post so please see the video when it comes out**.
We will be at Khama Rhino Sanctuary tomorrow night, and then back in Gabs on Saturday.
Until then!
*My YouTube channel is 02CD406
**I will post the videos on my blog as well, so just keep checking back.
20130423
Kasane Day 2 (Vitcoria Falls)
Yesterday (and yes I mean yesterday), I told you about our game drive, and today I am going to tell you about our river boat cruise and our trip to Victoria Falls (the largest water fall in the world). I hope you enjoy.
I am going to say this right off the bat. All the video I shot I will put all the video on YouTube by next Friday.
Our river cruise was quite interesting. It was just our family and one other person (a Motswana lady also from Gaborone). We saw elephants, hippos, and lots of birds. The boat was rather small compared to some of the other ones (some had two floors). Anyway the ride lasted about three hours.
Moving up to today, I will say (for a lack of a better comparison) eastern Zimbabwe looks kinda like North Caroline. Or western NC (with the mountains and all). Any way it was about a ten minute drive to the border, and then an hour drive to Victory Falls village. When we got there and went to the falls first. The minute we got out of the car, all these people in there little stalls were trying to rent us raincoats. (By the way, the ZimDollar [Zimbabwe's old currency] had absolutely no value, so now they are using the US Dollar.) We got some ($2.00), and went on into the park. The first couple of (shall I say fingers) were good for video or picture shooting. The others as we went on got wetter and wetter. And the mist that was coming up was so thick you couldn't see the other side. So tired and wet, we went back to the car. We went to lunch at Victoria Falls Hotel, and went to the curio market afterwards. I got a stone hippo for about $25.00 and a small wooden statue of The Big 5 for P220.00 and $3.00.
All and all I enjoyed today. I got super wet (along with my MP3, my passport, and my camera bag and camera). But I can say that I can look back on this experience.
Tomorrow we leave for Gwetta lodge, we will spend two nights there (please don't expect a blog post, I don't know if there will be Wi-Fi.) and after that one night in Khama Rhino Sancturary (I know no Wi-Fi there), and back in Gabs on Saturday. Until then!
I am going to say this right off the bat. All the video I shot I will put all the video on YouTube by next Friday.
Our river cruise was quite interesting. It was just our family and one other person (a Motswana lady also from Gaborone). We saw elephants, hippos, and lots of birds. The boat was rather small compared to some of the other ones (some had two floors). Anyway the ride lasted about three hours.
Moving up to today, I will say (for a lack of a better comparison) eastern Zimbabwe looks kinda like North Caroline. Or western NC (with the mountains and all). Any way it was about a ten minute drive to the border, and then an hour drive to Victory Falls village. When we got there and went to the falls first. The minute we got out of the car, all these people in there little stalls were trying to rent us raincoats. (By the way, the ZimDollar [Zimbabwe's old currency] had absolutely no value, so now they are using the US Dollar.) We got some ($2.00), and went on into the park. The first couple of (shall I say fingers) were good for video or picture shooting. The others as we went on got wetter and wetter. And the mist that was coming up was so thick you couldn't see the other side. So tired and wet, we went back to the car. We went to lunch at Victoria Falls Hotel, and went to the curio market afterwards. I got a stone hippo for about $25.00 and a small wooden statue of The Big 5 for P220.00 and $3.00.
All and all I enjoyed today. I got super wet (along with my MP3, my passport, and my camera bag and camera). But I can say that I can look back on this experience.
Tomorrow we leave for Gwetta lodge, we will spend two nights there (please don't expect a blog post, I don't know if there will be Wi-Fi.) and after that one night in Khama Rhino Sancturary (I know no Wi-Fi there), and back in Gabs on Saturday. Until then!
20130422
Kasane and Vitoria Falls: DAY 1
Well I'm a couple days in to my week vacation in Kasane, Botswana (if you look at the map below you can see where Kasane is). As you can probably tell, I'm off school. We are on our brake and in May we will start Term 2 at Westwood.
We have only done one thing so far today. We went on a game drive. We saw a lion and some hyenas fighting over an old warthog carcass. The lion dragged it up a tree and waited there for a couple of minutes. It then dropped it and the hyenas took and ran off. I did get all of this on video, and hopefully it will be on YouTube next week.
The other exciting thing that happened on our game drive this morning was the water buffalo. It is the second most dangerous animal in Botswana (next to the hippo). The reason is if you piss it off, it will kill you. If it chases you up a tree, than it will wait beneath it for you to come down then kill you. The BDF (Botswana Defence Force) has lost a couple of soldiers to water buffalo. See, if you shoot at it and just nick it, it will lie down and play dead. And when you go up to it, it will get up and kill you. The BDF technique is after you shoot at it drive your car up to it and nudge it or see if its ears are moving. If they are or it moves, then you have the right to kill it.
The other thing we did on our game drive was piss of an elephant. We were watching it take a mud bath. It it got kinda nervous, and after a while we drove off.
Like I said before I got most of this on good HD video, so when I get back to Gaborone I will try to edit it and put it on my YouTube channel (02CD406).
Later this afternoon, we will be going on a boat ride on the Chobe river, and tomorrow Victoria Falls. If you thought Niagra Falls was big, you ain't seen nuthin' yet.
Until then!
We have only done one thing so far today. We went on a game drive. We saw a lion and some hyenas fighting over an old warthog carcass. The lion dragged it up a tree and waited there for a couple of minutes. It then dropped it and the hyenas took and ran off. I did get all of this on video, and hopefully it will be on YouTube next week.
The other exciting thing that happened on our game drive this morning was the water buffalo. It is the second most dangerous animal in Botswana (next to the hippo). The reason is if you piss it off, it will kill you. If it chases you up a tree, than it will wait beneath it for you to come down then kill you. The BDF (Botswana Defence Force) has lost a couple of soldiers to water buffalo. See, if you shoot at it and just nick it, it will lie down and play dead. And when you go up to it, it will get up and kill you. The BDF technique is after you shoot at it drive your car up to it and nudge it or see if its ears are moving. If they are or it moves, then you have the right to kill it.
The other thing we did on our game drive was piss of an elephant. We were watching it take a mud bath. It it got kinda nervous, and after a while we drove off.
Like I said before I got most of this on good HD video, so when I get back to Gaborone I will try to edit it and put it on my YouTube channel (02CD406).
Later this afternoon, we will be going on a boat ride on the Chobe river, and tomorrow Victoria Falls. If you thought Niagra Falls was big, you ain't seen nuthin' yet.
Until then!
20130120
Europe Trip: Part 2 UK
Hey, everyone! This series is going to be about my recent trip to France, UK, and Ireland (Pics included this time. i promise). Hope you enjoy.
Did you miss part 1? Click here to be redirected. Part 1 Paris, Versailles, and Normandy.
Versailles and Normandy Pictures
Did you miss part 1? Click here to be redirected. Part 1 Paris, Versailles, and Normandy.
Versailles and Normandy Pictures
On to my trip in the UK. The highlights I'm going to cover are:
- The British Museum
- The British Calvary Museum
- and the London Eye
I consider the British Museum the best museum I've ever been in. The neat thing about this museum is they have a History of the World: In 50 Objects. I'm going to show you numbers 1, 27, and 33. Lets start with No. 1.
No. 27.
No. 33.
Since my battery on my camera was running low, I only took pictures of the History of the World Objects. Anyway on to the British Calvary Museum. At this spot they have a horse changing of the guard every day. (There is a video, but I'll tell you about the videos later.) The British Calvary are no longer used, because the British military thinks that they are unreliable and expensive. I actually didn't have any photos of this museum. The London Eye was probably my favorite part of our time in London. For those of you who do not know what the London Eye is, do your self a favor and read this website: http://www.londoneye.com/.
Anyway, its a great view at the top, even at night. Here are some photos:
So that was my trip in the UK.
I said earlier that i would talk about videos. That is correct. Since it take 5 hrs to upload a video on Blogger, I have created a YouTube account. I'm going to post all of my videos there. Just search the channel 02CD406 (the same as my Twitter account [@02CD406]. (This is my number plate on our Toyota Surf). I will have videos from the UK and more coming soon.
Anyway come back next week to read Part 3: Ireland and Back Again. See you then,
Matt Handley
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/matt.handley31
Twitter @02CD406
YouTube 02CD406
COMING SOON
COMING SOON TO YOUTUBE
Miss part one?
Click Here to go back.
20130104
Europe Trip: Part 1 Paris, Versailles, and Normandy
Hey everyone! This series is going to be about my recent trip to France, UK, and Ireland (Pics included this time. i promise). Hope you enjoy.
On Dec. 8 we left Gaborone to take our flight to Challes-de-Gualle Aeroport in Paris. Of course, since we landed at 5:00 AM we had time to kill before we checked into the hotel. So with Rick Steve's France guidebook in hand, we drove into Paris. After finding the hotel we parked the car and walked in the park to the Eiffel Tower (I'll give more history on it later). When we got out of the car, it was frigid outside. The temperature was 5o C. ( about 45o F.) Anyway as we walked down and saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time. After that we headed to the Subway station. I'm going to tell you that figuring out Paris's subway is time taking so after about 20min we found where we wanted to to go. We got of the subway we were at the Arc de Triomphe, which is in the busiest intersection in all of Europe. Since you would kill yourself if you were to go across, Paris built a tunnel to the middle of the traffic-circle. We got out and, it may look small in my pics, but it is huge! Later that night we went up in the Eiffel Tower (the Empire State building is still bigger). The Eiffel Tower was the biggest type of structure of its time. In the top they had a comparison of all the tallest buildings in every country. USA - Empire State Building 940ft Difference. Botswana - The FNB Building 5003 Ft difference.
The next day we visited the Louvre Museum in Paris which houses the Mona Lisa. What makes the Mona Lisa so special is that no one know who is in that painting. And also the fact that the background has been change many times, and no one knows why. Not much else happend in Paris. So I'm going to move on to Versailles (pronounced ver-SI)
Versailles was the palace that built when he declared himself dictator. Another reason it's famous now is because the WWI peace treaty was signed there. Some of the rooms in this house where:
Versailles was the palace that built when he declared himself dictator. Another reason it's famous now is because the WWI peace treaty was signed there. Some of the rooms in this house where:
- The Hall of Mirrors
- The Museum Hall
- The Kings Bedroom
- The Queens Bedroom
- etc.
Since i don't have a memory card reader on my new desktop, i can't show the pictures right now, but when Part 2 UK comes out, I'll make sure to have these pictures on there (same w/ Normandy).
Normandy, for those of you, ok probably most of you who don't know the story, it is the HUGE American cemetery in Normandy, France. Basically it was the huge battle when the Americans liberated France from the Germans in WWII. Anyway, if you have any relatives buried there, there is a great museum, and a digital device where you look up the name and it will show were the person is buried.
This is the End of Part 1 of 3 on my Europe trip. Later this weekend and next week:
Part 3 Ireland and Back Again.
See then,
matt.
---------------
I would like to thank you all for putting up with the fact that I don't post weekly. Sorry also for the long delay in posts. This year (2013 for those of you who still don't realize its a new year) I'll garuntee that i'll have more posts since some of my relatves are coming and I'll write about their visits. See you soon and thanks.
20120923
Madikwe
Today I'm going to talk about our trip to Madikwe, South Africa.
I don't know about my sister or parents, but I had a great time. This place is nice. I told you about our Tuli Block Trip, and how we stayed at Molema Bush Camp, which was booked through the nicer Tuli Lodge. This place (even though it was called the Bush House) was like the Tuli Lodge. We only stayed one night because every room was booked on Saturday night. The main thing I'm going to talk about ist the game drives.
On this trip we went on two (2) game drives. We saw elephants, rihnos, giraffes, zebras, and even lions. I had not seen a lion before in the wild. We saw two males and two females. Here is the videos:
I don't know about my sister or parents, but I had a great time. This place is nice. I told you about our Tuli Block Trip, and how we stayed at Molema Bush Camp, which was booked through the nicer Tuli Lodge. This place (even though it was called the Bush House) was like the Tuli Lodge. We only stayed one night because every room was booked on Saturday night. The main thing I'm going to talk about ist the game drives.
On this trip we went on two (2) game drives. We saw elephants, rihnos, giraffes, zebras, and even lions. I had not seen a lion before in the wild. We saw two males and two females. Here is the videos:
Female Lions (raw, uncut video)
Male Lions (picture)
About 40 minutes before we left we saw an elephant come up to the man made water hole. It scared away the birds and then it faced the hide and drank water. The video takes to long to load, so hopefully Mrs. Getter will play my vid.
We had a great time on this trip. I'll send a picture slide show of our trip to Mrs. Getter to show to the class.
Until then:
Bye
--Matt Handley
20120920
I'm Back!
Well, our 2nd break of the 2012 school year is over, and I'm back in school. Nothing much has happend (nothing that I'm going to say on my blog), however, I found my pictures, and I'm going to start posting them now. Also, we are going to Modikwe Game Lodge this weekend, and, of course, it and it's pictures.
Also, good luck to those who are starting high school this year, and good luck to the people how are finishing their last year at OLLS.
I'll be posting Saturday afternoon,
-- Matt Handley
P.O. Box 90
Gaborone, Botswana
Also, good luck to those who are starting high school this year, and good luck to the people how are finishing their last year at OLLS.
I'll be posting Saturday afternoon,
-- Matt Handley
P.O. Box 90
Gaborone, Botswana
20120807
Family Fun Day at UB / Cultural Day at Thebepatswe
Hello everyone. This will be my last post until September because, its my break again! This will also include my end of term conclusion.
Family Fun Day @ University of Botswana 120704
Well I was originally planning not to go to this thing, but Team USA (w/ one Canadian) Kids needed 6 childeren and they only had 5. Well I went. We beat ZA at soccer. Beat EU and UK at tug-of-war, and lost to Botswana at tug-of-war finals, and at semi-finals socccer. We got 2nd place in cycling. And 3rd in the 100 metre sprint. All and all it was semi-fun. Just to remind you that Family Fun Day in the US is no longer fun. There is about 50 laweres and safety officers and police men. My dad asked about the safety officer and the guy said "What is safety officer?" This just goes to show what Botswana can be like.
Cultural Day @ Thebepatswe Air Base BDF 120705
Here is an introduction on why I'm talking about this. Every year there is a big conference where US Army people have to go to. This year it is in Botswana. Since they [the army guys] cannot leave Thebepatswe to go see some cultural stuff, the DWA [Diplomatic Women's Association (For wives of spouses that work at embassies i.e. my mom)] set this up so that the US Army guys could see some stuff. Mostly it was like the Pula Bazaar @ WIS were a bunch of vendors came and sold stuff. But some of the BDF guys did some traditional dances in traditional dress (I'll have a video of that up on the Weekly Post Facebook page next week). The only reason I went was because I got paid P200 ($26.06), and I had to help work at the DWA table. But I'll be out there again this week for another P200.
Term 2 Conclusion
Well, I only have one year left here in Botswana, and I'm gonna make the most of it. Next therm break (December - January) I (my family and I) will be doing a European Vacation. I will be posting about that in my next post.
Good luck to all the new 8th Graders at OLLS and to the last year graduates as you start High School this month.
I'll talk soon.
--
Matt
The Weekly Post Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/weeklypostmh
Mat Handley's Personal Page: http://www.facebook.com/matt.handley.31
Family Fun Day @ University of Botswana 120704
Well I was originally planning not to go to this thing, but Team USA (w/ one Canadian) Kids needed 6 childeren and they only had 5. Well I went. We beat ZA at soccer. Beat EU and UK at tug-of-war, and lost to Botswana at tug-of-war finals, and at semi-finals socccer. We got 2nd place in cycling. And 3rd in the 100 metre sprint. All and all it was semi-fun. Just to remind you that Family Fun Day in the US is no longer fun. There is about 50 laweres and safety officers and police men. My dad asked about the safety officer and the guy said "What is safety officer?" This just goes to show what Botswana can be like.
Cultural Day @ Thebepatswe Air Base BDF 120705
Here is an introduction on why I'm talking about this. Every year there is a big conference where US Army people have to go to. This year it is in Botswana. Since they [the army guys] cannot leave Thebepatswe to go see some cultural stuff, the DWA [Diplomatic Women's Association (For wives of spouses that work at embassies i.e. my mom)] set this up so that the US Army guys could see some stuff. Mostly it was like the Pula Bazaar @ WIS were a bunch of vendors came and sold stuff. But some of the BDF guys did some traditional dances in traditional dress (I'll have a video of that up on the Weekly Post Facebook page next week). The only reason I went was because I got paid P200 ($26.06), and I had to help work at the DWA table. But I'll be out there again this week for another P200.
Term 2 Conclusion
Well, I only have one year left here in Botswana, and I'm gonna make the most of it. Next therm break (December - January) I (my family and I) will be doing a European Vacation. I will be posting about that in my next post.
Good luck to all the new 8th Graders at OLLS and to the last year graduates as you start High School this month.
I'll talk soon.
--
Matt
The Weekly Post Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/weeklypostmh
Mat Handley's Personal Page: http://www.facebook.com/matt.handley.31
20120703
Tuli Block
Hello everyone. Howerver I get the feeling I'm the only person reading this blog. Anyway, who ever is out there: Keep Reading!
This post is about my 5 day adventure to Tuli Block, Botswana. Since I'm half way through my second term, we had a very long mid-term break. We decided to go to Tuli Block. This is were the elephants, lions, hyeanas, and so on. (Please note that Khutse/CKGR also had had the animals listed above) Instead of tent camping, we were staying in chalets [shal-les], which are a lot like cabins. There are many places you can stay in Tuli Block. One of them is Tuli Safari Lodge. It is a very expensive resort like place that my Aunt Jeane would like. Sadly because of the price we were not staying there. Instead we were staying in one of the places owned by Tuli Safari Lodge (from on I'm going to call it TSL). This place was called Molema Bush Camp. Next to the Limpopo river you may stay in one of the beautiful chalets at this camp. Each chalet has a bathroom with running water. And a kitchen with a full variety of pots, pans, mugs, cups, plates and more!
That is enough about the chalets. Here is something very interesting that I noticed about TSL and Molema. Their game reserves were not fenced in unlike Mokolodi and Gaborone Game Reserve. So basically this means any of the animals could get up and walk to Gaborone if they wanted to (I am NOT saying they will). Some of the animals we saw were: girraffes, zebras, elephants, jackals, ostriches (there was a huge ostrich farm by Solomons Wall. These farms are used to get meat and eggs from the ostrachis), and some people saw lions (we did not). Basically we did selfdrives through the whole trip. Exept for the Community Visit and the Confluence.
The Confluence is the point where Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa meet (I will have pictures up on the Weekly Post Facebook page* and on a new post next week). The Limpopo river splits into two to seperate Botswana with Zimbabwe and South Africa. This means that there is a "pennisula" of Botswana in the Limpopo river. What I find very funny is that there is an "island" which is owned by Botswana also in the Limpopo river. (I will have a picture of me on that island on Facebook* and on this blog in a week.) So basically that is the Confluence.
The Community visit was going to a small vilage that is near TSL. There wasn't much interesting stuff on this trip but all the small childeren in the village have never seen a white person before so that experience for me was very... interesting (there is a picture of me with all of the childeren in the village. Again that will be on Facebook* and on the blog in a week).
That was basically our trip.
Agian as I say in every post sorry for not posting in a while. There is also two posts I have not posted on the blog. OOPS. This is of Khama Rhino Sancutuary and The BDF Snake Farm. The BDF Snake Farm is a twenty minute video. Those should be up by the end of the month.
Instead of blobbing up your bookmarks with my blog, you can follow me by email. Do you see that white box above that has a submit button next to it? type your email there and click submit. Then all the posts will magically appear in your inbox.
If you like the Weekly Post here, you can also like it on Facebook! Just go to http://www.facebook.com/weeklypostmh and click like. Or you can see my personal page: http://www.facebook.com/matt.handley.31
It has been nice talking to you all agian.
I'll be posting soon!
--
Matt.
This post is about my 5 day adventure to Tuli Block, Botswana. Since I'm half way through my second term, we had a very long mid-term break. We decided to go to Tuli Block. This is were the elephants, lions, hyeanas, and so on. (Please note that Khutse/CKGR also had had the animals listed above) Instead of tent camping, we were staying in chalets [shal-les], which are a lot like cabins. There are many places you can stay in Tuli Block. One of them is Tuli Safari Lodge. It is a very expensive resort like place that my Aunt Jeane would like. Sadly because of the price we were not staying there. Instead we were staying in one of the places owned by Tuli Safari Lodge (from on I'm going to call it TSL). This place was called Molema Bush Camp. Next to the Limpopo river you may stay in one of the beautiful chalets at this camp. Each chalet has a bathroom with running water. And a kitchen with a full variety of pots, pans, mugs, cups, plates and more!
That is enough about the chalets. Here is something very interesting that I noticed about TSL and Molema. Their game reserves were not fenced in unlike Mokolodi and Gaborone Game Reserve. So basically this means any of the animals could get up and walk to Gaborone if they wanted to (I am NOT saying they will). Some of the animals we saw were: girraffes, zebras, elephants, jackals, ostriches (there was a huge ostrich farm by Solomons Wall. These farms are used to get meat and eggs from the ostrachis), and some people saw lions (we did not). Basically we did selfdrives through the whole trip. Exept for the Community Visit and the Confluence.
The Confluence is the point where Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa meet (I will have pictures up on the Weekly Post Facebook page* and on a new post next week). The Limpopo river splits into two to seperate Botswana with Zimbabwe and South Africa. This means that there is a "pennisula" of Botswana in the Limpopo river. What I find very funny is that there is an "island" which is owned by Botswana also in the Limpopo river. (I will have a picture of me on that island on Facebook* and on this blog in a week.) So basically that is the Confluence.
The Community visit was going to a small vilage that is near TSL. There wasn't much interesting stuff on this trip but all the small childeren in the village have never seen a white person before so that experience for me was very... interesting (there is a picture of me with all of the childeren in the village. Again that will be on Facebook* and on the blog in a week).
That was basically our trip.
Agian as I say in every post sorry for not posting in a while. There is also two posts I have not posted on the blog. OOPS. This is of Khama Rhino Sancutuary and The BDF Snake Farm. The BDF Snake Farm is a twenty minute video. Those should be up by the end of the month.
Instead of blobbing up your bookmarks with my blog, you can follow me by email. Do you see that white box above that has a submit button next to it? type your email there and click submit. Then all the posts will magically appear in your inbox.
If you like the Weekly Post here, you can also like it on Facebook! Just go to http://www.facebook.com/weeklypostmh and click like. Or you can see my personal page: http://www.facebook.com/matt.handley.31
It has been nice talking to you all agian.
I'll be posting soon!
--
Matt.
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