Botswana destinations #2 – The perimeter of the Gaborone dam

The Gaborone Dam. (www.picasaweb.google.com)

The Gaborone Dam is the water source for Gaborone. Because Botswana is very dry, the dam’s construction a century or so ago necessarily preceded the growth of Botswana’s capital city.
The dam is home to the “Gaborone Yacht Club” and the “Kalahari Fishing Club”, but this entry is about neither, nor is it about the dam itself. Here, I will share with you the highlights of the approximately 21 mile trail around the dam, which I recently biked.

Leaving from a friend’s home near the Ladies No. 1 Opera House, we set out at about half past seven and, as a few miles required walking and carrying one’s cycle, returned about three hours later.

Highlights of the trip, if I may describe a few, can be grouped into three categories: plant life, animal life and industrial landmarks.

As for plants, let me first say two things about the thorn bushes of the Botswana bush: they are ubiquitous and they draw blood. Bike tires must be tubeless and specially slimed to “Self-heal” when punctured, which occurs every few meters. Besides thorns, the “resurrection plant” warrants mention, for it turns brown in the arid winter, greens near rock puddles in the rainy season (~December-February), and smells of a Swedish sauna (an odor fusion of cedar, sweat, ozone, and eucalyptis).


The resurrection plant. (http://www.info.gov.za/ )

Moving to animals, one of the seven-person cycling delegation told me of a fresh-water shrimp that also inhabits these puddles, impressive given that this extreme habitat remains dry most months out of the year. They are called, and I am not kidding, the African Fairy Shrimp (Branchipodopsis wolfi). Alas, I was unable to spot one of the crustaceans during the ride, but I did find an article on fairy shrimp egg dispersal, published by the scientist that taught my co-cyclist of their existence. In addition to the shrimp, we spotted several other animals (humdrum in comparison, of course), including impalas, black-backed jackels, warthogs and dragonflies.

A black-backed jackel (www.farandawayphotographicarts.com)

Landmarks (our final category) included a piggery, where, according to my co-rider, “intensive pig farming” takes place, and a brick kiln (where nearby clay deposits are mixed with ~10% charcoal and baked around a central fire). The brickmaker was drying fresh fish from the dam on the top of the structure.

Botswana brick kiln near dam. (www.picasaweb.google.com)

The final landmark of note was the guard station where our trip began and almost ended. A young, rule-abiding uniformed guard demanded to see our permits that permitted us to ride our bicycles around the dam. After our party pointed out no fewer than five holes in the perimeter fence and as many trespassing, permit-less fishermen and cattle herders, the permit requirement was waived.

And thank goodness, for it was a nice loop, and the clouds mercifully blunted the mid-summer desert sun.