Travelling to the Okavango

RYDER GABATHUSE
Staff Writer | Friday April 30, 2010 00:00

I may have travelled to Maun several times, but each experience feels new. I have always wished though, that I could understand the languages spoken in this area and communicate with ease.As they say languages are better learnt from the 'pillow' it's unfortunate for me because I am already taken, and would have to learn the languages the hard way.

But I must say that besides the beauty of this tourist town, I have fallen in love with the languages spoken here. Languages include Seyeyi, Sembukushu, Seherero and Setawana.

The latter of the languages is spoken more like Setswapong, which is predominantly spoken in the Tswapong areas near Palapye and Mahalapye. But if you come from outside the Ngamiland and the Okavango areas, you will find Setawana very interesting. The way they pronounce most of the Setswana words will leave you laughing incessantly. They kind of pronounce the words very hard and strongly.

As there are no flights in the Francistown-Maun route, I caught the earliest bus to Maun last Friday at around 6:30 am to join colleagues from BIOKAVANGO who had arranged a further trip to Shakawe and Samochima in the Okavango.

As I took a seat in the bus, some Bayeyi were deep in conversation comfortably conversing in their language.Travelling to Maun can be a nasty experience especially when it is raining as it did during my journey. It didn't make it any easier that the bus we were travelling in seemed to be leaking somewhere because many passengers were soon wet from the dripping water.   As for the driver and the conductor they did not seem concerned at all, and no apologies were issued. Since the outbreak of FMD in Ngamiland, the police and the veterinary officers are extra cautious with travellers and if you are coming from Maun, your shoes are disinfected while your baggage is searched just in case you have stored away some meat. At the Makakamabedi gate, police demand to see your Omang card.

I would later join BIOKAVANGO's Geoff Khwarae and Dr. Nkobi Moleele, the national coordinator of BIOKAVANGO and some of his staff members including Shirley Selolwane. I was hoping to learn a lot from them and soon realized that Dr. Moleele and Khwarae predominantly speak Sekalaka. The two are also fluent in Ikalanga, bringing memories of Francistown.

When we finally hit the road for Samochima and Sehithwa on the Friday, Dr. Moleele is behind the steering wheel and the occupants of the 4 x 4 SUV included myself, Selolwane and Voice reporter, Nomsa Ndlovu.

At least I got to add more words from both Seyeyi and Sembushu to my limited vocabulary in those languages.But I must admit that learning a new language is not an easy feat especially in Botswana where a good number of languages have not been declared official and so are limited in their use.

Writing some of these 'unofficial' languages can even be a nightmare because of the absence or limited orthography on such languages. I discovered that even for fluent speakers in those languages it is not easy to write words down.

Just like the residents of Maun, Shakawe and Shamochima villagers were generous with their time in assisting a stranger like myself in learning their language.

In my journey I observed that the Maun to Sehithwa road is particularly infested with domesticated animals that stray onto the road willy-nilly and sometimes in large numbers, making driving along the road relatively dangerous.

The same applies to the Sehithwa-Shakawe road, which has the added disadvantage of wildlife. One can imagine how much more dangerous it is at night when it is raining.Our stay at Shakawe and Samochima in particular was interesting, albeit short-lived.

I even had a chance to practice my newly-found language skills at the Rhino Executive Lodge, where the manager was quite tolerant of my still-limited understanding.

All in all, as the trip included cruising on a motorised boat in the Okavango Delta, it was a fulfilling experience and soothing therapy to my body, soul and mind.