Clara and I had our joint birthday party aboard Sir Rhosis of the River on Friday night. The boat belongs to Colin, my friend and neighbor, and I’ve long wanted to have a party on board. I made two flourless almond chocolate cakes sprinkled with snowy powdered sugar in my new heart shaped baking pan as well as two quiche lorraines. Clara brought enough chips and biltong to satisfy even the hungriest of Boer men. The final touch was my plastic pink-jeweled princess crown given to me by Dan as a going away present (leaving New York for Botswana once again) that says ‘Happy New Year’ across the front. I wrote ‘Birthday Girl’ on a scrap of paper (alas no pretty paper stores in Botswana) and tied it over the front with some ribbon. Clara and I exchanged it all night long.
Our friends started to arrive at River Lodge, our embarkment sight, around 6:30 right before sunset. Most of them are connected to the University of Botswana in Maun in some way doing research on birds, water usage, algae, plants, etc. The others comprise a children’s book author, a sculptor, a safari guide, a petrol station and mechanic shop manager, an NGO coordinator, a volunteer, and a documentary filmmaker. Besides my Peace Corps girlfriends who couldn’t make it out of their villages so soon after returning from a three-week holiday in Zanzibar, these are my friends in Maun.
Needless to say the gin and tonics started flowing before Colin even started the boat’s engine. Lilian and Hennie came aboard briefly for one drink to say hello but decided it would be too difficult to stay with their young son Alan.
Around 7pm we pushed off and slowly made our way up the river. Clara and I made a playlist filled with Bob Dylan, Al Green, the Band, and Johnny Cash.
Sir Rhosis looks like an old ferry with a loading door that Colin keeps down in front so that when you stand at the bow the river is open just below your feet. When it got dark enough Colin switched on the bow lights and we could watch barbel and bream jumping in front of the boat. We saw a medium sized crocodile lazily swimming off into the reeds.
We finally arrived at a sand bank around 10 pm and many of us, myself included, went for a swim in the warm water. Alex, without losing his crutches, went out the farthest with Debs and myself trying to keep up. After half and hour we climbed back into the boat sopping wet. Clara and I served cake on the way back downstream. When we finally returned to River Lodge around midnight the bar was empty and closed up (the president has issued a new 11pm closing hour for bars). We were mostly dry at that point, hugged and kissed each other good-bye, and made our separate ways back home.
