Departure
The safari vehicles were booked to collect us at 2pm, so the morning was spent packing, taking down tents, clearing up and so on. The group of Botswana Guides came to help us strike camp, and to collect some of the tents that we were leaving for them. After Flag Down for the last time we set off in convoy to the building site for a final look and photos with the Guides,. Reserve Rangers, Neil and Glenda, Puso and Maddie, and Sarah and Rebecca. We were delighted to see that the thatchers have now started on the classroom roof.
Unfortunately things can go wrong at the last minute, and they did!!

Final Work Day
A busy day - but then they were all busy days! At 10am we had the final handover ceremony, with the British Consul, representatives from the French, Namibian and other! embassies, the World Health Organisation, Mr T, the Education Director, and others. It was filmed for the Botswana Television Company, (with Becky and Helen in the background finishing the surface of the kitchen counter!) and Ged, Puso and Tom Wood were interviewed.
The scaffolding was returned, and other tools and machinary were cleaned up ready for the hire company to collect tomorrow.
This evening Mokolodi put on a final Game Drive and a farewell Bush Braai, with presentations and certificates which went on well into the night.

Back on site
Today the shuttering was removed from the second tank, and the surrounding area graded. Toilets, cisterns and wash basins were ably fitted by Andy Mc and his team, who have now decided they all want to be plumbers when they grow up!! Electric work was completed and tested, to loud cheers. The rendering on all inside walls was finished, and a ditch was being dug round the two buildings for anti-termite treatment to be carried out. Every member of the team hand painted a tile brought along by Caroline Marshall, our original contact with Mokolodi. After firing these tiles will be used to decorate the kitchen area of the classroom.

This evening we ate in style with guests at the Mokolodi Restaurant for our official final meal. A delicious meal, and no-one had to do the washing up!

Diamond Mine
The bus was booked for 5.30am, so on a beautiful moonlit morning we were at the gate, having had a scary meeting with a rhino on the way - (though who was more surprised, us or him?) The buses, two of them, eventually arived, (after two phone calls), at 7.10 and 7.30 and we set off for the Debswana Mine at Jaweng.The mine is open cast, and is simply an enormous hole in the ground about 250 metres deep and a kilometre long. Gigantic trucks trundle up and down all day carrying vast quantities of rock for crushing before the diamons are eventually extracted. 80% of the Jaweng diamonds are of Gem Quality, and 20% of Industrial Quality, and diamonds are Botswana's main source of wealth. We had an excellent lunch at the Mine Social Club before the long drive back. On our return the team went straight to Mokolodi Village where they played a friendly football match against villagers and Reserve Rangers until well into dark, watched and cheered on by a very large and enthusiastic crowd of villagers of all ages. Result --- Mokolodi 3 - Cleveland 1, but a great deal of fun was had by all.

Friends of Mokolodi
Soon after work started this morning, a trailer carrying chairs arrived on site, and the Reserve Rangers proceeded to unload them and set them up in rows in the roofless classroom. Was the first class of children about to arrive? No, the monthly meeting of the Friends of Mokolodi was being held on site,so that people could see what progress we were making. Puso, Ged, Alan and Barbara talked briefly about the project to the sound of hammering, drilling and so on as the electrics were being installed. Barbara had to move her seat as the plasterers were working behind the wall where she was sitting and she was getting showered with wet plaster.

After the talk people asked questions and were all very interested in what we are doing.

Important Visitor
We had a surprise visitor this afternoon from the Vice President of Botswana, General Seretse Khama Ian Khana who is patron of Mokolodi, and the country's leading conservationist. He looked round the two buildings and chatted to groups of us. And all the time he was talking, Helen had to keep on stirring the bucket of plaster she was mixing for the floor screed of the toilets! Alan, Helen, Becky Martin and John were all very late back to camp, because they had been left doing the floor, and no-one remembered to go for them! Oops!
Margaret and Gillian were out all day at a reception held by the Girl Guides of Gabarone.
"Shopping again this morning. Susan and Barbara go about every other day, and it takes all morning, about 3 hours! We go to the Trademarket Metsef where we have opened an account, but it takes ages. We purchase in terms of 30-40 loaves of bread, 10 bottles of juice to dilute, 10kg of meat per day, potatoes and veg by the sackful, and so it goes on. After selecting the items we go throught the checkout, the goods are checked again by a different person and he goes and gets someone else to rubber stamp it. We then get a form in triplicate to be signed by Barbara and the checkout girl and they have to go and find a manager to sign the forms, then go to the main office to get it checked again and rubber stamped on all three sections, Barbara is then given the invoice which we take to where Susan is waiting with the trolleys. The man at the barrier then looks at it to check all areas are correctly signed and stamped, and Hey Presto, we can go and load the shopping into the back of the bakkie. Quite easy really!!"

Thatch
This is really looking like something now! Once the thatchers started, they certainly got going, and the toilet block looks like a proper building. 
And the gum pole roof structure for the classroom building has been started too. Danny has spent much of the day on the roof with the thatchers and is really enjoying it. Unfortunately we are all having to be very careful about handling the gum poles as they are inclined to cause irritation to our fair skin. Puso comes to the site most days to offer encouragement and help if needed.

Raising the Roof
A group of professional thatchers from Zimbabwe joined us today and by tea time had erected the gum pole structure for the roof. The toilet block is beginning to look like a proper building.

Team 6 Lovin' It Large
On Sunday 29th of July, Team 6 took a break from concrete to visit the Kirby Castle. The house is situated behind the dam and is owned by Mr & Mrs Kirby. The house and its grounds are literally incredible. A unique house design facing onto the lake, and included in the grounds are: a swimming pool, tennis court, summer house with darts and bar, and a beautifully cared for garden. Every team has been invited to relax there on their three days off. We are in great debt to Mr & Mrs Kirby for their hospitality.
Tom Wood

Taking a Sicky
Several people have been struck down with sickness, probably caused by heat and general exhaustion. However nothing too serious, and they were all back at work by today and the back wall of the classroom is up to roof level.

We have been collecting suitable stones from around the site [there are lots and lots of them!] for the traditional cladding of the toilet block.. This takes a long time as only one row can be laid and must be left to dry before the next can be added. 

Concrete Mixing
Over these three days, 95 tons of concrete had been mixed by hand and laid for the base of the classroom. This corresponds to 7 loads of ready mix concrete. At any point there were 3 teams mixing, and one team transporting by wheelbarrow and laying it. Most teams had 2 spells working on it. Most of the time we had 8 or more or Puso's work force helping and on the last day, Puso delivered the concrete to the classroom area with his Cherokee and trailer. I don't think this did the trailer a lot of good.
Barbara Bishop 

[I have been asked to mention here that the most able wheelbarrow pusher is Helen Rose, a young teacher!]

A Day of Shortages and Excesses
Much of today we had no water, no wood and the reserve had no telephones. However, after a lot of messages being left here and there, we managed to buy firewood and then we had a surprise delivery of wood, courtesy of the Girl Guides of Botswana who had camped with us the first weekend. We also had a visit by a group of Sunbeams [Brownies] all dressed in green, who arrived on the back of a bakkie. We thought there were about a dozen of them, but when we counted them, there were 25! The water supply was restored after lunch, fortunately, as we were wondering how we would cook dinner without water. 

The camp sites are not used to supplying water for 40 people for such long periods! And by this evening the phones are working again so we are back in touch with the outside world.

Making Progress
Thanks to the help of a Mokolodi brick layer, the toilet block is now up to roof level. The gum poles are on site and the thatch should be arriving within the next couple of days.

An Accident
Our first injury on camp happened on Monday 16th July. It was the second day on the site, and I dislocated my knee for the fourth time. All I was doing was emptying the stones out of my shoe, and I lost my balance and landed awkwardly. The next thing I knew I was in Gaborone Private Hospital for 2 days for physiotherapy until the swelling went down. Anyway, I am back on site today and I am managing fine.
Laura Toulson

A Walk on the Wild Side
Our first day off since arrival and not only that, but an amazing opportunity to go walking with 4 African Elephants through the Mokolodi Bush!! We didn't mind getting up at 6:30 when we saw them coming through the trees and having a drink at their pool. We got to walk along beside them - one in front of the other in true elephant style. Rather scary having such large, semi-tame animals within arms reach but fantastic to see them holding each other's tails. Periodically through the walk they would break out and have a feed on the trees. This gave us the chance to stroke them and take close up photos. The end of the walk was the lake near the work site. The resident hipps tried to protect the territory by coming up to the surface near the edge.

Wow! Not only close ups of elephants, but hippos in the background!!
Pauline Parker

Eating Out
Our day off so we went into Gaborone to look at shops and street traders. It was quite scary because the people were very pushy trying to sell you something. We then moved on to Botswana Crafts where they were having a Cultural Day. The food was traditional and it was hard to understand what was in some of the dishes - but there was no mistaking what was in the caterpillars! They were crusty and chewy at the same time, and a very much an acquired taste. The rest of the food was not what I would normally eat either - I felt bad about it because I wasted a lot. But the meal in the Mokolodi restaurant that evening was excellent.

24 Tons of Concrete
A third of the group, that is 12 people, mixed 24 tons of concrete in one day! Half of that was by hand, as the mixer had stopped working. That means I mixed 2 tons of concrete Wow! That was the whole day just mixing. Helen Forest
All this concrete had to be transported by dumper truck from the mixing site to the building site, a distance of some 250 meters along a very rocky, dusty road.
Matty Allen

Stones Stones Stones
Need I say more. The site needed clearing and we were the team to do it. We pushed, pulled, shoved and lifted, anything to move rocks that were nearly as big as we were. We then progressed to soil in the afternoon, while the little bob cat moved the rocks.

Explosions and Toilets
The first actual job was the digging and building of the intercepter tanks and drainage system for the toilet block.
Work on the main classroom, meanwhile, was on hold for a few days whilst we waited for the explosives to demolish the offending rock bed. And for those team members watching from the dam, it was an impressive sight!

A Night Out
This evening we went on a game drive, where we saw several different animals, including elephant, kudu, warthog, impala, hartebeest, gemsbok and cheetah. I got to stroke a cheetah and it licked my hand.

 
The whole trip was amazing but to finish it off was an amazing bbq [or braai] with traditional African singing and dancing. We joined in with the dancing, but it wasn't quite the same. We returned home to a well earned rest and an extra blanket.

Brrrrr!!!
I am so-o-o cold. I wore socks, trousers, t shirt and jumper inside my sleeping bag with a blanket. How will I stay alive?! During the first few days we borrowed blankets from eth Reserve, and about another 10 of us have bought blankets. We did not believe it could be so cold at night. Africa is supposed to be a hot country!

Riding on my dumper truck
Once on site no time was wasted, and people were soon mixing concrete ready for the foundations. All this had to be transported by dumper truck from the mixing site to the building site, a distance of some 250 meters along a very rocky, dusty road.

Arrival of main party
Our troop arrived at Gaborone Airport to the cheering and banner waving of 17 local guides. An unexpected pleasure! Also unexpected, was the loss of 14 pieces of luggage, all left at Johannesburg airport due to lack of room on the aircraft... Mokolodi had loaned us their two 25-seater game viewing vehicles which shipped everyone back to Mokolodi - a cold trip no doubt! Now things can begin in earnest.

The first hurdle
To our horror, the JCB uncovered an enormous rock right in the middle of the main building site, which could neither be moved, nor incorporated into the building. We had a specialist look at it, and it was decided it would need to be dynamited to break it up. No problem ... except that this was a long holiday weekend and it would not be done until Wednesday - and the group is arriving tomorrow!

Preparations
The site needed to be completely cleared, and the simplest way to do this was by hiring a JCB. This soon cleared away the scrub undergrowth and rock, and progress continued on track.

Advance party arrive at Mokolodi.
 
Our first visit to the work site, and we were delighted to see piles of stone and sand had already been delivered. An encouraging start, but much more to do yet.