Diamonds (and Family) Are Forever

Here in Botswana Ani and I have been privileged to have many surreal experiences—from bungee jumping to village life—however, one of the more bizarre moments of this semester was walking down the streets of Gaborone with my parents. Only a week ago my mom and dad arrived on a Friday evening, pale not only from the exhausting fourteen hour flight, but also the distinct lack of glaring Botswana sun. We set them up at the Lolwapa Lodge, a small little place right across the street from UB. We spent Saturday doing a whirlwind tour of Gaborone; a day that included several trips to Riverwalk, a visit to Main Mall and the bus rank, and several cups of coffee (we had a brief moment of panic when it became apparent that coffee was not a readily available commodity in Bots). Naturally, no trip would have been complete without some testing of the local cuisine.

Let the record show my father flipped out more at the prospect of eating this worm than I did!

After a nice, dried worm you need a fatcake to wash it down!

However, in the end, I was more of an excuse to visit Botswana than the full purpose and so on Sunday my parents jetted off to the Okavango Delta for their own little safari. From all accounts, they had a wonderful time. Theirs was a walking tour, which means that they were spared the bumpy roads and day-long drives that we experienced. It also meant they had to walk for extended periods of time – you will have to weigh the costs and benefits yourself.

Back in Gabs, Ani, myself and the rest of CIEE took Wednesday off of school to visit Jwaneng Diamond Mine, the richest diamond mine in Botswana. Botswana’s economy is built on diamonds. As I may have mentioned before, when Botswana gained independence from the British back in 1966, it was one of the poorest countries in the world. Only a few years later, diamonds were discovered (conveniently!) and they have since funded all of the rapid development around the country. So they’re kind of a big deal. The mine itself is about two hours from Gaborone, located in what is largely the middle of nowhere.

It is also huge.

It’s an open mine that’s over three hundred metres deep. To put that in perspective, the bridge off of which Ani and I jumped was 111 metres. So this mine is three times as deep. To visit the mine we all had to get dolled up in these lovely outfits:

Yeah, we’re hot (literally).

The highlight of the trip was a visit to the trucks that haul the rubble up from the mine.

Ani and I were almost crushed!

Unfortunately for those of us hoping a diamond mine might include a glittering array of diamonds, diamond mines are not really the place to see the jewels. It’s illegal for anyone to sell an uncut diamond, so they are largely kept under lock and key as they are washed and filtered through the waste. They then go to a plant in Gabs where they are processed and cut. For those doing the math, our visit to the diamond mine coincided with Saint Patrick’s Day – a holiday that, for some reason, seems much more important when you are surrounded by people who don’t celebrate it. So many of us spent this trip decked in green.

Jen models her (hand drawn) tat

My parents returned on Thursday night and I spent Friday shameless exploiting them for groceries, souvenirs, and free meals. Thank you again, guys! All too soon it was time for them to go. Now they’re back in Fort Collins where my dad just had a snow day. I can only imagine how surreal the week must have seemed to them!