A few photos of our recent NSF funded expedition in Botswana to document Tshila (a Khoe Kwadi language) during the summer of 2024.
The team standing in front of the village sign. From left to right, Kagiso, Chris, Andre and Akuwa. John David is not pictured since he had to leave a bit early. As can be seen, the village is built on sand in the Kalahari desert.
A picture of John David lounging on the back of my Toyota Land Cruiser, a super powerful vehicle that can drive through deep sand without even engaging the 4x4.
The next two photos are of our house in the village. After struggling with accommodation in Diphuduhudu, I realize how lucky we were to find this house, which we rented from one of the subchiefs. We really loved it. It was spacious with tiled floors, and some black couches in the living room. It had two bedrooms, a living room (the office), a shower room and a kitchen. The outhouse is pictured to the right, only a short walk from the main house, and pretty much reserved just for us. I paid them over the phone. So it was cozy and convenient.
Another view of the house with my beloved solar panel. We powered three computers, and countless phones, since the neighbors kept popping in for us to charge their phones. Only on the last few cloudy
days in the village did we face any real problem with solar power, but even then we managed to finish the day with enough power.
The photo below shows the fire where we would heat up water for showers (in order to make our gas supply last longer). The desert gets very cold at night and in the morning down into the 30s. It is really lovely to take a hot bucket shower after a long day at work.
A view of my work setup, including computer (powered by solar panel), Zoom H4n as audio-interface, notebook (I am old school, and enter everything in a notebook) and plenty of Setswana dictionaries.
A picture of me working with the consultants.
John David and Andre took a mini-expedition into Khutse to see the animals. Khutse is only a few kilometers from the village (less than five kilometers). The wild animals, including lions and elephants, sometimes make their way outside of the park into the village.
The bare shelves of the village store. This picture just highlights how difficult it is to buy food in the village. There are only a few tuck shops and this mostly empty store.
The incredible beauty of the Milky Way Galaxy at night. Never before have I seen such a beautiful display of the night sky.
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