´e Tutto Buono... It's All Good: Never give Away Your Bushbaby....

When most people think about Africa, they picture wide open savannah's, brimming with animals, and oppressive, unbearable heat. However, as a few people probably know, Africa has a winter season. And during that winter season it can get quite cold. Not Alaska cold, but cold. It was during this winter season that our family ventured out on our trip to the southern part of Africa.

We came fairly prepared, we brought warm clothing, coats and hats and gloves. However, we also had a luggage weight limit of 26 pounds each, due to the small planes we would be flying in. Because of the limit on luggage, we each took about 5 changes of clothing and had them laundered while traveling. Our last stop in Africa was in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. The delta is a "flood" plain where the waters from the Okavango River spread every year, forming a network of channels and quiet lagoons into the tip of the vast Kalahari dessert. It is stunning! Visually beautiful, diverse with game and birds, it's an amazing place. It can also get very cold at night. Like, down into the low 30's upper 20's cold.

The Okavango Delta features spectacular sunsets, particularly on the water

This is the view of the Delta from our airplane as we flew in to our camp

Water everywhere!

And this is where our story begins. Deep in the heart of the Okavango Delta at Camp Moremi. Our rooms at this camp were tents that had been built upon a stilted platform (i.e. flood plain = tents up off the ground). Another thing to note is that in most places in Africa, the maximum number of occupants per room is 2, so Keagan had his own tent. Because these are tents, there is no heating or cooling. They also do not feature true running electricity. They are hooked up to generators during the daytime to run things like lights, but at night, the generators are turned off and you rely solely on battery operated lights. There are no land line phones. Instead you are handed an air horn with instructions on how to blow this horn in an emergency. We are way out in the bush.... way out. There is no such thing as cell service or wifi. And the final rule is that you cannot walk outside alone at night, mainly due to the hippos who come up out of the water to graze around the tents.

After arriving, we spent a lovely afternoon out on a game drive. When we returned we are escorted back to our tents to clean up a bit before dinner. The escort informed us what time they will be back to escort us to the main lodge where we will all dine family style with all the other guests. The food is amazing! We meet some amazing people from all around the world. We enjoy listening to the staff as they sing to us during dinner. After dinner we all descend the stairs of the main lodge to sit around a great big outdoor fire pit to enjoy some after dinner drinks and discussions. It is at this time that we are introduced to our "Bushbaby." Said bushbaby is actually a hot water bottle, filled with extremely hot water, which is then tucked into a soft, fury, cover. Thus the name, bushbaby. Like I said, the fire is big and warm, the company of the other guests and staff is filled with amazing stories, and we are sitting there drinking tasty warm beverages. Ah.... life is good.

It is at this point, that our son Keagan gets warm and says to Jeff (who is notoriously always cold), "Here Dad, you can have my bushbaby." Jeff accepts said bushbaby, because he is cold, and we all go back to the various conversations we are having with other guests. As the evening comes to a close, we are escorted back to our tents, where it starts to become very obvious that it is indeed going to get very cold as the night progresses. Before leaving us, our guide suggests that we place our bush babies under the covers of our bed to help keep us warm. We do so, and I open the dresser and begin to pull out the extra blankets that had been pointed out to us when we first arrived and were given a tour of the room and how to work everything. As I did so, I say to Jeff, "Do you think Keagan was paying attention when they gave him a tour of his tent? Will he remember that there are extra blankets in the dresser?" And I think to myself, he probably has no clue. I bet he was way too consumed by the fact that even though I told him there would be no wifi or cell service here, there was, in fact, NO CELL SERVICE and he was going to die from withdrawal. At this point, there is nothing I can do. There are no phones with which to call him. Our tents are placed in such a way as to ensure guest privacy, so there is no "yelling" the information to him. Hopefully if he gets cold, he will open the dresser and discover the blankets. And so, with nothing more to do, Jeff and I climb into our warm bed, complete with an extra bushbaby and blankets, and go to sleep to the sound of the softly grunting hippos outside our door.

Our morning pre-game drive breakfast was at 6am. We awoke at 5am to a thoroughly chilled tent whereby we could clearly see our breath. That type of temperature encourages a quick change into multiple layers of clothing. Our bed however, was still toasty, and the bush babies were amazingly still warm, not hot, but still emitting a few small waves of warmth into the bed. Since the sun was starting to come up, we were free to walk over to Keagan's tent unescorted. And this is what we found.... A very unhappy and cold teenager. I asked him how he slept and he informed me that he about froze to death. At one point in the night he was so cold that he got up and put on every piece of clothing he had packed and climb back into bed to try and keep warm. When I asked him if he had pulled out the extra blankets from his dresser, he looked at me like I had grown two heads. "What extra blankets?????" , he asked. I replied, "The ones that they showed you when we checked into our tents." His response? I wasn't paying attention to her because I was trying to check my phone. I then asked him the crowning question, "Didn't you put your bushbaby under your covers? They really help keep you warm."

It is at this point that Keagan whirled around towards his dad, and said with an accusing finger, "I gave my bushbaby to you!" And, turning back around, Keagan began to rapidly walk toward the lodge for breakfast, all the while muttering about cold and lack of cell service. And I admit it, I began to laugh, deep and hard...at the mental image of my son, all layered up in every piece of clothing he brought. He said he had even put on all 5 pairs of socks trying to keep warm. He had his hoody, his coat, his gloves, everything....

And now, our family has a new saying that we have adopted. And the saying is ... "Never give away your bushbaby!" And we say it often, and get strange looks from everyone around us as we all crack slightly crazy grins. At least, I think Keagan can grin now that he's had some distance from the experience.

But the saying holds true in life. At some point in life, we are all handed a "bushbaby". Something that is meant to help us get through the next "thing" we are going to face. And in our hurry, we fail to recognize the importance of this bushbaby. Often, we are busy with our own self-importance or distractions, and we do not listen to the instructions given to us about the use of the bushbaby. And, failing to thoroughly understand and comprehend the use of the bushbaby, we carelessly give it away, only to discover that we should have held on to it a little bit longer. That it would have been a helpful thing to have.

And so, today I'm encouraging you to pay attention to the "bushbaby" that you are handed. I encourage you to focus and listen to the instructions you are given. Don't allow distractions to keep you from thoroughly understanding the situation you are in. This is my prayer for myself, to stop and pay attention. To really learn the value and use of the things that I am handed in life. And then to use those things with wisdom, and to not throw them away or give them away frivolously.

This is a silly story to use to make this point, but I hope you get a laugh out of it. At the very least, I hope you enjoyed the photos. And for the record, from that night on, Keagan never gave away his bushbaby again......

I'll leave you with some more photos of this stunning place...

Botswana is know for it's elephants....

An African Jacana (or Jesus bird) walks across the lily pads

Hippos....

Our "jeeps" drove through the water when it was shallow enough. Our guide would simply tell us to lift up our feet, and away we went. We would stop after just long enough to let the water all drain out.. fun!