Thom's Dad Comes to Africa!

Lately it seems that work has got in the way of our blogging. Most of March through the first week of April Debra was tied up with the review of the clinical trial she works for here in Botswana (if you are interested in learning more about some of the work we do here in Botswana, see CDC's web site: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/qa/prep.htm). Thom has been involved with several activities but the move of CDC headquarters offices here in Gaborone has kept him overly busy the last few weeks. The move is scheduled for May 30 so hopefully it will be behind us soon.

Meanwhile, we did manage to squeeze in a little fun and were very happy that Thom's father (Tom I) could pay us a visit in April. Debra was back in DC for training during most of the time that Tom I was here so Thom II took Tom I to Madikwe for a manly safari adventure.

The manly men stayed at Jaci's Tree Lodge (http://www.madikwe.com/tree_lodge.htm) which happens to have a resident mongoose family (how cool is that!).

More photos of the lodge:

Jaci's Tree Lodge also has a small watering hole with a blind. The highlight of our trip occurred right there at the Lodge watering hole when a giraffe wandered in for a drink. The entire encounter took over 45 minutes as the Giraffe was very cautious and was not thrilled that we were there. Strangely, when we finally started talking the giraffe relaxed and finally got into position to drink.

Of course, a trip to Botswana would not be complete without stopping in to visit the cheetahs at Mokolodi.