When you’ve had enough of party life in the city, there’s a need for a getaway, and a visit to the cattle post is the next best option.
It’s such an adventurous expedition to undertake. Herd boys appreciate it when you visit them, and not giving them any work when you arrive.
Like everyone else, they like it more when you take Christmas gifts for them, like vodka and packets of cigarettes.
Herd-boys respectfully love the land cruiser. They can hear one from miles away. They call the land cruiser affectionate names such as ‘tshipi’ (metal) or ‘modimo wa lefatshe’ which means ‘an undisputed god of the land.’
Imagine driving through the sand veld, without a toolbox, spare wheel or jack. Picture driving a land cruiser, loaded to the brim with farm supplies. A Lister engine, terremycin, 210 litre drums of diesel together with 50kg salt and dicalcium bags etc, tied up at the back. During wet season, when the clay mud pools are flooded, getting stuck becomes highly possible.
Toromole cattle post is located approximately 25 kilometers from Mmashoro Village, which is about 70 kilometers away from Serowe.
Upon arrival at Toromole, you are welcomed by an annoying swarm of flies, which follow you almost everywhere you go.
At the cattle kraals, herd boys normally give you a large bucket of milk, as a treat, though it reacts as a laxative.
“Drink as much as you can, because next time you’ll be buying it,” says Diabolic, a herd boy. After drinking a full bucket of unpasteurized milk, one tends to get clogged bowels, or a runny stomach.
Hunting is an adventurous activity to look forward to at the cattle post.
Ditsebe, a.k.a. Sebinjolo, a herd boy, normally knows where to trek for nice, fat guinea fowls, even young bucks.
“We don’t suffer meat here unlike you who live in the city,” he says.
He’s very professional at cooking traditional delicacies like seswaa (pounded meat), a traditional cuisine, which you’d never get to enjoy, since one spends most time feeling bloated.
When taking a trip to the cattle post, it’s not such a good idea to buy the herd boys strong bottled alcohol. They end up blasting their stereos and dancing, then after they get drunk, they end up threatening and injuring each other with knock-berries.
Diabolic, a grown up herd boy at Toromole, ended up beating his wife and children simply because they didn’t wash his greasy hands before giving him his food.
“I will electrocute (beat) you every morning, lunch time and every evening, like a 24 hour electricity power station if you ever repeat that action again,” he told his family.
Life is so easygoing at the cattle post.
For those with a keen interest in horse riding, the cattle post is the place to go for jockeying. If you’re not good at horse riding then you’d want to stick to a donkey ride.
Since it’s for amateurs, donkey riding is more uncomfortable than horse riding. Bone, a Geo technical engineer who resides in Geneva, says he always looks forward to visiting his parents’ cattle post every time he’s in Botswana.
“To me, it’s like therapy because the nature drive, wilderness and the calmness of the bush just relieves all my stress.”
Bone says he also enjoys eating game.
“The nightlife at the cattle post is fantastic; when the moon is out, I go hunting or if not I just get a good night’s sleep,” Bone said.
