10 Apr 2017

My experience was like that of a man who was digging for gold from the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and when he was just about three feet to gold he had to make a very important decision; to quit or not to quit.

In the quest for reaching the epi centre (the place where an earth quake or an explosion originates) I also came to the cross roads.  To quit or not to quit.

It was undeniable that reaching the centre first was obviously a big story to the world, not to mention a juicy scoop for that matter.

When we woke up Tuesday morning from the shock of the earth tremor, it was officially confirmed that indeed what we experienced was an earth quake measuring 6.5m on the Richter scale, which was felt in most parts of the country.

Although social media platforms were abuzz with what might have happened, everyone still had to wait with abated breath for confirmation from official sources as various sources often cited in social media are at times not reliable.

When we got to work that morning we got sketchy details as to where the epic centre was.  

With those details the Botswana Television reporters and I decided to hit the road in anticipation of what we might discover there.

Given the intensity of the earth quake everyone felt, surely the area where the tremor originated might show some evidence of the impact as we learnt that the energy spreads out from the centre and as it moves away, it dies out.  

Hence it was felt in most parts of Southern Africa.

With only estimated coordinates as a lead, we left Molepolole around 11am going to Lephepe.  

The little information we had was that the epic centre was not far away from where Kweneng and Central districts converge, but located west of the area towards Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).

However, before we could start our journey we encountered a few challenges.  

We needed a four wheel drive vehicle that could withstand a rough terrain.  While that was not a big problem to solve, we needed enough fuel to last us the entire journey.  

Unfortunately there was no fuel in Molepolole.  We decided to leave nevertheless and crossed our fingers believing that we would get help at Sojwe Police Station.

We arrived at Sojwe after 12 noon and we managed to fuel the truck and hit the road again.  On our way we struggled to locate the epic centre from the vehicle’s GPS system as we had wrong coordinates, but we decided to proceed anyway.

At Lephepe staging camp for Ghaghoo mine, we asked for directions, but the officials there did not know exactly what we were looking for. They nevertheless directed us to CKGR, saying we would ask for more details at the wildlife camp, which was about seven hours drive from the camp.

They asked if we had shovels as the terrain was sandy and chances of our truck getting stuck were high.  They also cautioned that the speed limit was between 30 and 40km per hour.  

We told them we did not have a spade, but we were determined to arrive as long as we would find a good lead to the centre.

We got into the sandy terrain before lunch time. Immediately we discovered that the road was bad.  We had to drive slowly and avoid getting stuck.

The journey took forever.  Communication was cut, the scortching heat also took its toll on us.  The water we were carrying and the two litres of fizzy drink almost reached boiling point.  Besides, we did not prepare for such a rough journey, but we had reached a point of no return.

With no music in the car, the only pleasing sound was that of birds singing and a few sights of a rasp of guinea fowls and dancing shadows of trees as we traversed the rough terrain.

Fatigue kicked in as it took about two hours to cover a distance of 45km.  Along the way, we made some pit stops to stretch our legs and let the bumpy sand heaps massage our bare feet.

When we approached the CKGR corner, sandwiched between Kweneng and Central districts going west, we found two trucks that were coming from Ghaghoo mine parked by the road side.  

We immediately stopped to do interviews and perhaps get firsthand information of their experience of the earth quake at the mine.

One of the men told us that when it happened, he was at Lephepe and was about to leave for the mine the following morning.  

He heard the earth tremble beneath his feet.  People and goats were screaming, running in all directions, and he got a call that the mine had collapsed.

The other man was at the mine when it happened and narrated to us that the situation there was terrible as everyone ran for their lives, thinking the mine had collapsed.

After a few pictures with the truckers, we hit the road and this time it even made sense to go to the mine if we could not locate the epic centre, given the amount of the purported damage there.

Hardly two hours after we had left, we saw two cars approaching us and we stopped.  We met a team of geologists from BIUST university.  Just like us, they were on the look out for the epic centre, which was estimated to have been 6.7 km from where we were.  They wanted to look for any sign of cracks on the ground and carry out a research within the vicinity of the area.  

The only difference between us was that they had GPS and correct coordinates of the epic centre.  What a relief!  We were on the right track.

That sense of relief immediately melted away the discomforts of the whole journey.  We formed a convoy and now the only sound that was heard was that of the 4X4 engines reverberating as they teared the sand heaps apart in the heart of CKGR.

It was almost sun set when we approached the wildlife gate, which is 45km away from Ghaghoo mine.

The wildlife gate is a transit gate to the mine.  Interestingly, the gate was 5km South West to the epic centre.  

It was at 5pm when we arrived there.  The wildlife officials told us that if we go beyond the gate we would not be able to go back after six because no movement is allowed in the park after 6pm.  

We only had two options, to go back with nothing or proceed and perhaps strike ‘gold’ and spend a night beyond the gate.

The challenge here even for the BIUST team was that if we proceed, where were we going to spend the night, given that we all had not made proper arrangements to get accommodation at the mine, which is a high security area.

On the other hand, the epic centre was just 5km away.  It was within reach.  

The vastness and the thickness of the bush in the area also posed a challenge as there were no open routes to locate it.  

It was also quickly getting dark.  The fact that the area is in the park exposed us to the risk of an encounter with predators, which mostly hunt at night.  Also, the area is infested with all sorts of dangerous snakes.

‘Three feet to gold’;  We all wondered what to do.  The geologists team decided to make a u-turn and go back and to return to the centre at a later date.  To us, journalists, the instinctive inquisitive bug kicked in.

Even though we had not anticipated to spend a night on this voyage, the risk of not getting firsthand information from the area within the vicinity of the epic centre was like selling a horse for a penny.

After much consideration, we decided to spend a night at the mine even though proper arrangements had not been done. 

Nonetheless, we waited for about 30 minutes to get our permits. 

We proceeded with interviews with wildlife staff.

Wildlife official, Mr Kaisara Ping said that the tremor started while he was watching the news.  

Then there was a loud rattling noise, which he thought was a huge truck bumping onto something.  

He then went outside and realised that his house was about to fall.  

Two of his colleagues were bathing and they ran outside the ablution block, but they could not balance themselves as they tried to hold on to the structure.

He quickly realised it was an earth quake and they did not know what to do, whether to lie flat on the ground or hold firmly onto the trees which were also shaking.  

He said that was scary as the whole thing looked like the ground was opening up and they were going to slide under the earth.

The aftershock effects at the wildlife gate were felt until the next day at eight o’clock in the morning, proving that indeed they were close to the epi centre.

We proceeded to the mine after 5pm.  It took us two hours to cover the 45km stretch.  

When we arrived there, we learnt from the induction to

here were visible cracks on the ground. 

Two LCD television screens that were mounted on the dining hall fell on the floor during the tremor. 

The kitchen ceiling and some lights were also damaged.

There were cracks on the dining hall wall. 

Items on shelves in the tuckshop had fallen and spilled on the floor. 

An ablution block was also damaged. 

Unfortunately when we got to the mine some of the evidence had already been tempered with as they got some things fixed and cleared the mess.

The entire mine staff were so shaken by the experience as most of them thought that the mine was collapsing.

Ghaghoo mine security surveillance officer, Mr Kgalalelo Seikabelo said that they were watching news at the dining hall and they heard a large sound like that of a big air conditioner followed by a tremble and ‘I thought it was happening to me only, but when I looked around I saw the look on others’ faces that they were shaken.  We then ran outside.  At this time they thought it was a mine explosion, but the sound was that of the ablution block falling apart.  They held on to each other in order to find balance.  The dining hall building was swaying from side to side as if it would collapse.  Everything was shaking’,  he narrated.

Ms Unabo Tsenang, also an employee at the mine said when she heard the loud noise she thought they were being attacked by elephants. 

She was in her tent, but she struggled to get up as she lost balance and others were screaming.  

Everyone was running in all directions until a siren rang signaling for them to gather at assembly points.

Another slight tremor was also felt on April 4 after 8pm and a slightly intense one in the wee hours of Wednesday morning around 3am.

The mine staff indicated that the aftershock effects have unsettled them so much that they said they wished not to experience anything of this nature ever again.

Mine manager, Mr Obakeng Sosome reiterated that the amount of shock and confusion experienced by staff was huge.  

Nevertheless, all the emergency response procedures were followed.  

He also mentioned that since the incident, they have medical staff on standby to offer any medical assistance to their staff.

Some residents of Gope, a nearby settlement of about 1km from the mine narrated how shocked they were that night. 

Some said that they thought it was the mine collapsing while others thought that a huge storm (kgwanyape) was tearing the ground apart as they heard a loud cracking sound accompanied by a cloud of dust.

Ms Gabaikanye Majeboswane said that it felt as if the womb of the earth was opening up and they were going under. 

She said they left the children in the houses and ran for their lives at the same time shouting for help from the police, who were camping nearby.

BIUST head of Earth and Environment Sciences, Mr Elish Shemang comfirmed that what was heard was actually an earth quake of a magnitude of 6.5m, saying the place where it took place is somehow strange because they do not

expect any activity from that area.
He further said the earth quake was in fact sitting along an old share zone, an inactive place of movement. 

The place where it happened he said is called Mahalapye share zone.

He further clarified that share zones are areas where there is share movements and once there is movement of one side of the fold against the other, there is a tendency that you get to a point where the strength of one side of the rock is exceeded and it will just try to snap readjust so that it can accommodate the new conditions that are existing, thereby causing an earth quake.

He however pointed out that it is difficult to warn people of a looming earth quake because the technology is not available here yet.  

He added that they only hope that what happened is a once off activity that will not reoccur in the nearby future.

Even though our attempt to locate the epic centre did not materialise, we took pride in trying and the evidence we saw at the mine such as cracks on the ground were evident enough that we were sitting along the vicinity of the epic centre.  

Unlike the geologists team, the journos emerged dare devils and victorious for trying. ENDS