Drifting into Botswana

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“There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.”Charles Learner.
It is not about the destination but all about the journey….The remarkable thing about traveling when you have a bit of time on your hands and you aren’t screaming down the N1 trying to break your previous personal best time,is that you start noticing things around you to a far greater degree.Especially when you are in uncharted territory.And so with a sense of adventure the journey kicked off from Mabula Lodge near Bela Bela(Warmbaths)with a westerly heading to Thabazimbi and ultimately Laphalale (Ellisras).This is tough farming country where I guess it’s survivable when they have good rains but a very different scenario when the rains don’t pitch.So what you have is a mix of cattle farming,some winter fodder cropping under irrigation and then lots and lots of game and hunting farms.And then of course as you draw closer to Thabazimbi and you gaze at some very impressive mountains,one senses that something really odd and,perhaps catastrophic,has happended.The mountains have been rearranged by the likes of Kumba as they move millions of tons of iron ore to those ever hungry steel mills wherever they are located.They look like large multi layered cakes reaching upwards and I would imagine when the martians or whoever come along one day and colonise Earth,they will immediately appoint a commission of enquiry whose sole task will be to find out what the hell happened to those mountains.Not a pretty sight!Ellisras is a rapidly growing town sitting on the edge of a blitzkrieg of new development…a new multi billion rand Eskom power station,Sasol flirting with the idea of another Secunda oil from coal plant,a new fertilizer plant and you get the drift….unless you are looking for a job,don’t add this town to your quiet week end hideaways.About 20kms outside of Ellisras is a delightful lodge by name of Bateleur Safari Lodge which is where we arrived late afternoon.Two reasons for dropping in there…firstly,an overnight hitching post before the push to Botswana and,secondly,….“conditioning” for Susan as she draws ever nearer to the moment of mounting the ladder to the roof top tent.The next morning the heading was Botswana and a very interesting thought struck me….South Africa is blessed with vast tracts of wilderness areas,superb national and private game parks and yet mention Botswana and most South Africans with a love of the bush go into a trance….eyes glaze over and there is an air of reverence.Indeed.Well,the only way to find out is to go there and check it out.And so without much fuss or fanfare we drifted into Botswana at a place called Martin’s Drift.Border posts in Africa are intriguing to say the least…you never quite know what to expect.Ours was an easy passage but spare a thought for Riaan Manser of “Around Africa on my bicycle” fame….he crossed just about every border on the African continent on his two year journey(if you haven’t read the book….do so!).The only moment of intrigue was the sight of a seriously old and dilapidated 5 ton truck having it’s tarps removed only to reveal a whole bunch of refugees hiding amongst all manner of household goods.Very sad and hopefully not a sign of foreigners desperately trying to flee South Africa ahead of the threatened xenophobic violence post the 2010 World Cup.Conversely,there were significant numbers of South Africans in all manner of 4 x 4 vehicles leaving Botswana on the long journey home….I had always wondered how all those outdoor shops survive back home and here was the answer.The migration south was in full swing for many who had spent time over the World Cup touring the north.The routing took us up through Palapye towards Francistown.This eastern rump of Botswana is not particularly attractive….stunted thorn trees and very little vegetation to speak of.The local cattle farmers have found a solution to the lack of grazing…let the herds of cattle loose alongside the road where there is a bit of grass….this was the case all the way through the country.Now every journey throws up a surprise and after driving slowly through the town center of Francistown,both Sue and I came to one of those momentous conclusions…..this was the cleanest,neatest and most impressive African town we had ever been through.Not a big place with a population of about 20000 people but right up there with the best.Not far from Francistown was Nata Lodge and after securing our camping spot,up went the Howling Moon roof top tent under an unbelievable African sky lit up by stars as far as the eye could see.Very cold overnight but no indication that Sue won’t adapt to this mode of one star accommodation.Anyone planning a trip into Botswana following this route is well advised to use Nata Lodge as an overnight stop over.Delightful camping spots and spotlessly clean ablutions and then to really set one fair for the next day’s travels,the Engen garage in Nata has one of the best Wimpy’s on the planet!The heading on this leg of the journey was Kasane about 300 kms north and the countryside started to reveal some of Botswana’s little secrets…..beautiful bushveld in a blanket of gold and green wintery colours under a smoky blue sky.And then suddenly there it was…right alongside the A3 motorway,a magnificent bull pachyderm which was soon followed further up the road by others.Just before Kasane is a town called Kazungula which is the border into Zambia….serious gridlock with a lengthy line up of heavy duty trucks waiting to get through all the challenges of cross border crossings.Thankfully,a left turn put us in a westerly direction into the Chobe Game Reserve,where elephant spotting is a rewarding past time as one saunters along at 80km/h.At this point just short of our destination,Durban is about 2000km away so we have covered some territory on this journey thus far as we arrived at Island View Lodge,located on the banks of the mighty Zambezi River in the Caprivi.And then to cap it all later in the evening,another destination was reached by Spain,winning the World Cup for the very 1st time.Somebody owes me money on a bet struck…problem is,I can’t remember who?

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