Blogs from Francistown, North-East, Botswana, Africa

The next two days were full driving days as we made our way toward Kruger National Park in South Africa. Saturday we woke up early, packed up camp, and hit the road. I am easily carsick so I basically just listen to music and nap most of the time. I attempted to continue teaching friendship bracelets but that quickly made me feel nauseous. Ourcampsite this night felt like Santa Fe. Red dirt and cacti everywhere. There were outdoor bathrooms and showers. It was a nice enough campsite but hot. The pool was not so great so we posted up in the bar. Dinner was some kind of beef stew with veggies and rice. Since we were mostly hungover today we were somehow still tired. After dinner we snuggled up in our tent and watch an episode ... read more

The team have all gone thier separate ways. After all of our transport problems, the majority managed to return to Gaborone having paid over the odds for a combi arriving back in the Oasis motel at 11pm. Veronique flew home on Saturday to see her husband David before he flew off on business to Africa. Mike Stratford also flew out on Saturday, but he is spending some time in Zimbabwe coaching as well as taking in the sites at the Victoria Falls. The Reeves duo are staying behind in Botswana for another week, resting before travelling up north to Kasane and waving at Mike S from the Zambian side of the falls. As the Woodlands stopover is right off the beaten track, Veronika and I had debated whether to move to lodgings nearer the centre of ... read more

Francistown Cricket Club Fortunately suffering no after effects from the meal cooked in the dark by Veronique and Mike S, the team awoke to another scorching day and yet another different combi to take us to the Francistown Cricket Club. Even Mike R and Allan had recovered sufficiently and were raring to go. The ground has an astro turf wicket surrounded by a green outfield and the boundary is marked by painted tyres sunk into the dust. We waved to the pre-school children who were being taught in the pavilion, but their stern teacher soon put a stop to their excited replies. Expecting the same 23 teachers for a second day’s tutoring, we were a bit surprised to find that 31 turned up - perhaps the cricket message is spreading across Francistown. Clement, who is in ... read more

“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 ... read more

Hello everyone, Sorry it has been so long since we last wrote to you...time seems to have flown!! We are now feeling very at home in Francistown and even our room has become quite cosy. The hostel we are staying at is really lovely and the staff look after us loads! They were worrying so much when we went away this weekend, nice to know they are watching out for us!! Our routine now is arriving in hospital for the 7.30am meeting then off to the wards for the ward round. Myself and Amy are on peadiatrics at the moment and Jemma and Fiona are on Infectious diseases. On peads we are able to help out on the ward round doing lots of the little jobs and often worryingly being asked things the doctors should really ... read more