Blogs from North-East, Botswana, Africa
March 16th 2012
Landlocked Botswana offers extremes in environment and diversity of landscape, which is like nothing else in Africa. The size of this interesting country is roughly the same size as France, 70% of the diverse area is desert and the number of population just reaching two millions. After our crossing Zimbabwe/Botswana border we were dropped in middle of the desert at Chobe National Park with the wild animals around us. Just few hundred meters in front of us a self-confident elephant was crossing the sandy desert road, some odd noise in the savanna grassland made us nervous, few antelopes were hiding from the afternoon extreme heat etc. When we crossed the non touristic border it seemed that we got lost as we felt on our own. Now we understood why all the guide books and nice locals ... read more
May 10th 2011
The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Swamp), in Botswana, is the world's largest inland delta. It is formed where the Okavango River empties onto a swamp in an endorheic basin in the Kalahari Desert, where most of the water is lost to evaporation and transpiration instead of draining into the sea. Each year approximately 11 cubic kilometres of water irrigate the 15,000 km² area and some flood-waters drain into Lake Ngami. The Moremi Game Reserve, a National Park, spreads across the eastern side of the delta. The Okavango delta is both a permanent and seasonal home to a wide variety of wildlife which is now a popular tourist attraction. Species include African Bush Elephant, African Buffalo, Hippopotamus, Lechwe, Topi, Blue Wildebeest, Giraffe, Nile crocodile, Lion, Cheetah, Leopard, Brown Hyena, Spotted Hyena, Greater Kudu, Sable Antelope, Black Rhinoceros, ... read more
December 18th 2010
Here we are in the busy town of Maun - which we have been pronoucing completely wrong - as it is "maOOn"! We have had a long journey to get here from London, leaving rainy, cold England on a packed underground to Heathrow on Wed Dec 15, and then flying to Frankfurt. The plane was 1 hour late so when we got to Frankfurt we had to rush to the departure gate to Johonnesburg. We didnt know if we were going to make it so we ran was fast as we could, little did we know that we had to actually wait for some important "guests" and ended up waiting in our seats for an hour or more without moving. The flight was excellent on Lufthansar, and we arrived in Johanesburg on time. The lady of ... read more
A view from beyond the boundary
Published: November 1st 2010Africa » Botswana » North-East » Francistown
November 1st 2010
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
Around Botswana in 80 combis
Published: October 30th 2010Africa » Botswana » North-East » Francistown
October 30th 2010
Thursday saw us waking up to another beautiful day. After a very sociable breakfast we suddenly heard the sound of an engine. One look at the watch almost knocked us out - the combi was on time. Not used to this, we were not ready. Some members of the team who were in various stages of getting dressed rushed to get into the vehicle while it was available. In the last few days we’d learned that combis are a precious commodity and if it’s there, take it. We coached at a teacher training college. As soon as we arrived, the security guard jogged to lock the gate to the sports ground. That mean that we were stranded with all our kit wondering what was there to be stolen. To add to our good morning mood (some ... read more
Tuesday and Wednesday summary
Published: October 29th 2010Africa » Botswana » North-East » Francistown
October 29th 2010
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
October 29th 2010
It was another night of raw experience and emotions for WM-C, myself and the Meerkat as we continue to return to our roots and kip on the floor out here in the wilds of the sub-Saharan bush. Slumber was rudely interrupted early in the morning by intruders making breakfast at the foot of the bed, but after a comfortable night tucked up in bed the European pansies were all pretty hungry. In a remarkable turn of events, our transport actually turned up close to the agreed time, therefore slightly reducing the risk of our team leader suffering an aneurism before we fly home. Unfortunately my communication with the big man upstairs did not get through last night, as he had failed to turn down the dial on the radiator in the sky. Balls of fire ... read more
July 13th 2010
“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
July 8th 2010
Setting up a new travelblog is always a good sign......a flash of some journey and adventure about to commence.This one is not quite as extensive or "exotic" as the big one to Australia in 2009 but, nevertheless,a trip into the Caprivi(Namibia)and then the western reserves of Botswana,somehow gets the pulse racing!The journey effectively starts on Saturday 10th July when the trusty Toyota Fortuner crosses into Botswana at Martin's Drift.No sleeping quarters indoors as was the case with "Washongi" in Australia but hey...this is Africa and the idea is to sleep as close to that carpet of stars as possible.So we have a "Howling Moon" roof top tent straddling the Fortuner roof and providing protection to Susan who has never quite developed much love for some of the creatures of the African bush.....in particular elephants.No shortage of ... read more
July 20th 2009
Shashe Bible Training College It was an amazing feeling driving into the Bible College after so many years! It had been raining and there was green grass everywhere! To arrive 'ka pula' (with rain) is a real blessing and we did feel blessed to be back after so many years away! We checked out our old house, the swimming pool, workshop, the Bible College buidings and met up with Dave Long who was there with some AEC (Africa Evangelical Church) young people on a conference. I took a photo of Colin and the boys outside Comrades' House. This dormitory block was built using donations from Colin and a group of runners who completed the Comrades' marathon in South Africa. It was great to catch up with MmaSepunki, who had worked for us for many years and ... read more
