Blogs from Botswana, Africa - page 59

So a very small part of me regrets not keeping up with my TB whilst away, a larger part of me however spent a lot of time being very rude about people who were obsessive over blog keeping. So now I find myself once again stuck at home alone and very bored, so I thought i'd give my brain some exercise and start typing up my blog...if anyone has any other ideas please send them to me! Anyway. I arrived in Botswana having spent the best part of three weeks in Zimbabwe, it will come as no suprise to anybody who has visited Zimbabwe of late that the first order of business was visiting a supermarket in Kasane, Botswanas version of a border town (albeit an hour from the border) I experienced a similair head spinning ... read more

BOTSWANA PART I LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE STAY SEATED A whistle blows, an engine starts and a large pulley begins to turn. Now we are swinging above the Limpopo River, leaving the paved roads of South Africa behind and gliding in a suspended open basket towards the verdant riverbank in Botswana. In 1966 there were only 3 kilometers of paved roads in the entire country of Botswana. There are still none where we are going. The swollen Limpopo River is flowing brown and thick between its electric green banks. It’s so full that the behemoth Toyota Land Cruiser, the one that usually fords the river with ease, has to wait on the other side. We have to cross in a little wire cage pulled through the air by a thick cable. There is only a frontier ... read more

17th December - a month tomorrow since we left home. Seems forever and only yesterday!! The border with Botswana is only 30 minutes away from the campsite and once there the formalities are quickly done - though we also have to go through disinfectant troughs - precautions against foot & mouth which decimated the countries livestock some years ago. A quick provision stop in Kasane - quite a busy town and then onto our site and an afternoon game drive in Chobe NP. Went in open jeeps with high hopes of seeing loads of elephants. Eventually saw a group of about 10 just before we had to leave! One of them got pretty agitated with our presence and came very close to the jeep with ears flapping and trunk up! Got a good photo of it. ... read more

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We flew from Windhoek to Maun, which is pronounced "Mow-oon", on Sunday in a little eighteen seater plane. The pilots gave us our lunch before we got on board, and we could see into the cockpit for the whole flight over the empty desert of Namibia and Botswana. I spent much of the journey singing "Fly me to Maun, let me reach for Botswana". By the time we arrived I believe Gemma was ready to kill me. On arrival we had a two hour drive through the Botswana countryside, passing through the occasional settlement of rondavel mud huts with thatched roofs, and slowing every now and again to escape the attentions of a passing group of donkeys, goats or cows. We were heading to a place called "Leroo La Tau", which means "The Lion's Footprint" in ... read more