Going to a Fresh Country, Botswana, with Seven Fresh Faces

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May 31st

The temperatures are dropping each morning we head south, and this particular morning was one of the first that I actually noticed and heeded to the cold. It was also this morning that we had seven new faces added to the trip to Cape Town. There were three couples joining us down, firstly is Bridget and Paul, she’s from South Africa and he’s from New Zealand. They have a friend traveling with them and he is half English and half Welsh, hence the name Dafydd, pronounced Davith. Another couple is David and Kelly, from South Africa and New Zealand, basically the reverse of the aforementioned couple! Then there is the all English couple, Luke and Hayley. The new group was formed that morning while the Southbound Six drank tea and chatted amongst them. We had actually met most of them the previous nights at JollyBoys Hostel, apart from Luke and Hayley.

Side story: I found Carlos the Chameleon in the truck that morning, (where I had left him) and was planning on taking him with us to Botswana. I turned my back for half a minute and Justin, Cameron and Maya took it upon themselves to liberate him! That’s all fine and dandy except noone told me this until we made camp that night, so that got a good chuckle while I looked for him in the truck the whole drive to the campsite! Heartless!!

Anyways, the plan was to head to the border, actually known as the Four Borders…or maybe I made that name up. Basically it is a border from where you can enter one of four countries, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. It’s a pretty chaotic border but we survived the ordeal, or perhaps I should say that Farron survived all the paperwork and hassle to get us on the ferry and over to Botswana.

After crossing into Botswana we made our way to Kasane. We would be camping along the Chobe River just down the road, and we had to pick up lunch and groceries for dinner. I was able to find myself a Botswana SIM card for the phone so I could receive and make calls to the US of A. With the dinner shopping done we headed to the campsite.

Now this wasn’t exactly your typical campsite, it was actually located on the compound of a 5 star resort. I wasn’t complaining even though the tourists around were pretty tacky, Germans and Americans alike dressed in zebra and leopard patterned outfits were a bit of a distraction from the river though! I did meet a local guy, a dude named BK, he was the tech computer guy for all the resorts in the area and we got along well. It was nice to meet a local and get an opinion on everything from that point of view.

After taking care of business on the internet, (and blogging for you, Dear Reader) I made my way over to the camp where dinner was ready. The gang had prepared another dinner using the potjie and it smelt like heaven in a witch’s cauldron. We all chowed down and then in typical fashion drank a few beers and had a few laughs. I ran into a familiar face as the gang was dispersing to bed, Estela and her Spanish friends were at the campsite for the night before they headed to Namibia to do more humanitarian work. We had a couple drinks and showed each other photos before calling it a night.

June 1st

The next day began in the same routine, except it was an early early start. I slept in the truck because I couldn’t be bothered to wake up before the rooster and put away my tent, so I got a few extra Z’s in while the others had their tea and toast.

We began the long 650 kilometer drive south to Maun, Botswana after everyone was bundled up and ready for the journey. To be completely honest I slept most of the way, in a cocoon-like state in my sleeping bag, only waking up a couple times an hour to see what landscape I was missing out on. Around noon we made our lunch stop and enjoyed a chicken schwarma at a fastfood joint called Barcelos. (I especially like the photo that has the chicken walking in front of the chicken joint, kudos to Wendy for the idea!!).

Soo after filling our stomachs with meat that resembled the taste of chicken we headed for Maun. The drive was a direct shot to the city, flat and boring and seemed to take an eternity. I felt bad for Farron for all the driving he had to do but at least Nicio kept him company in the cab of the truck for the remaining part of the drive. Since the next day we would all be heading into the Okavango Delta for a two night/three day camping adventure, we had to get a lot of dinner shopping done that day when we arrived to Maun. After getting all the necessary supplies and food we headed to the Sitatunga Campsite on the outskirts of the Botswanan city.

We all situated ourselves at the campsite nicely and before we knew it dinner was ready. One of the employee’s from Delta Rain (the company that would take us into the delta) came and talked with us about what to expect over the next few days. If you get a chance try and take a look at aerial photos of the Okavango Delta, (or just wait until I upload my photos from the scenic flight that we took after the camping trip). So with everyone briefed on the trip, we sat around the fire and talked about the upcoming adventure. Everyone was excited even though we knew that animals, particularly the “Big Five”, wouldn’t really be seen on the trip into the delta.

Since we all had to wake up early once again we all got a good nights sleep shortly after packing for the trip.

Not too exciting the last few days so the photos aren’t amazing, but I hope you enjoy them and the entry!

Until next time, Pura Vida!

-Brendan

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