Botswana traveling

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So I've been traveling in Botswana now for two weeks. I've come across some interesting travel methods.

I left Lusaka on an overnight bus. I must say that the Lusaka bus station was much friendlier at 10PM than it was at 7AM. At 7AM everyone wants to direct me to a Livingstone bound bus, whether that is where I'm going or not. I'm white, I must be going to Livingstone. If they don't want to do that, they want to change money for you. At night, I got asked for a few cabs and one guy asked if I knew where he could sell diamonds. At 6AM on Wednesday morning I'm waiting in line at the Zambia/Botswana border waiting for immigration to open.

Around noonish I get dropped in Nata where I wait for a Maun bound bus. The first bus that comes by is full… standing room only. There might be another bus in an hour or two (it could be standing room as well). So I take the first bus and stand for 4 hours on a bus to Maun.

Traveling in Botswana is slow, even on tarred roads. The are immeasurable stops. The obvious ones are the police and veterinary checkpoints. But less obvious is that fact that animals rule the roost. You have to stop for donkeys wandering down the road, cattle crossing or laying in the road, goats doing who knows what, and yes, occasionally elephants crossing the road. From what I hear from other travelers, giraffes as well, but I never saw any on the road. I think Botswana has the market cornered on donkeys. I have never seen so many in my life.

That is what happens on the tarred roads. Gravel/sand/dirt roads are another adventure. They are frought with the same perals as the tarred road. Now you also have monster potholes and ruts.

To get to Seronga, I started on a bus to Sepopa. From Sepopa I have two options, take a boat for 100pula or hitchhike/bus to Shakawe, take the ferry across the river and hitchhike down to Seronga. I took option B. Got picked up within an hour and got a ride to Shakawe. I then waited for 1.5 hours before a car came by the ferry that was going to Seronga. I had been adviced to not cross on the ferry until you had your ride, so that is what I did. This car was a Toyota Hi-Lux, a pickup slightly smaller than a Tacoma. There were 14 of us and luggage packed in the back. Luckily it was mostly kids. It is about 100Kms to Seronga and it took us 4 hours. Coming back I had better luck. I got picked up by a land development vehicle. It had a camper top and the driver through a mattress in the back for the two of us that were back there. Of course all advantages have a price. This guy flew down the road. I can't remember how many times a pothole literally trough me into the air. I couldn't help but laugh. It took us <2 hours to get to the ferry though.

Don't worry hitchhiking in Botswana is safe. Everybody does it. Government vehicles are supposed to pick up hitchhikers and they can't charge. Normal people often charge. It cost me 25pula to get to Seronga and coming back was free. Not so bad.

So this afternoon, I'm going to try out Air Botswana. Yes, I'm getting into a plane. Later I land in Jo-burg and then hope flight for Toronto. I will be in Atlanta on Jan. 23rd. On the 16th of Feb I return to Jo-burg and I'm off to Namibia. The reason for the vacation from my vacation. My mom turns 65 this Febuary. I'm actually coming home for that. I just extended my original 10 day plan to just over a month so I could visit with friends. So don't expect to hear much from me again until I return to Namibia.

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Comments

[Brian Kullberg]

Mike still on the road & its 2007
Mike - keeping it going man! You have been on the road for a long time, how cool. No reason to stop, ride it out til GW is gone from office. - Brian in P-land