Blogs from Maun, North-West, Botswana, Africa - page 3

THE CONTENTS OF THIS BLOG ARE MINE PERSONALLY AND DO NOT REFLECT ANY POSITION OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT OR PEACE CORPS. I returned from IST (Peace Corps In-service training), head crammed full of all the wonderful activities that dedicated Peace Corps Volunteers accomplish, and, well okay, feeling a bit old and out of touch compared to these fast thinking, fast talking, world-saving youth that join the Peace Corps, apply to PhD programs and strategically plan additions to their resumes for the next decade. When I arrived back at site, I found a packet about GLOW Camp (GLOW is for Girls and Guys Leading Our World) just sitting in the school office looking innocuous and patiently awaiting my arrival. In my newbie Peace Corps Volunteer enthusiasm, I tore it open and begin reading the letter and rifling ... read more

Movin On Up OK, so Richard thought that neither of us got sick from that plane full of coughing people, but he was wrong. Today, Kayla was sick with a head cold. So we canceled our plans for the day and decided that lounging around Backpackers, especially in 40+ degree weather, was not a bad thing to do. So far it has been much hotter than we expected, and higher than average than what is usually expected at this time of year. Oh well, we chose to travel in the hot dry season, so that's what we got. Backpackers is right on the Thamalakane River, so not a bad place to lounge and watch the world go by. Mid-day, we called for a taxi and headed over to the Maun Lodge, where we were to meet ... read more

Off to Botswana We left Heathrow after a hectic taxi drive from Camden at Leanne and Brad's home. It only took 45 minutes but the route as difficult to remember. The flight was 11 hours of not much sleep - our neighbours all around in a constant fit of coughing. But no residual cold or worse - so far. Then a beautiful flight in a bright turbo prop with smart looking attendants. Then we found taxi after being challenged by no phones at the airport and arrived at our home for the next 4 days - Old Bridge Backpackers camp. Our tent was large, mosquito-proof and has an ensuite. We look out on the river but no hippos as the river is high and they have moved upstream. Compensated by lots of birds to see, photo ... read more

We left Zimbabawe on July 2th. I was verys sad the whole day. Zimbabwe might be my favorite country in the world, besides home of course! Going to Botswana, they have a very interesting procedure. You have to actually get out of the vehicle and walk across this dirty towel that is supposed to clean your shoes. I don't get it but you have to do it throughout the country. It is supposed to stop some kind of disease. The first twon we were in was called Kasane. The grocery stores were all fully stocked and business was as usual. You could tell that this country has not experienced the same hardship as Zimbabwe. We stayed at a camp just outside of Kasane, which was littered with cats. It made me miss Saydee and Little One ... read more

Journey to the end So after such an eventful easter weekend we set off again on the big yellow bus heading for Botswana. The heavy rains seen in Malawi had clearly been here because the roads were flooded and the border crossing into Bostwana was so far under water we had to take a boat. We stopped at a campsite that had been hit hard by the water, the actual campsites were flooded so we camped on the road and they had a temporary bar in place because the other one was out of bounds, there had even been sightings of crocodiles and hippos in the water. We progressed through to Maun, where we would eventually fly out of to make it to Johannesburg in time. We managed to grab a quick pudding at Nandos ... read more