Blogs from Botswana, Africa - page 14

Geo: -23.4644, 24.2135This morning we woke up at 5am and packed a few last minute items into the car and then left the lodge at 5:30am. It took us just under an hour to drive through the park. Strangely enough we didn't see any animals on the drive. We exited the park through Abjaterskop Gate. It was a short drive to the Botswana border. We passed through all the border checks very quickly and easily. For once we honestly had nothing to declare as we were buying all our food in Gaborone. A little bit after 7am we got to the mall in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. Here we were to buy our food for the next 6 days. Unfortunately the supermarket – Pick n Pay did not open until 8am, so we had breakfast ... read more

Dumêlarra (greetings in Setswana) and welcome to Botswana! Besides the semi-arid climate, parts of Gaborone, Botswana's small capital city, could be Western European in terms of its development. It’s a unique place in Africa and a big part of the academic motivation for traveling here. Botswana had been an extremely poor country prior to the discovery of diamonds (3rdpoorest country in the world at the time of their independence), but has since sustained high GDP growth rates for more than 30 years and is one of the wealthiest countries in Africa. Within economic development research, there is a well-known pattern that resource rich countries have generally struggled to utilize this wealth to develop the country, often getting funneled to few powerful individuals and often leading to extreme inequality, instability and conflict. The notable exceptions to this ... read more

5.01. 18:22 nach 12 Stunden Fahrt sind wir nun endlich in unserer Campsite in Livingstone angekommen. Der ursprüngliche Plan nach Zimbabwe zu fahren wurde verworfen, nachdem der Reiseführer davon strikt mit Unheil verheissenden Begriffen wie "Kriminalität" und "Raub" davon abgeraten hat. Alternativ wurde die Route Maun- Kasane gewählt. Da es aber die letzten Tage nur geschüttet hat riet uns unser Nachbarscamper (Namibianaer) davon ab "you can't pass the rivers and even if you could you would need 3 days for 300 "k"!" - Also blieb anstatt der 300km "offroad" nur noch Alternative die 729km parallel zur zwischen Botswana und Zimbabwe verlaufenden Grenze zurückzulegen. Also wünschten wir den neu gewonnenen namibischen Freunden eine gute Nacht, stellten den Wecker auf halb 6 und zogen uns in unser Domizil zurück. Der die ganze Nacht erbarmungslos auf unser Zelt trommelnde ... read more

The usual group of “helpful” men surrounded us as we pulled up at the Zambian border post. I brushed off the offers of help, and scoffed at the threat that I would not be able to exchange Zambian Kwatcha once in Botswana. There was no reception on my phone to check the exchange rate, and I wasn't about to trust the money-changers' "best rate". The only thing was that they were right, once we got into Botswana I couldn't exchange my Kwatcha anywhere. In the end I rode back to the border from where we were staying, and aware of the irony of the situation started pestering a line of people leaving Botswana by offering a competitive rate for the exchange of Pula to Kwatcha... Before the realisation that I might be stuck with my Kwatcha, ... read more

Back on the road again and back to Africa again, this time further south than previously. Another whistle-stop tour encompassing some of the highlights (to me at least) of South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The main aim of this trip was to tick 3 things off my bucket list, swimming with Manta Rays (and hopefully whale sharks), going on safari to the Okavango Delta in Botswana and to go Cage Diving with Great White Sharks, the rest of the trip is a bit of an adventure getting between these places. I could have taken the easy route and caught flights, but the cost would have been extortionate ( there are very few bargain air routes in southern Africa) and it would be too easy, the other option would be to go on Overland Tour, but ... read more