Blogs from Botswana, Africa - page 56

Kasane town 6km from the border crosssing into Zambia. I should be in Livingstone tomorrow. Northern Botswana has been hard work, yet satisfying when I look at the map. It also gave me my first 200km ride between towns: nata to panda and because of the closed in bush, the wind was for a change in my favour, or reduced. It did take 11hours. I've now seen elephants and giraffes in the wild. The poor road conditions also meant the trailer nuts came loose and a wheel bounced off. Still, otherwise, the rattle frightens most animals away. I was warned about the possibility of lions, but soon realised that they kept away from the road. Open savana with high grass though still made me look ahead and across the pans. In all, better to cycle Botswana ... read more

I slept like a log and, like a log, I was covered in insects. I awoke at 06h15 and could see lots of the tiny critters all over my sheets and pillow. Worse still, my shoulders were covered in mosquito bites and I had bites in places I didn’t realise I had. Of course, like any gentleman, I’d used precautions, but no-one had bothered to tell the mosquitoes that they were supposed to stay outside the net! I was not a happy bunny and quickly got up and stood under a hot shower in a vain effort to rid my rather handsome frame of all unwanted animal life. Making a token effort at drying myself, I got dressed, grabbed a book and went and sat out in the early morning sun. Not having any luggage meant ... read more

I didn’t sleep last night. I know that because I heard every marula fruit within a hundred yards of me leaving the trees and landing on the corrugated iron roofs. I also know that the genets were having a talent show and the local troupe had donned their clogs and were dancing up and down the roof of my lodge to Offenbach’s famous Can-Can. I just wasn’t sure why they’d chosen last night for their revue; Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof would have been more appropriate and at least my sleepless night would have been worth the irony. And now, it was still dark and the alarm was reminding me that we’d agreed to be up at 06h00 in order to view the early morning animals. To be totally honest, I really didn’t ... read more

Another beautiful African morning dawned and I was up again at 06h45 in order to go and explore the local bush for signs of early morning wildlife. My fellow traveller had had the remarkable good fortune in capturing the moment a ground squirrel popped its head out of its burrow but I was having no such luck. Capturing the sunrise through the trees was a poor second best and so I headed off to a breakfast of yoghurt, cornflakes, coffee and eggs instead. After spending a great deal of time packing up my belongings (ok, I wrapped up my wash items in their carrier bag), I went out into the sun and put my bag into the back of the truck. Brian and Jill had more to pack than I did (let’s face it, I’ve seen ... read more

Maun, Botswana. It's an interesting town with some smart shops and a vitality about it. For once the corrugated shacks have been replaced with some nice small huts and bushman huts. I get the feeling there's a lot of employment here. That gives people money and that makes them happy, although Botswanans are generally happy people from waht I've experienced. I decided to take the road through Botswana - Gobabis, Ghanzi, Maun, Gweta, Nata and Kasane. It's a long straight road, an endless road and I just count off the 10km markers, which in general take about 33minutes to complete with the constant headwind that knocks me back. Lately around 3pm it tends to switch sideways. Still, at least the road is tarred all the way. The weather has turned hot again and I found 10 ... read more