Blogs from Botswana, Africa - page 65

We got up late, well rested and full of energy for the day ahead. We went into town (or village perhaps) to have a look around and to buy some food and alcohol for the afternoon's cruise. We saw a sign saying 'Hot Bread Shop' and followed the arrows hungrily (bread is not up to much here on the whole). Next door to the bread shop was something even better - a deli selling the sort of things you'd find in Waitrose and loads of nice South African wines. We spent a 'kitty' fortune in there, and it was almost all gone just a few hours later. Everything from peanuts and pickled onions to a selection of cheeses and over a litre of wine per person (and that included people who only drank beer). It was ... read more

We spent the morning hanging around the campsite, and at 11:30 Ed decided to catch a taxi into town. The first hurdle was that the phone line in the campsite office was dead. So Ed borrowed the manager's mobile to call for a taxi, following instructions to "walk down the track until you come to a huge termite mound and climb the tree next to it" in order to get a signal. That half worked and in between crackles it sounded as if a taxi was on its way. Half an hour later Ed borrowed the same phone and climbed the same tree, only to hear that the phone had run out of minutes. More time went by until the campsite manager realised that his landline phone could call other landlines, just not mobiles. So he ... read more

The town of Maun, and in fact the whole of Botswana's tourism industry, owes a lot to the Okavango Delta. The Okavango River starts in Angola, crosses the Caprivi Strip in north-eastern Namibia and eventually empties itself in what's called the Okavango Delta. The Kalahari is next door, so all this water attracts a lot of wildlife. We had the option of a 2 night/3day excursion into the delta, travelling by traditional pole-driven canoes called Makoros. For one reason or another, including the attraction of a bit of peace and quiet whilst the majority of our group went off on the excursion, we decided to remain at the campsite and take a closer look at Maun. So early in the morning we waved goodbye to most of our new friends before enjoying our first leisurely breakfast ... read more

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 ... read more

As we rushed down from Gaborone to celebrate New Years Eve in Cape Town, we had been arrested by Karma police a mere hours drive before the big city in the small town of Worcester - and sentenced to a 10-day meditation course. Therefore I sat in silence on my small meditation cushion, contemplating, focusing. Around me were 35 other meditators, all doing their best trying not to move, not to look, not to plan for the future, and not to drift into the past but to follow the teacher’s instructions and be in the present moment. Often I would catch my mind wandering far away from the meditation technique and I would then patiently try to bring my mind back on track - observing - not reacting - realising. At times I would allow my ... read more