(Breakfast at our camp site: Nata Lodge, Botswana)

After eating we pack up and set out for Francistown. Information about the best route from Francistown through northeastern Botswana to South Africa was lacking while the trip was being planned in the US. This was important because it did not appear that there were many places to stay overnight in this section of Botswana and it was difficult to estimate how long it might take to get to our next destination in South Africa -- Kruger National Park. We have reservations at Punda Maria Rest Camp in Kruger and at an intermediate stopover at Dongola Ranch near Messina. We have allowed three days to drive to Punda Maria because I have learned not to underestimate distances and times in Africa.

Once again the GPS and the excellent software from Tracks4Africa are invaluable for answering questions that the maps and guidebooks could not. We learn first-hand that this section of Botswana is very prosperous and the roads excellent. After shopping for groceries in Francistown and refueling we decide to set out for Selebi-Phikwe. Our plan has been to sleep in the truck if necessary -- but we have learned that the thought of just stopping along the road and setting up a makeshift camp is enough to make Will or any South African cringe. The truck might attract the wrong sort of attention because it suggests affluence (relatively speaking) although our "kit" was decidedly middle-of-the-road -- car camping being a very popular pastime here (see the comments about the American West below).

(Traffic and stores in Francistown: northeastern Botswana gives a visitor a strong sense of prosperity and modernity)

The excellent roads are paved and in good repair the entire distance. We decide to stay at the Syringa Lodge in Selebi-Phikwe. We are provided rooms readily without reservations. Will is eager to take Jeff to the Spur Restaurant at the Lodge: the American West motif is a lot of fun for Will and me. We try to understand (and have some fun with Jeff while deconstructing) the African take on this bit of US history and it is notable that native American symbols (rather than "pioneer") predominate. There are a lot of parallels (at least on a superficial level) in the history of the US and southern Africa -- but in a Spur (a familiar chain in southern Africa) the decorations feature local versions of native American themes. The story of native Americans has resonance here, and not just among black Africans but among white Africans too.

The menu is a version of what you might find in the US at a mid-range restaurant chain: we like the salad bar -- a rarity here where meat is all-important. And allow me to add -- in a little bit of pop cultural observation -- that the decorations are fanciful at best and are similar to what you might see in a European movie about the American West (Winnetou again).

We are not sure about the status of the mine or mines in Selebi-Phikwe but our sense is that it is in operation and contributing to the obvious economic well-being here. We have now also come to understand that the town is near an area (the Tuli Block) that contains a number of lodges and game preserves that cater to the well-to-do. But we are very tired by the long hours on the road and preoccupied because Will has lost his appetite for dinner and apart from his fatigue is definitely ill. So exploring the town and the local area is "out".

Because he does not seem to be acutely ill -- we decide to take a wait-and-see approach and we head back to our rooms.

Labels: Francistown, Nata Lodge, Selebi-Phikwe

¶ 10:29 AM 0 Comments

Thursday, December 28, 2006

(Things I Love -- Seriously -- About Botswana: Domestic Animals Have the Right-of-Way. This is the Nata Lodge camp ground but could be anywhere.)

After cooking breakfast we chatted with our neighbors in the camp site -- two couples from South Africa traveling on motorcycles. They explain their fearless approach to pot holes, cattle and other road hazards. I am still awed. They are very friendly and interested in us as American tourists.

We replenish our supplies and decide to get the truck washed before going to the bird sanctuary and the Sowa Pan. The ladies of the Faith Hair Salon and Carwash perform a miracle and we leave Nata with our vehicle gleaming inside and out. Despite the filthy condition of the exterior -- they cleaned it without ruining the clothing they were wearing. This was all the more remarkable because they were dressed not as workers in a car wash but as operators of a beauty salon. And on that day the car wash part of the operation was booming and the beauty salon was languishing.

The Sowa Pan is our first trip to this type of landscape in Botswana. Due to the season it is hard to get a glimpse of bird or animal in this location. Water is too plentiful due to recent rain and it is the land form itself that ends up providing the interest. Having made our way on a sand track through a screen of trees we entered the Pan itself. It is a vast sea of knee-high grass from horizon to horizon broken by an occasional bald area of salt and gray-white sand. I slowly meander on the sand tracks until it is clear that we are seemingly alone here. With the light failing (and not wishing to exhaust everyone's tolerance for sitting in the truck cab) we made our way back to the Lodge.

Once there we cooked dinner and arranged our camp site for the night.

Labels: Nata Lodge, Sowa Pan

¶ 2:45 PM 0 Comments

(Mokoros at the landing on Bovu Island -- in the background is the car park on the Zambia side of the Zambezi)

We are up early having arranged to drive out with Ian and Ruth and the South African family. I am sorry to leave Bovu Island but we must push on. The South Africans opt for the Mopane road while we prefer to follow Ian out through the village road. This simplifies the trip a great deal and turns out to add very little to the length of the trip back to the main road. There we pump up the tires on the truck, bid farewell to Ian and Ruth and set out for the ferry across the Zambezi at Kazangula.

At the turnoff for Kazangula (on the main road) I am stopped by a policeman. They ask to see my "third party insurance" and the papers I produce fail to get me through this time. I am informed that I must go to the police station in Kazangula. I offer a seat in the cab of the truck (being used to this by now) but this offer is declined and the policeman gestures toward a cab that he intends to take to Kazangula. At that moment the cab pulls away and so do I -- leaving the policeman standing in the road.

Upon arriving in Kazangula, I inquire of the customs people as to this latest demand and am told to simply get in line after paying up and getting our visas and passports stamped. "Did they have black belts or white belts?" The gist was that if they had black belts they were authentic policemen and white belts possible impostors. "Just get on the ferry directly and leave the country." And this we did after paying one more demand for "local taxes" from a kind of ferry attendant/traffic director and dickering with a very forlorn money changer. My son drove a hard bargain -- I am afraid this man bore the brunt of his frustration with all of the touts, dubious police, and sundry street people of the past few days.

(The ferry at Kazangula: the truck spattered with mud from the Mopane road)

Kasane turns out to be a prosperous town and Botswana itself a real contrast to Zambia. We passed through customs and were admitted quickly as the simple tourists we are. Planning to camp at Nata, we buy groceries at Checkers and Jeff uses the internet cafe in the same shopping center. Having regained our bearings we set out for Nata. Further down the A33 we are passed by Ian and Ruth who had also spent time in Kasane. We happily followed them as far as the turnoff to Pandamatenga. We say good bye again to Ian and Ruth -- they want to stop and do some birdwatching and camp there for the night before going on to Otse where they live. We press on toward Nata.

Ian proves to be correct about the road. There are lots of elephants near it and on it. We did not leave enough time having allowed Jeff his time on the internet in Kasane and soon it is fully dark. We finish the last 90 minutes or so on the road avoiding people, elephants, cattle, and potholes before we finally reach the Nata Lodge. We find our camp site but arriving after dark when the Lodge is fully booked is not recommended. We had a reservation of sorts -- I had called from the States -- and had been reassured about availability -- but I think we got the very last site available. There is a camp site at the Nata Bird Sanctuary but the only other alternative accommodations are in Gweta at Planet Baobab approximately 100 km. to the west on the A3 (Maun - Francistown Road). We tried to make as little noise as possible setting up our tents and we ate in the restaurant rather than trying to prepare our own food. The bush babies that are well-known visitors to the Lodge made their appearance in a tree above us.

(Twilight on the A33 on the way to Nata -- an elephant browses at the side of the road)

Labels: Kasane, Kazangula, Nata Lodge

¶ 3:49 PM 0 Comments