Botswana Chapter 1

Crossing Borders


Wow! This trip was something I had never thought I would have the privilege to take.

Hubby had been told a few months before that he needed to get his passport in order as this job would necessitate him having to travel to neighbouring countries, as I did not have a passport either we decided that I may as well get mine too, I never expected to actually use it.

Towards the end of June hubby came home and told me that he would have to leave for Botswana on the 4th of July. As he had someone working with him I would not be joining him for this trip.

Fate, destiny, call it what we may had other plans. The company informed hubby that he only had to be in Botswana on the 8th and the person going with him only applied for his passport on the 2nd.

I WAS GOING TO BOTSWANA!

The plan was that we would leave on Sunday the 7th, the other guy would pick his passport up on the 9th and then travel from Johannesburg to Gaborone by bus on the 10th at which point I would return ( also by bus ) to Johannesburg.

With much excitement and trepidation I spent the next few days arranging for the neighbours to take care of the " kids ", packing, repacking and......... repacking.

The shopping list was growing as friends warned that we would not be able to take any food stuffs over the border.......

On a beautiful sunny Sunday morning we were on our way. We had to drive through Lichtenburg en route so made that our pit stop........ my sister lives there so I called and told her to put the kettle on.

My brother-in-law had spent 6 months in Botswana so the pit stop was great as he gave us a lot of useful info.

After a lot of hugs, kisses and drive safes we finally began the final leg of our trip.

Just before the border post messages were sent to everyone that we would now be " offline " as our phones etc would not work there.

Being first time border crossers we were bundles of nerves and excitement. Passports were shown, vehicle registration documents, rands had to be exchanged for pula to pay border fees, cellphones, laptops and cameras had to be taken apart to find the serial numbers as everything had to be declared.

All went well and the border staff on both sides were very friendly and helpful.

Our story will now have a few chapters as we go along and so as not to lose our readers I will only reminisce about the funny, not so funny and damn near heart attack moments, the rest I'll fill in with photos which tell a story of their own.

Border - Gaborone - Palapye

Not so funny - we arrived in Gaborone............................... and realised we had not booked any accommodation!  We were in a foreign country, foreign city and to top it off............ no working cellphones. 

 Mission 1 - find a shopping mall and buy a sim card, this was accomplished but getting the darn network to register and allow us to make calls turned into a few more grey hairs for hubby who being a techno geek could not get the darn phone to work..........

Mission 2 - find a pub where hubby could get a beer to calm down and we could sit down and sort the phone, tablet, something out to work. This was achieved by using Squirly ( the GPS ).
Bull and Bush it was, hubby ordered a Windhoek draught and almost choked when he found out it cost P40................. I'd stick to coke.

Mission 3 - find accommodation, it was now late afternoon and starting to rain. Thankfully hubby's phone and tablet were now working and thanks to our very friendly and helpful waiter Oscar we found accommodation right across the road.

No great shakes but clean and affordable and David the owner's son was very helpful.

Cannot remember the name of the place

Room

Room

Outside view of room

Outside view of ablutions

Ablutions

 Wednesday arrived and the person that was meant to join hubby had still not received his passport................ not a good thing as his bus ticket had to be booked and paid for 24 hours before departure ( mine too ).  Hubby had also finished the stores in Gabs and had to start heading north, not ideal but with no choice hubby decided that he would have to head north the following morning.  He made the call to the person back home to tell him that he would not be able to do the trip as time was now against hubby and he could not wait another day.

Now.................... the new adventurer in me was jumping up and down for joy, doing cartwheels and all that jazz as now she would get to stay and see more of Botswana...................... the typical female in me was coughing, spluttering and having heart failure................ she had only packed enough clothing for three days. 

Before leaving Gabs hubby had to do a store in Molepolole.  We attempted to go and see one of the historical sites while in that area but abandoned the thought halfway as the dirt roads were not ideal for my little Blue Bird.

I did however see a sight that had me creating all sorts of tales for myself as I had never seen a graveyard so unusual.

Roadside Graveyard

We spent our last evening in Gabs treating ourselves to a lovely meal at the Bull and Bush which we would recommend highly, the food was great and the staff and management were very friendly and helpful.  We then headed off to the place whose name I cannot remember for a good nights sleep before the rest of our adventure began the next morning.

Best steak ever!

Map of Botswana

I've inserted a map of Botswana so that you can refer to it as I mention the towns and village as we progress forth on our adventure.

Right, to get back on track...............

We left Gaborone early on Thursday morning, our first port of call was Mochudi, then Mahalapye with our stop over for the night being in Palapye.

I was amazed at the amount of cattle and donkeys we came across en route, these livestock being used for both income and transport.

Railway crossing in Gaborone

Sunrise leaving Gaborone

Moo Moos

We pulled off the road to take the six photos above, this was the largest flock of vultures we had ever seen.

More moo moos

Donkey Carts

We arrived in Palapye just after lunch, hubby attended to the store he had to see and we then proceeded to find our accommodation for the night which I had booked en route.

                                     Camp Itumela was easy to find, they had unique signage ( such as the wheelbarrow above ) and the person that designed them definitely had a good sense of humor ( see photo directly above ).

Camp Itumela

We were given one of the pre-erected tents for the night, after booking in, paying and unpacking the car hubby headed off faster than a bat out of hell to find an ice cold beer while I headed off to snap away.

I then joined hubby at the bar and decided to have a beer ( which normally I detest ) but was determined to experience as much as I could of this beautiful country............ even their beer.

We met the manager David and his assistant manager Salim, two really great people. We were made to feel welcome from the first second.

Salim

Unfortunately David was to camera shy to let me take a photo.

We retired to our tent to have a well deserved rest. Early evening feeling refreshed we returned to the pub to enjoy a lovely meal and good company.

Dinner is served.

Hubby and company

Snake skin

Roosting turkeys


As the saying goes in afrikaans " magies vol, ogies toe " we thanked our hosts for a lovely evening and headed off to our tent to get a good nights' sleep before another early morning departure.

Three 'o clock in the morning........................ and I was ready to commit rooster murder!

Somewhere behind our tent a rooster had been crowing since one 'o clock, either his internal clock was way off, he suffered from insomnia or he desperately wanted to become Sunday roast!

By five 'o clock I gave up trying to go back to sleep, made a cup of coffee and went to sit on the step outside the tent.

Murphy!! The feathered fiend had obviously tired himself out and the dark morning was now eerily quiet and there I was wide awake.  Oh well, may as well shower and dress, I headed for the showers, by the time I got out there were a few more ladies discussing various ways of slaughtering and cooking the rooster - the entire camp had been kept awake all night.

While doing all the things ladies do in front of a mirror we started chatting, the ladies I had met were on their way back to Johannesburg with their families, they had been all the way up North ( we were yet to get there ) and were very glad to be heading home as they were looking very much forward to a hot bath and their own beds................ words I would recall a week from now.........................

By the time I got back to the tent hubby was also up and over a cup of coffee we discussed more recipes on how to cook a rooster!

After loading Blue Bird and zipping up the tent we continued on our adventure.

Although we had been kept up for most of the night by the rooster/roast chicken wannabe we would highly recommend that you visit Camp Itumela, Salim and David were extremely friendly and helpful, the food and atmosphere was great and the accommodation and ablutions were comfortable and spotless:  www.campitumela.com

Our rating:  * * * * *