Botswana Chapter 2

Palapye - Maun

Sunrise leaving Palapye

We had to make two stops en route to Maun - Serowe and Letlhakane.

The manager at the store in Serowe was great - once hubby had finished the installation he insisted we go to the little conference room at the back where laid out for us was hot coffee and freshly baked pies.

We set off to Letlhakane with well wishes and warnings not to leave Letlhakane any later than three 'o clock due to the large herds of cattle that would be heading back to their homes.

Now............. hubby had submitted his invoice the night before as he gets paid weekly, funds were low as we had now been in Botswana for six days.  It was now Friday lunch time and we had no idea whether or not he had been paid as we had no internet coverage, cellphone signal, airtime etc.  There was not much left in the bank and what cash we had was about to fill Blue Birds never ending hunger for fuel. 

Mission - Before leaving Letlhakane find an ATM and check - nothing yet.

We decided to carry on heading to Maun as time was now ticking, knowing though that we did not have enough funds to pay for our accommodation or food that evening.

We bravely joked about having to camp out on the side of the road that night which was not really that funny as this was the landscape around us................

I wondered if the locals staying in the little huts scattered here and there would give us shelter for the night............................................

Thankfully we came across a little store where we could buy airtime........................ 

Bwahahahahaha.......................... sorry we don't have airtime....................... with his stress levels getting higher and his patience getting lower hubby threw little Blue Bird into reverse.................................. and hit a small brick wall behind us.  Sitting on a low wall not far off were some locals who thought that this was hilarious -  while we drove off wondering if things could get any worse.

Fortunately not to much further we found a petrol station and lo and behold they had airtime, we managed to pull off this time with no incidents such as the one not long before.

Hubby quickly called the office in SA, the lady doing payments wasn't available so he left a message and we moved forward, needless to say the cellphone signal was not helping us as every time she tried to call back we had no signal and when we called her she was busy. With screeching brakes hubby brought Blue Bird to a hasty stand still when I told him that we had full signal, he called the office and was lucky enough to get hold of the accounts lady who confirmed that she had just done the payment........................ whew.

We could now carry on to Maun safely knowing we would have the money to rest our weary bodies and fill our rumbling tummies.

Maun was approximately a four hour drive from Letlhakane and we were starting to understand why we were warned to leave before three.

We eventually arrived in Maun, hubby went to see the two stores to let them know that he would be in the following morning and then we headed off to find our accommodation.

Old Bridge Backpackers

What a beautiful place, just a few kilometres outside of Maun was this lovely gem - we booked in, relieved Blue Bird of some weight and then headed for the pub to get a looooong cool drink.

Pub / Restaurant

Hubby met some South Africans now living in Maun and not before long the men were chatting away while playing a friendly game of pool. I proceeded once again to do what came naturally.....................

.

I ambled back up to the pub to find hubby still deep in conversation while playing what was probably the twentieth game of pool.  I decided to go and find a hot shower and some clean clothes before anyone else had the same idea...................... when I say clean clothes I say it to make myself believe they are clean - remember I had only packed for three days and that had been washed the day before I was meant to return home.  Anyway, off I went to the tent, found some decently clean pants, took my toiletry bag, towel and self off to the shower.................... no hot water!

I got dressed again, sprayed on a can of deodorant and headed off to the pub to find a cup of coffee.

By that time hubby had given up playing pool and we went and sat under the trees to enjoy the view as by now the sun was going down.

We enjoyed another lovely meal, finished our drinks and headed off to bed as tomorrow was another long day.

The following morning we packed up and headed into Maun to find accommodation for that night as sadly Old Bridge Backpackers was fully booked.  We had thoroughly enjoyed our short one night stay and would definitely recommend you pay them a visit:       www.maun-backpackers.com

Our rating:  * * * * *

Hubby saw a sign for accommodation which advertised that they had wi-fi etc, we stopped off and had a look, as time was a huge factor ( he had two stores to do in Maun and then had to head off to Ghanzi ) we booked and paid for it.

Once we had finished the stores in Maun we then left for Ghanzi.

I will not bore you with the details of this part of the trip except to say that the road was loooooong, hot and looooooooooong and did I mention hot. I will however post photos so that you may see all the things we got to see.