This story starts with a frantic phone call from Anne (aka Banan) on the 30th Dec to see what I was doing the next day and if I had a valid passport and ends 2400km and 3.5 days later... The long and short of it was that Anne’s oldest brother, Vito, was in a motorbike accident in Botswana (luckily only 2 broken ribs but sill needed to be flown back to SA) and so we went up, with her youngest brother, Luigi, to fetch the bike!
And is was one of those trips were a pictue (link a the bottom) says a thousand wods!
So, we duly hit the road and, with no particular plans, headed towards Botswana and Gabarone. We got to Gabs and continued on… and on… and on… Until we got to Mahalapye and dinner. And then on… and on… and on some more until we got to Francistown at about 1am. Bed was very welcome – and a very comfy one at that! The birding (a couple of lifers but this wasn’t a birding trip) started with a Woodland Kingfisher, whose 4:30am wake up call did not go own well! The hotel (Cresta Marang) was very well set out but we had no time to enjoy it as we left early and headed up to Nata the next day, not knowing exactly how long anything was going to take. However, the police couldn’t have been nicer and everything was sorted out very quickly with no fuss. They had listed everything and all was in a box waiting for us – apart from valuables which they had locked in a safe! I don’t think even a drop of petrol was taken! After making sure we knew where we were going, we continued towards Kasane to get the bike at a veterinary control barrier.
And then we stopped in absolute amazement – there was an elephant walking down the road towards us! This would not be surprising – except that it was on the A3, the main road between Gabarone to Kasane! And this was no chance occurrence – there was another one a couple of kilometers further along! Again, the Botswana people (in typical hospitality and friendliness) at the barrier couldn’t have been more helpful, helping us (read Luigi) load the bike (while telling us about the 3 lion that had walked past earlier) and then giving us detailed directions to the accident site. So off we went…
We think we found it, took a couple of pics and then headed back towards Nata wondering what we should do with ourselves. The idea was to try to get to the Makgadikgadi Pans so we stopped and asked around. It was recommended that we head towards a lodge, Planet Baobab as the pans were flooded (strange being the wet season!) but that they would have a better idea. The road was interesting with donkey carts, termite mounds, huge concrete aardvark (?)… Planet Baobab was an oasis and we didn’t venture further – a pool, cold dink, large baobabs… Amazing! The lounge/bar area was decorated in cow hide with beer bottles and an outside lounge suite in concrete couches and the rooms were stunning as well with a very cute bathroom. After a game of “straight sharky, we had a braai dinner and despite huge plans to download pictures, we hit the sack.
Next morning we drove around for a while looking for markets but once we realised that the only place to find them was Francistown or Gabarone, decided to head down that direction via Nata to see if we could go quad biking. Banan and I made very good use of our cameras while Luigi struck different poses on the bike – not only while we were sill but while we were driving as well! No luck for quad biking (pans still flooded!) but it was suggested we head to Nata Sanctuary. We couldn’t take the trailer in and the P55 seemed a lot but we went for it anyway!
Brilliant decision! The sanctuary is the north east corner of the Makgadikgadi pans and really made the vastness and flatness real. Absolutely amazing and indescribable. The road often disappeared – either in mud (those flooded pans again!) or into a large pan where it was pot luck as to where the exit was. After playing in what we thought was a large pan, we headed to the “river mouth” but didn’t make it – need a 4 x 4. We did however get super dooper excited at 3 flamingo’s! We continued along the road for a while and then came across the view that everyone looks for – MILLIONS (literally!) of flamingo’s – and a couple of ostrich. This pan was Humungous and literally stretched as far as the eye could see. We were all 3 speechless – for the 1st and last time on the road trip – and for about ½ hour as we just attempted to take in the sites (and not get stuck in the mud!). Reluctantly, we started heading back but found some other interesting sites along the way back – a baobab, some springbok…
And then on to Francistown, and yet more chicken for dinner J We found ourselves another hotel (Tati Rive Lodge – not as nice as Cresta Marang) and duly crashed into bed - again! The next morning we went shopping and looked for the now infamous markets which were nowhere to be found. Instead, we found a whole 3 roadside stalls… We continued looking all the way out o Botswana, even taking a detour to a “craft centre” (closed) and an ostrich farm (yip – you guessed it – also closed!). We left Botswana, crossed over the Limpopo and immediately got “welcomed” back to SA with a glare from the customs official (she was talking on her phone). We decided to push on home rather than stop and eventually got home (after a Wimpy – no chicken!) at about 11. Thank goodness for Banan’s Mom who quickly made coffee while we unpacked and repacked cars. Vito arrived very quickly – supposedly to drop off keys but to check his car and bike (and us?) were back safely?
In conclusion: Essential ingredients for an AWESOME road trip =
2 x amazing friends (thanks Banan and Luigi)
1 x no real plan for 3.5 days and 2400km
1 x kind bother who wants his bike from somewhere in Northern Botswana back (thanks Vito)
Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/ForTheLoveOfABikeOrLackThereofBotswanaRoadtrip?authkey=Gv1sRgCK_dluymm_nXPQ
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
