A very African day

Tuesday 15th September

Mokoodi, Botswana

Today summed up Africa in so many ways.

 

To begin with, when we woke up, there was no water.  Lots of juddering pipes, but nothing coming out of them.  The rainy season here has been very dry, and the resulting drought has led to water rationing.

 

Bathing African style

So, instead of a shower, I went back to basics and bathed in the river instead - afterall, we're 12km from the next nearest person.  While the water was rather bracing, it was an incredibly refreshing way to start the day.

 

Leaving the farm, we headed to Botsalanto Nature Reserve, getting hopelessly lost on gravel roads on the way.  We did, however, as part of this detour encounter a huge rock monitor crossing the road infront of us.  South Africa has a terrible habit of signposting you in a general direction but then never filling in the detail when you need it - a trait it shares with Dundee.

 

Eventually we arrives and set off into the reserve... then promptly ran out of road and once again found ourselves off-roading in a Polo.

 

Botsalano is primarily a breeding ground for plains game, and it was present in abundance - impala, nyala, kudu, springbok, blesbok, eland, buffalo, wildebeest and something which looked like a bontebok, though they're not usually native to this area.  There were also several ground squirrels, some guinea fowl and the occasional ostrich.

 

As the day wore on, as our poor we car dragged its underside across the rocks, a rhino came into sight, and then a line of three of them ran alongside us, one of which baring the largest horn I've ever seen.  Even more spectacular was the giant secretary bird which put on a marvellous show, strutting about infront of us.

 

One further rhino crossed our path, but was a little spooked by us and started running in all directions.  Fortunately, we managed to avoid it then by some miracle came across the road again and were soon crossing the border to Botswana.

 

Customs and immigration are rarely a fun experience, though this was the most intimidating border crossing I've ever had, with no-one making any effort to explain what they wanted you to do, but getting incredibly angry when you don't do it correctly.

 

After several stops and a car search by an officer more interested in discussing the Rugby World Cup, we left South Africa and entered Botswana, where matters were even more confusing.

 

Much to-ing and fro-ing later, we had our passports stamped, road tax paid and were on our way.  The Batswana border force even issue you with free condoms on entering the country in a bid to halt the spread of HIV.

 

Barely 200m across the border a police roadblock was set up, so we went through the whole rigmarole again as they checked everything over.

 

At last, though, we were heading up the A1 towards Gaborone and our base for the next few days.  As we arrived, the most spectacular sunset welcomed us in.

 

Bathing in the river, barely passable roads, bizarre border control and breathtaking sunsets - yes, this could only be Africa.