TOWARDS THE END

And so another good bye to another country as I head for the Botswana border. Just at the border I spent the night at a strange campsite by the road.  Rather than unpack the tent, I took a small brick hut with just 2 beds, a light and a corrugated iron roof. The night was punctuated by the "Ooh Aah" of frogs.

The Botswana customs stuck by the strict SADC rule and refused to stamp my carnet – thus breaking my unbroken record.  Not giving up, I used a smile and he went off and got the senior guy — he smiled back and thumped down the stamp: no problems.

So off again on the Trans Kalahari Highway — miles of nothing but very little.  A quick stop at Ganzi — hit a bank for some Pula stop and a top up for the fuel tank. Then even more nothing until I get to Maun.  It had grown a lot bigger since I was last there but still a dusty town with donkies asleep standing in the middle of the main drag.  I must be getting soft as I treated myself to a night at Maun Lodge — an air conditioned oasis in the middle of a very hot town – much better than a dusty campsite.

The next night was at the Nata Lodge to see the Bushbabys being fed and then on to Kasani as a base for a visit to the riverfront part of the Chobe National Park.   As it is a bit cooler here, I slummed it by putting up the tent.  The National Park was, as usual, a great place to see Elephant – sitting at one place overlooking the flood plain, I counted up to 300 and then gave up.  I went in search of the resident Buffalo herd which in the past had a pride of Lions in attendance – both seemed to have disappeared.   The sand roads seemed to be a lot deeper than previous visits and even the Disco seemed to have trouble getting through – I understand that the hotter weather makes the sand looser.  One ’highlight‘ was the stinking carcass of an Elephant that was being burned by NP staff – evidently they were burning all the dead animals they found to try to and stop the Anthrax the Park‘s outbreak.

The final leg was across the Kasangula Ferry, with the usual discussion with the touts selling Zambian currency (there was absolutely nowhere to buy it in town) and so down to stay with Oriel at Liyoyelo Farm for a couple of nights to sort myself and the Disco out before heading home – until next year.