Namibia to Botswana

Breakfast done, morning tea stashed in my bag, we piled into our truck, an awesome converted ex army vehicle. With only 7 of us on the trip the 16 seater was more than big enough for us each to have a single seat but not be too spread out. Our guide Admo sits up front with driver Christopher which will mean we don’t have easy access to questions  and answers but the good thing is that Admo speaks perfect English so we will all understand what he is saying. 

The truck has massive windows along each side and is well elevated so we have great views. We have two huge chilli bins up the front for our drinks and food and plenty of water available. There are also seatbelts for each seat and it is mandatory that we wear them. Haven’t seen any of them for a while. 

Our drive through the desert along perfectly sealed and straight roads was uneventful, although the siting of a couple of giraffe gave most of the group a thrill. Prepare to be blown away folks.  Every now and then a baboon makes its way across the road and scurrys under a bush. It must be hot even for them. 

I slept much of the way but woke when we arrived at Gobabis, which means ‘fighting’, so named because it was the site of a couple of wars between competing tribes.  It is a town of about 20,000 people that apart from the colour of peoples skin looks no different to any small NZ town. Modern, clean with real western style shops, ATMs, gas stations. All the things that didn’t exist in the places I had recently been. 

We had time to grab a few things from the ‘SPAR’ supermarket and then waited outside listening to the guy on the loud speaker advertising their specials. That was hilarious and reminded me of old radio ads we used to listen to. Next to the supermarket was a sugar stall selling just bags of sugar. And here we are trying to abolish it at home. 

Today is ‘Black Friday’ and there are queues and queues of people lined up at the ATM’s. It is also the last working day of the month and they will have all been paid over night so bank accounts were full this morning and by the looks of things will be empty by tonight. 

Southern Africa is proving to be far more modern than its Western/Eastern and Northern neighbours.  I think Nabibia will go back onto my list of places to further explore on my own. I’m hoping Botswana will be as good. 

It seems I have missed mile after mile of dead straight roads and scrubby, parched flat landscape as I have slept most of the trip. But I did wake for lunch. 

In a flash we had tables and chairs set up, salads prepared, roast chicken chopped up and we were ready for lunch at a truck stop/lay by area. Fresh roast chicken and crunchy rye rolls were a real treat and made me wonder why we havent done this sort of thing on other trips. Chilled, sweet and juicy watermelon was the icing on the cake. Best lunch. 

Before long we were at the Namibia/Botswana borders where both crossings were dead easy and our passports were stamped accordingly. 

It wasn’t long before I woke again at a small township where we got currency, cold drinks and I bought chocolate. Bad move, it was gross as was the ‘Zip’, South African coke, but oh well I can’t say I didn’t try them. 

It has been a long day but I’ve had some great sleeps and feeling pretty relaxed. I’m looking forward to our adventure beginning once we get to our overnight stop. 

continued.....

We turn off the bitumen and follow a potholded sandy road (much like many of the main roads up north) until we get to The Khutse Game Reserve a basic but character filled lodge in the middle of the Central Kalahari. 

Checked in to our basic but cute rooms we then head off for our intro to the San lifestyle. The San people are a subset of the Bushmen tribe and have frequented this area for years. Our two guides (both hilarious but one an expert on tribal medicine and the other, the woman, his translator) took us round a section of their land explaining the different plants and what medicinal purpose they were used for. The guide was a tiny toothless elderly guy who had mischief written across his face. He animated every piece of information and had us in fits. He spoke the original San language which consists of over a dozen ‘clicks’, each with a different meaning. It was fascinating to listen to and between the guide’s and translator’s antics made for an interesting and fun time. 

We got back in time for a simple but yum dinner explained to us by two of the young ladies at the camp. Both were animated in their explanations and had us in fits. 

Dinner over we were then invited to an extra special display of San dancing and singing around the campfire. Our San guide was the star attraction and leader of the clan who danced round the fire while the women sat round the side and sang. He then spent some time taking ashes from the fire and somehow administering them, one by one, to the women. It was dark so we couldnt see exactly what was happening but it looked like he was doing some sort of a massage with the ashes.  Each of the dances had some special significance although they looked pretty similar to me. We also heard a few San stories with our translator from early on giving us the English equivalents. It was fascinating and a great way to wind up our evening. 

It’s funny how physical characteristics change dramatically from place to place. The Buntu from the south west and quite rounded, the Tutsi tall and slim, the Maa extra tall and slim but here the woman are quite short of average build but with huge Kardashian bums. They look as though they are almost ready to topple over. 

It was far too hot to spend time in our rooms (which had no ventillation other than open windows which were a waste of time as there wasn’t  even a light breeze) so we congregated under a tree and gloried at the hundreds of moths that came to join us. 

Having slept half the day and with it being unbearably hot sleep did not come easy but at least there were no bugs in my room. Despite the long drive it has been a great day.