Overwhelmed

Hello everyone!

Wow - and that definitely does not begin to sum up all the things we have seen and experienced in the past two days.

Let me pick up from Gaborone: we left two days ago on October 24^th and drove to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, which took about 5 hours. We left around 9am and had a smooth drive, in spite of the occasional goat, sheep, horse, and especially cattle, crossing the road. Very tricky – especially at night!

We arrived at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary in the afternoon in time for an evening game drive. During the drive, we saw lots of different animals – kudu, impala, cute little steenbok, ostriches, wildebeest, giraffe, zebra, and 4 huge white rhino! This was Jack the Rhino, a 30-year old bull, and three of his females who did not look very impressed with our visit at first but fortunately allowed us to enjoy their company.

We ended this first successful evening with dinner at a small place called The Garden Café in Serowe, the nearest town outside the Sanctuary, about 20 miles away. We knew we wouldn’t be disappointed, as we had already met the very friendly host/chef when we had lunch at her Café earlier in the day. Dodging the occasional cow or goat, we made it back to the Sanctuary safely and went to bed.

Contrary to what normally comes to mind when we think of Africa, it was pretty cold at the Sanctuary. We woke up at 5 a.m. to a beautiful sunrise, and went for another game drive wearing three layers. Lo and behold, we were lucky again! This time, we managed to find a black rhino named Nodi. There are only 5 black rhino in the sanctuary (which is 8,500 hectares), so finding one was really exciting! Our guide even led us right by this big guy so we got a really good picture!

We left Khama Rhino Sanctuary after our morning drive and a quick breakfast to head up north towards our next destination, Haina Kalahari Lodge in the middle of the central Kalahari (the Setswana word for ‘desert’). It was going to be another long drive – 5 hours in very hot weather without a lunch break as there were no restaurants in the villages we came across along the road. We did drive through tiny settlements of small rondavels, inhabited by goats, catlle and people selling bundles of straw.

3 hours into our drive, just outside Rakops, we said goodbye to paved roads and turned into a very sandy track for the final 2 hours of our trip. This was when we realized how happy we were to have a real 4x4 Land Rover – my Mini  would definitely not make it through.

Hot, sweaty and thoroughly shaken we finally made it to the Kalahari Lodge where we were heartily welcomed with a cool wet towel and a refreshing drink.  After freshening up, we met again at the lodge and went for an evening game drive through the lodge’s grounds (15,000 hectares – twice the size of the Khama Rhino Sanctuary!!). On our way, we saw zebra, lots of kudu, a banana bird, and a wonderful sunset! Not bad scenery for pre-dinner drinks!

After an amazing open-air Impala steak dinner right by a huge camp fire, we were taken back to our luxurious tents (there are no fences between our tents and the park so any animal can come right up to our doorstep!) and with the gentle roar of lions in the background, we slept like rocks.

My little tent (complete with bath and shower in the middle of the desert!):

Morning came early again – a 5am wake-up call to leave on an all-day drive to the Central Kalahari. It was going to be a scorcher as it was already very warm at sunrise. After a light breakfast we mounted the open-air safari jeep and our guide Muzila took off for the 1,5-drive to the desert gates. 

Our shaking and rattling in the safari jeep paid off as soon after our arrival, we saw a leopard chillin’ under the tree! Our guide tried to get as close as he could and we were lucky enough to see the animal in full motion.

After this highlight we continued our journey along some of the enormous pans. It is difficult to describe the vastness of these former seas – very arid, white sandy areas where it is hard to imagine anything grow or live. One of the largest pans was called Deception Pan, a name well chosen as it really looked like it was full of water (although you wouldn't say so from the picture!). 

Our guide whizzed up a delicious open-air burger picknick in the middle of the Sunday Pan. Of course, I almost forgot to mention the other animals we saw during our ride – gemsbok (also known as orex), tawny eagle, bataleur eagle, martial eagle, kori bustard on the love path and springbok along with more giraffe, kudu and steenbok.

I am writing this new post as dinner is being served in our lovely lodge. For now, I will leave you to enjoy my latest post and pictures!

Best wishes from Don and the Botswana Bunch!

Arrived!

Hello from Botswana!

We’re here!! After an eleven hour smooth and uneventful flight with friendly flight attendants and relatively tasty food, we arrived safely in Johannesburg. We were met by a representative of our car rental company and taken to their offices just outside Johannesburg. Our new vehicle – a Land Rover Defender – is ideal for this sort of expedition: huge, rugged and fitted with bull-bars. It drives like a tank, but at least we feel safe from all the urban dangers out there! We set off from Johannesburg around 11 am, stopped for lunch about halfway in Rustenburg, South Africa, saw our first wildlife along the road (antelope, warthogs, baboons, two elephants but mainly cattle) and crossed the border into Botswana at dusk. We had no trouble finding our bed and breakfast in Gaborone and hit the hay after a long day of traveling.

Today (Wednesday October23rd) we got up relatively early to have a nice cooked breakfast and get ready for the official Mma Ramotswe tour. Our tour guide Tim showed up with an absolutely gigantic open-air Land Rover and drove us all over Gaborone and the surrounding areas. 

He taught us a lot about the facts and fictions in the books – apparently a lot of the characters are based on real-life people. We were introduced to Mma Ramotswe’s home on famous Zebra Drive (which is actually called Zebra Way), J.L.B. Matekoni’s garage, Mma Potokwane’s orphanage farm, the church Mma Ramotswe attends – we actually got to see the real Dr. Moffat – and we got to have red bush tea in Mma Ramotswe’s tea corner of the downtown President hotel.

Gaborone is also a wonderful city with a short, but fascinating history as is the country of which it is the capital. Tim the Tour Guide taught us a lot about this friendly, hospitable country and its people and five very happy campers returned to their bed and breakfast around 5.30pm.

Dinner has been reserved at the restaurant inside the Mokolodi Game reserve and as I am writing to you from the terrace of our bed and breakfast, I need to leave you to get ready! More updates soon as we are leaving for the Kalahari desert and Khama Rhino Sanctuary tomorrow.

Best wishes to all!

Don

Prelude to the big Botswana adventure

Hi again,

Although the big Botswana adventure only starts on Monday October 21st, I decided to leave for the UK a few days early on Wednesday October 16th and spend some time with Nat & Didier as well as get over jet lag (Gaborone is only one hour ahead of London). 
I arrived here on Thursday morning and have been taking it easy! I caught up with most of my friends here on Friday night as everyone descended onto a lovely village pub, The Jacob's Inn, in Wolvercote. We had amazing food and drinks and wonderful times catching up.

The weather hasn't been all that great with plenty of rain and wind at times, but we did see some sunshine as well. On Saturday, Nat, Didier and I took their dog Marlowe (a very cute 5-year old golden retriever) to the beach in Devon. We went to a small place, called Woolacombe that has a beautiful long, sandy beach. Unfortunately it started raining heavily just as we started throwing Marlowe's ball and we all got drenched. An ideal time to enjoy some delicious fish & chips and dry off. Luckily, by the time we finished lunch, the skies had cleared up making it a bright blue, sunny afternoon. Off to the beach we went again and an hour later, we ended up with one tired dog and three dry humans! To round off a long, fun day we had a steak dinner at The Fishes, a pub not far from where Nat & Didier live.

I kept it a quiet Sunday as Nat & Didier had a lot of work preparing for our big adventure so I made myself useful doing some odd jobs around their house. In the afternoon, the neigbors and some of my co-travellers came over for afternoon tea. Neighbors Richard and Hannah's 3-year old daughter Eva was the star of the occasion as she contributed to transforming Nat & Didier's hallway wall into a veritable work of chalk art!

With only a few hours to go before take-off (9pm GMT), I am going to start packing and repacking! The next time I write to you will be from Botswana, Mma Ramotswe's home country!

Best wishes to all!

Don

Botswana Bunch itinerary

Curious to find out where we are going? Take a look at our itinerary:

The above is part one of the trip and takes us from Johannesburg to Gaborone where we will go on the original "Mma Ramotswe" tour. We will discover all the places that feature in the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels by Alexander McCall Smith. After having spent two days discovering Gaborone we travel north and visit the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, a wildlife project dedicated to preserving the endangered white and black rhino. We spend one night there and then travel on to the Central Kalahari Desert, which we will discover during two days.

The journey north continues as we travel to the Moremi Game Reserve, where we hope to see lots of wildlife during our safaris overland, on foot or by boat. After having spent two nights there, the safari continues further north in the well-known Chobe National Park. We are going to one of the more remote districts of this huge park and are staying at the Savute Safari Lodge.

From there we are taking a flight to travel to the magnificent Victoria Falls. It will be a quick visit as we fly from the nearby airport to Cape Town in the evening for the second leg of our adventure.

The last week of our trip will be spent exploring South Africa's Western Cape. We hope the weather will be good to allow us to go up Table Mountain and travel along some of the beautiful coastal routes. We plan to stop by Hermanus and spot some whales, Stellenbosch and Frenchhoek for some wine tasting and go down to the southern most tip of the African continent, Cape Point. Of course we will take time to explore Cape Town and travel to Robben Island to visit the prison where Nelson Mandela was held for almost 30 years.

Sounds like fun, doesn't it? I hope you will join us - the Botswana Bunch - virtually to share in our excitement.

Don

Final countdown!

I certainly remember  January 26th- the day I was mysteriously led to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO only to be overwhelmed by so many people gathered there to celebrate my 70th birthday party. And that was not the only surprise as during the party, I was informed that I was going to set off on a trip in the footsteps of Mma Ramotswe, Botswana's first lady detective! Thank you again to all of you who celebrated with me or who sent me their wishes and contributed to make this dream trip come true.

Now, almost ten months later, I am counting down to the day of my departure, on Wednesday  October 16th. As a prelude to my African adventure I am travelling to the UK to join some members of my travelling party in Oxford. Natalie and her husband Didier are joining me as are two of their neighbors, Pete and Marilyn, who have become good friends as we spent some time together in France last summer. They have just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary and this trip is their belated honeymoon.

The Botswana Bunch leaves from London on Monday  October 21st and will be arriving in Johannesburg, South Africa the next day. There we will pick up our heavy-duty 4x4 (including camping gear...) and set off to Botswana...

This blog will keep you up-to-date on our travel adventures! I will try to post messages and pictures regularly (as long as there is an internet connection) and I hope you will enjoy reading about our experience!

Best wishes to you all!

Don