Outside of the delta, Botswana is a bit of an arid, but still beautiful, wasteland…if that makes sense. Everywhere there an intensely bright sun; the most beautiful sunrise I believe I have ever seen crept up from behind the endless stretches of low scrubby trees as we rolled north northwest towards Maun from Gabarone. In addition to the delta, Botswana is also famous for its enormous shimmering salt pans: vast flat mirage-filled stretches of desert once covered by water.
We arrived late in the afternoon in Maun and were again taken aback by how developed Botswana is. They had fast food outlets and all sorts of shops and stores catering to the tourist crowd. Okay, a little bizarre, I thought. We made it to our hostel situated literally right on top of a small finger of the delta about five kilometers outside of Maun. From there we managed to book a makoro day trip, a makoro being a long, shallow canoe traditionally hewn out of whole trees poled by the native Batswana who have lived in and around the delta for centuries.
Little did we know that a day trip is, more or less, flushing money down the proverbial toilet. Wildlife sightings, we learned, were most common very early in the morning when animals go in search of water in the cool temperatures. By the time we had poled (or been poled, I guess) for two hours, the sun was arcing high into the clear blue sky and temperatures had begun to spike. Shortly thereafter, when we did reach a wildlife viewing area, nearly everything had disappeared into the bush to sweat it out in the shade. Zebras were all we managed (see above). We were all quite disappointed since we forked over $100 for the day!
Much to my chagrin, I realized that our planning had failed us (or more that I was alternately too lazy and too busy to help Evan enough with holiday plans). Had we done a modicum of research on wildlife and makoro trips, we probably would have planned differently, but lesson learned! Still the delta is a beautiful and immeasurably peaceful place. It’s a bit different than I expected, and expensive, but a three day trip would in all certainty be worth the cost.
After our day trip through the Okavango we planned to continue northward along the Zimbabwean border to Kasane, the Botswana border town to the far northeast roughly an hour from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We traveled on one bus a fairly comfortable three hundred kilometers back to a crossroads town and disembarked to find a ride to Kasane. In Botswana, public transportation is really sparse so backpacking can be tricky. You have to be prepared to hitch, and do so decisively so you’re not caught out late somewhere inhospitable.
We waited, waited, and waited some more at the de facto bus stop – a combination gas station, fast food joint, and Barclay’s bank. The public restrooms were immaculate and there was much fried chicken to be had, so we enjoyed ourselves, but as noon approached we began to ask around for rides to Kasane. We had to budget enough time to get to the border another three hundred kilometers to the north, get across the border, and negotiate any “problems,” if you catch my drift.
Eventually a small bus, hardly largely than a chappa mini bus taxis, pulled in stuffed to the gills with people. Somehow they managed to shove us in, Evan and I wedged into the very back seat with three friendly Batswana men (two of whom also appeared to very much enjoy fried chicken). My shoulder just might have suffered permanent, irreparable damage due to my horribly awkward position, but I’m holding out hope. In any case, we made it safely to the border.
Luckily for us, Batswana are incredibly nice and generous people. The bus driver and conductor went a few kilometers out of their way along a spur to the border just for us. Once extricated and properly limber we breezed through the completely empty Botswana border control post. Like all else in Botswana, it was efficient and indicative of the country’s successful development.
And then there was Zimbabwe.
