Busing It Through Botswana

Yes, I'm back to alliteration.  So sue me.  If anyone else has any suggestions for post title writing challenges, feel free to send them along.  Otherwise you are going to have to continue to suffer through my same first letter leanings.  Har har.

Now back to Zimbabwe where I was last seen trying to catch some zzzzz amidst a loud musical ruckus.  I probably got about three or four hours of sleep that night before I had to get up to catch my ride to Botswana.  I met the safari van at the entrance to the lodge where I was staying and joined an older couple who were on their way to a full-day safari at Chobe National Park.  As we took off, our guide/driver told us that we would be driving through a game reserve on the way to the border  and might encounter some wildlife along the way.  He said that when they had been driving through recently, they had come across several lions (or maybe they were leopards) crossing the road right in front of the car.  We ended up having no such luck, though we did spot a buffalo hiding out amongst some trees and a group of giraffes eating leaves off in the distance.  The older couple seemed a bit more excited than I was as it was their first wildlife encounter in Africa, whereas I had seen both buffalo and giraffes up close in Tanzania and thus wasn't nearly as impressed.

After about two hours, we crossed over the border from Zimbabwe to Botswana without much incident and then changed vehicles upon arriving on the other side.  We drove only a short distance further into the town of Kasane before pulling over to the side of the road upon catching sight of a small bus that was also stopped on the shoulder facing in the opposite direction. Apparently this was the bus that was going to take me to the city of Francistown where I could catch another bus to the capital of Gaborone.  I was able to sit in the middle seat up front, which turned out to be a blessing as they sure did cram the passengers into the back of the bus.  Sitting in the front seat, I had a great view of the scenery and local wildlife passing by before us.  At one point, an elephant family, including a few small calves, crossed the road right in front of us, though I didn't react quick enough to take out my phone for a photo.  It was my first "wild" elephant sighting in Africa, however, so it was still pretty exciting even though I don't have photographic proof.

It took about seven hours to get to Francistown and along the way we had to endure several rounds of feet sterilization as well as stops for gas and food.  At one gas station, I was thankfully able to get cash out of the ATM so I could pay for my bus fare in Bostwanan Pula.  Along the route we passed a number of cyclists as well as support vans for the annual Tour d'Afrique bicycle race.  At the rest stop where we all ate lunch, I asked one of the riders where they had started and where they all were ending.  He told me he had started in Nairobi and was riding to Cape Town, but that there were other cyclists who had started all the way up in Cairo back in January (it was mid-April by this point.)  I thought I was accomplishing something by going overland (via bus and train) from Nairobi to Cape Town, but this guy was doing the same route completely by bicycle!  I suddenly felt very lazy.  The only solice I could take was knowing that in the end I beat them to the finish.

After a few more hours, we arrived in Francistown and as I disembarked from the bus, a tout quickly ushered me over to a bus heading to Gaborone.  I had to wait another 15 minutes or so for the bus to take off during which time a steady stream of vendors came on board trying to sell various food and drink products to the already seated passengers (a phenomenon with which I was quite familiar after my previous African bus adventures.)  We finally left a little after 3:00pm and more than six hours later, once it was already dark out, we arrived in the city of Gaborone.  I knew there was a backpackers hostel about 10 kilometers outside of town, but for once I hadn't booked ahead so I had no idea if there was any availability.

When I got off the bus, I connected with the first cab driver who spoke decent English and told him that I wanted to go to an inexpensive lodge or hostel.  The first place he brought me turned out to be booked and after picking up another passenger (who had a problem with his own reservation there) we drove to another place that was also at full occupancy.  The other passenger had stayed at a sort of boarding house/lodge previously so he directed the driver to head there to check if there were rooms.  It turned out they had availability so we decided to stay there even though it cost the equivalent of $35 a night for pretty bare bone's accommodations.  I didn't have much other choice at that point so I pretty much had to go along with it.  Of course, the driver claimed I owed him more than we had agreed upon since he had "gone the extra distance" helping me to find a place to stay.  I finally had to pay him what he was asking and when he didn't have enough change, he told me he would reimburse me the following day when he came to pick me up in the morning.  I thought he was a cheat so I never ended up calling him back the next day, which meant I was out a bit of money.  At least I didn't have to deal with him again!