Maun - Botswana

We were up at 6.30 to finish packing then into town to catch the internet cafe and get some T shirts with the Landrover logo but the words SandLover instead of Landrover on, well sometimes you have to play the tourist!

T'Internet always takes ages to do emails, send updates to the website and check bank and credit card statements so it was midday by the time we hit the road to the border and nearly 3.30pm when we reached the Namibian border post.

Whilst in the UK we had experienced an intermittent starting problem with Rupert when completely without warning he would refuse to turn over. It was similar to when the starter motor jams and although Foleys were adamant that was not the problem it was strange we were always able to get re-started if we put it in gear and rocked it back forward, as you do with a jammed motor. The problem then usually went away for a while but always had the knack of returning at the most inopportune moments. Eventually Foleys changed the starter motor and for the last six months we had had no re-occurrences so we  assumed that was the end of it.

After completing the paperwork on the Namibian side we jumped in Rup to go on to the Botswana border post. Turned the ignition and click nothing happened, shit out the blue the problem had returned just when we we least needed it. Rocking the car we eventually managed to get started and rushed on to the Botswana immigration to complete immigration there.

Jumping in Rup we tried to start and again click it was dead as a dodo only this time no amount of rocking would solve the problem! In the end we had to enlist the border guards help to push start us on our way, very embarrassing and not to mention worrying as now we could not afford to switch off the engine or stall it with any confidence we could get going again - not good when you still had a long journey in the middle of nowhere ahead of you!

We realised we would not reach Maun so decided to head to Ghanzi which is about 200km from the border and stop overnight there. We had only been to Ghanzi once before about six years ago so we didn't know it well. It is a strange town as for years it was pretty isolated (and still is to some extent) on the west of Botswana where it is the centre for the huge cattle ranches which make up this area of Botswana. 

The ranches are mostly, if not all, owned by Afrikaners whose forbearers moved here ages ago so it feels a bit like your in the Orange Free state than in Botswana. Add to this the high proportion of bushmen from the Kalahari in which Ghanzi lies and it has an almost wild west feel to it.

It was after 5pm before we finally got back on the road and although it was all on good tar it was beginning to look like we would be arriving in the dark yet again!

Sure enough it was pitch black when we finally saw the sign for Thakadu campsite and a track leading off into the bush. By now we were about 10km from Ghanzi and about 280km from Maun so this would have to do for the night. The camp looked in total darkness as we neared it, it lies about 3km off the main road so we weren't even sure if it was open but decided that if it was deserted we would bush camp for the night anyway.

As it was we found a delightful camp run by a nice guy called Chris who met us in the bar which has the strange name of "The Rampant Aardvark". Chris said there was only one other group camping so we had plenty of sites to choose from. The sites are set in the bush and have a couple of basic ablution blocks with hot showers but strangely no wash basins!

The camp also had four fixed Meru style tents with ensuite toilets and showers however camping costs just 30 Pula (~ £3)  p.p. which included power hook ups (great value) whilst the Meru's were a bit over priced at 315 Pula each so we decided to put up the roof tent and get back to basics.

It's great when you come across good stopover places you never knew existed, especially when it's getting dark and you have no idea where else to stay. Thakadu is certainly one to store in the data file for when we next pass through this way although in the morning we did pass another couple of lodges/camp sites before we reached Ghanzi so there is a lot more choice than when we were last in this neck of the woods.

Thankfully the starting problem with Rupert had just as mysteriously disappeared when the morning arrived so we were able to get off handy. The road from Ghanzi to Maun has also much improved since we last travelled down it, before it was sand and pot holes now it is good tar all the way so we reached Maun in good time which made a nice change.

Again we didn't have anywhere to stay but Maun being the gateway to the Okavango and the main tourist town in Botswana it has plenty to choose from so we weren't worried.

In the 80's we had stayed at a camp called Sitatunga but we couldn't remember where it was or even if it still existed. Maun has mushroomed over the last 20 years so we hardly recognised it from the sleepy little place with dirt roads that it used to be. It's now a bustling place with loads of shops and lodges but as usual along with progress it has lost a lot of its old charm but it is still a nice place to stay.

We wanted a camp which was convenient for town but also someway in the bush and which was not totally swamped by Overland trucks. We had heard good things about a lodge called Island Safari which is set out of town on the Thamlakane river and which has been around for many years. Although its a bit of a hike into the town centre it was on the way out to the game parks we would be visiting when Ruth & J arrived so we decided to check it out.

Set about 3km off the main road the drive into Island is really nice and you do get a feeling of being in the bush. The lodge itself is not plush but has a nice rustic feel to it with thatched rondavels dotted about under big trees next to the river. The only drawback is if you stay in the rondavels you cannot drive to your room so for us carrying everything but the kitchen sink it would be a bit of a hassle so we decided to camp.

The camp site is set apart behind the lodge and whilst it is not absolutely brilliant it is certainly better than those in the other lodges around the area. For just 20 Pula each per night (~£2) it has power and hot showers plus you can use the pool and restaurant so it represents very good value. The camp site was empty when we arrived so we were able to pick the nicest spot overlooking the river and settled in to spend the next few days preparing for Ruth and J's arrival.

It had been sometime since we had left Alan & Ali in Gabs so we emailed them to let them know we were back in the country but not to worry we were not going to drop in! Ali got back to say she had been very ill with tick bite fever so it was just as well we were well out of the way.

Once it got dark two security guards came around to make the presence known (I think they really wanted to be near the fire) and to warn us that Tutsi's (thieves) from the nearby village sometimes hop over the fence to see what they could pinch so we shouldn't leave anything out when we went to bed. One guy (clearly the boss) said he had to go back to guard the lodge but his mate Jonas would look after us on the campsite. It was a little disconcerting then when later on we found Jonas sat in the dark bundled up in his blankets snoring his head off!

After being in a chalet for the past week we had not really noticed how cold it was getting of a night. The winter months out here are June/July/Aug so May is a bit like Oct/Nov is in the UK except the days are usually lovely and sunny and just a nice temperature, however Botswana being mostly desert it can get bloody cold at night - as we were about to re-discover!

We had four days before Ruth & J arrived but we would need all that time as we had to book campsites in Moremi, Savuti and Chobe at the National Parks office in town and then do routine jobs like wash the bedding, stocking up with food and drink plus get the front diff and starting problems looked at on Rupert.

The Island Safari Lodge is owned by a family called Barnes-Watson who have lived in Botswana for generations. Their great grandfather came to Botswana when it was the British protectorate Bechuanaland and opened a general store in Serowe, the village where Sir Seretse Khama, the first President of Botswana came from. The Khamas became close friends of the family and today one of Sir Seretse's sons, Ian Khama is currently Vice President of Botswana.

The lodge is owned and run by Shaun and Shane (who are cousins) and their partners and by a fortunate co-incidence Shane's brother, Bruce, also lives at the lodge and is the workshop manager at Leshedi Motors, the national Landrover dealer.

Chatting to Bruce over a beer we mentioned the problems with Rupert and that at the last service done by Leshedi Motors in Gabs they had found at the last minute that the reversing light wasn't working. They only had time to check the bulb and fuse where ok but had ran out of time to investigate further. It was on the list of jobs to be done in Windhoek but they also had run out of time so we still had that small problem to fix as well.

We arranged to take Rupert after we had sorted out our campsite bookings in the morning as they were top priority.  The new booking system in Botswana is a bind now as people book sites well in advance but often never turn up, so you struggle to get vacancies especially if your booking at the last moment like we where. 

Sure enough we could not get all the sites on all the days we wanted them but with a bit of manoeuvring we more or less sorted out the first week of Ruth's visit. However, this all took time so we decided to leave the Landy till first thing the day after and instead do Internet, have lunch and then do some shopping.

On the way back to Island we passed the Sedia Hotel and noticed a sign saying they had camping so out of curiosity we stopped in to see what their place was like. The camp site was not as nice as where we were at Island however we discovered  they also had double chalets which could sleep four for P600 (~£60) B&B.

We were a bit concerned that for R & J to go straight into camping after 24hr journey might be a bit much for their sensitive souls especially as it was so cold of a night. Island only had chalets which slept two people and would cost more so we decided to email Ruth to propose we stay their first night in the double chalet at Sedia following which we would head off to the bush camping all the way.

We got back to Island in the dark to find we where still the only ones on the campsite which was nice and soon had the fire going, at 7pm Jonas turned up again and sat in the shadows keeping guard, we are not sure how bad the Tutsi problem is or whether he just likes to make sure we are ok. That night we could hear leaves crunching underfoot in the shadows but never knew whether it was animal or human, every now and then Jonas would patrol around shining his torch this way and that.

Before we go to bed we get a text from Ruth jumping at the chance of staying in the chalet on their first night so at least that is sortedl. Next morning we overslept so had to rush a bit to get Rupert to Bruce, for the first time we also had a visitation from a troop of Vervet Monkeys who are very cute but a real pain as they will try and nick anything edible and sometimes not so edible so you have to be on guard all the time.

We reached the garage by 8am which wasn't too bad and although Bruce offered us a lift into town I decided it would be better if I stayed and worked with the guys on the car so I could see what they found. Originally we thought it would take no more than the morning but as time went by we found it was taking the best part of the day. True to form we could not recreate the starting problem and the guys were struggling to locate the fault in the reversing light but we did manage to fix the spotlight on the side of the vehicle where the switch had gone dickey.

The diff once dismantled showed no sign of excessive wear in the bearings or linkage but we still had the lateral play. Bruce took a look and felt it maybe needed shimming to reduce the movement but after retightening it the play had almost disappeared so we decided to leave it at that for the time being.  

By 5pm we had spent all day there but still had the reversing light problem and had been unable to find anything wrong or recreate the starting problem so it was agreed to take Rupert to a good auto electrician the next day to see if he could find what was going on and even if not he could do a modification to hopefully get around it.

We needed to go to the Sedia and email Ruth so we rushed into town to the internet cafe but just we were about to send the system crashed, it certainly wasn't our day today.

That night it was absolutely freezing, easily the coldest we had felt so far. Being in the ground tent we were sleeping on single camp beds so unlike the roof tent we could not snuggle up that easily and although well wrapped up on top we found the cold was rising from the ground through the groundsheet and the bottom of the bed so whatever part of your body was down was freezing. We decided we also needed some rubber bed mats to combat the cold coming upwards but they were proving difficult to find in Maun.

Next morning we went round to see Arthur the auto electrician he's busy but one of his lads quickly finds the problem with the reversing light which turned out to be a connector near to the air filter had come loose because the catches were broken. I deduced had happened was the guys at Leshedi in Gabs had inadvertently dislodged the connector when they were changing the airfilter and so had only noticed the light not working after they completed the service. At least this was fixed now for the starting fault, still true to form we couldn't get it to fail but Arthur mentioned he had come across problems with Landy's before where sometimes the resistance in the wiring was just enough to reduce the current to the starter solenoid so it failed to turn the motor. He recommended we fit a modification where he bypassed the wiring by fitting a new relay directly to the solenoid, the new relay would still operate from the normal starter relay but that would need far less current than the solenoid.

He couldn't do the mod until later that day so went off for lunch to the Bon Arrivee a great little restaurant near to the small airport where you can sit in the shade on the balcony and watch the tourists arrive in their Out of Africa gear whilst drinking a nice cold rock shandy and eating great fish and chips!

As we were eating we notice a sign advertising trips into the Okavango Delta with Gunns Camp. Ruth and J had mentioned  they would like to go for at least a night into the Delta if possible but when we checked we found the cheapest camps were all going to cost over $600 p.p.p.n (we used to fly in for about £100 in the old days) so we decided to check out Gunns later to see what they could do. Back in the afternoon to Arthur he fits the mod and one instant improvement we notice is that even when the auxiliary battery is low from running the fridges we can sometimes get started, before we could only start on the main battery so it was looking worth all of the £10 it cost to do!

More shopping on the way back to camp including getting the cooking gas bottled filled then I go to the bar for a drink with Bruce and few others while Sue gets on with a few camp jobs. The intention was to only have a couple of drinks but it ends up in a bit of session with me staggering back to the tent at midnight, Sue's in bed by now and not too pleased and I'm freezing being still in T shirt. shorts and sandals!

That night was even colder than the one before so next day we had a leisurely morning sorting out the vehicle for R & J's arrival, then went into town where we managed at last to get some bedrolls. We went to Gunns office near the airport to check out their setup but the only girl there was new and could not give us all the info so we would have to leave that until Ruth and J had arrived.  

On the way back to Island we stopped off at a supermarket for yet more last minute provisions and unexpectedly bumped into Jock and Pauline two old friends from our days when we lived in Gabs. In those days they managed a lovely camp deep in the Okavango called Xugana which was where we had first met. Since when we had kept in touch at Christmas and seen them once in Maun some years before but we had lost touch and assumed they had gone back to the UK where they intended to retire. As it happens they told us they were leaving Botswana for good the next week and had sold virtually everything up so were just sorting out some last minute details and doing their leaving round of parties and dinners.

It transpired they had left their old safari company and where now directors of a new one and had just retired from that to live in the UK. It was sod law when they said they probably could have got us a good deal in one of their camps if they had known we where coming but unfortunately they where now totally booked up at least for four people. Ruth and J were due in two days and we were leaving Maun the day after that, Jock and Pauline had dinner date that night so our re-union was brief but hopefully we will see them again in the UK although how they will fit in there after over 30 years in the African bush will be an interesting one. 

The bed rolls worked a treat and we had our first good nights sleep for four days, we still needed to get some last minute stuff sorted and do more emails/website updates but it was Cup Final day Liverpool v West Ham and I was determined to be back in the bar at Island Safari to watch it live.

Ruth and J were due to take off at 7pm that night and would arrive in Maun at midday the day after so I was under orders not to over do it, fortunately Bruce had gone on safari so it would not be too boozy a day as all the other guys where more interested in Rugby not soccer.  As it was we watched the match in isolation apart from the barmen and a couple of German tourists who took no interest in the telly and watched Liverpool win on penalties (sorry Ed) supping cold Tafel Lager and eating Chicken & Chips, absolute bliss.

Next day we left Island to go to the airport to meet Ruth and Jonathan, after nearly a week in town we were really looking forward to getting back in the bush and seeing Ruth and J's reaction to it all.