Diggers Inn Hotel Francistown

Easy day crossing the border. Even had out shoes and vehicle tyres dipped to kill any Foot &amp; Mouth disease that might have been lurking.<br><br>I got in trouble as we did not do our shoes prior to driving the car up to the dip tank.. i looked at the chap in bewilderment as he implied i was now ...

... a visa, and then at six we were both waiting for the truck when the phone rings in the hostel to tell us that the truck was in Zimbabwe, and we're in the wrong country! So we organize to meet it at the border the next morning, and start the tour from there. 25/11/2008 got up at 6.30 and went to meet the truck, they agreed to pay for the visa for su for the mix up,and got the intro to everyone, and started to drive, went straight thru zim, and ...

... at the Plumtree border post and travelled via Bulawayo to Chinhoyi. We spent the night at the Town Inn on the outskirts of Gweru, a very expensive lodge. Here we paid through our necks to camp and to use a bathroom in one of the chalets. The food at dinner (also expensive at US$20 per head) was also terrible. The T-bone I had that night ranks as the toughest I ever had...

... at home....well kind of, it's not wuite freezing. We've all been wrapped up in trousers, fleeces, trainers &amp; socks. I even slept in my room (yes upgraded again) with my sleeping bag, sheet &amp; blanket! Will probably next email in Vic Falls at Christmas, but if I don't before then MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Hope you're all in the festive spirit! Have a fantastic time! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx

The second largest city in Botswana was large, but only had one "main drag" that did not light up at night. We camped at a luxury resort and are loving the options that our tent brings us. Camping was like $20 US vs. $450 US for a cottage. Again we love our tent right now.... This was another stopping off point on our way up to see Planet Baobab to see the 5500 yr old baobab tree that is 80 ft in diameter!!

... day - a conventional coach taking about 5 1/2 hours costing P51 (At the time of writing there are c. P12.5 to the Pound; the US$ is 2 to the Pound) Francistown is a dusty junction town; I found the Metcourt Lodge - classic motel type comfort with TV, a/c and even free wifi internet with access restricted to google and therefore gmail - great.. P380 The Lodge has an adjacent steakhouse - another T-bone - life's a drag.

We had to leave the adorable little lions behind and headed to Bulawayo. There we went on a fabulous trip into Matobo National Park where we saw some cave paintings, learned about the medicinal properties of the plants and climbed to the top of a crazy rock formation made of solidified magma ...

We left Livingstone, Zambia to continue the safari of Botswana. I said goodbye to 8 travel mates and welcomed 8 new ones. We crossed the Kazungula ferry into Botswana - uneventful border crossing - and headed to Francistown via Kasane (pronounced Ka-saa-neeee). The roads were amazing to our 1st campsite ... Tar all the way with no bumps! The openess of the vehicle was a bit disconcerting ...

... soils. The driving is a lot like that at home, but the roads are narrower. I'm getting better at manual shift - by the end of the holiday should be proficient. M and I took the car to my place to pack last night, and it took me ages to get out of J's driveway. Then I remembered neutral rested under 3rd, not 1st. O. We were very ruthless (Ruth, Ruth, where are you?) and have ...

... swamps. The base camp is very pleasent but it was into dugout canoes polled by the blackest person I had ever seen. Beautiful saw shore birds and eagles. The guides wern't worried by the crocks but Hippoes were a concern. Couldn't get close to Giraffes. Went for a swim when we were told it was safe, they haven't lost many tourists. We had brought our own food ...