Gabarone Sun Gaborone

... once again it was down – TIA (This Is Africa as they say). Junichi was still waiting for Twaine to drive him to Francistown – he had been waiting for 3 hours, bless him.

I got on the bus to the city and it was an absolute bargain – 5.4 Pula return (£0.54). Of course the bus was slightly old and quite run down but I got there safely anyway. On the way the driver did not stop for 2 kids who were waiting to picked up and then he started to yell by ...

... I thought it was fairly close to the city centre but in fact, it is more than 10 miles away. I was starting to think that I would give the guys more than 50 as it seemed very little. When we stopped and said how much I owed him he said he did not know so I said 60 but that was not enough. He told me that he did not really know how far he was taking me so I ended up giving 100 (£10) which, to be fair, was not too bad considering the distance. Thandy has been great throughout and that ...

... little… Gaborone itself is nice enough but not too special, low and sprawling in the modern fashion. The US Embassy is right there at ground zero; too bad it’s a Saturday or I’d try to add pages to my passport. The pedestrian mall is the center of downtown life, with crafts for sale and music blaring. The main night club scene seems to be happening right at my hotel though, both in and around. I almost wish I had a drinking buddy…

... amp; Zambia had a load of information & contacts for us. We left on Sunday to head for the Botswana side of the Kgaligadi Park - we had stocked up on meat etc in Uppington & then remembered you cant take meat or diary produce into Bots so we had cooked the chicken, hidden some, eaten some & were going to bluff the rest!. The exit from SA was very official with the policeman doing everything by the book - bonnet up back open etc. At the ...

... it does not exist anymore. Sigh! What to do but ENTER the hotel and have a beer at the bar. Or two. Or three. Dr T chats, I listen. It is dark when we drive back. We have our meal in another restaurant in the hotel, called reflection. Why? Because the whole place is full of mirrors! Quiet claustrophobic. We have a nice seafood meal with a Kaapse Vonkel (tasty, right, girls?) Afterwards, we go back to our bar with, you can imagine, another 2 hours of internet.

... after Wimpy, the guy from Popeye who says "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today," but nobody seems to even know that character, much less whether the restaurant was named for him. Oh well, I suppose it is some pretty obscure knowledge. When we get back from Game City, Batsi takes us on a walk to Dr. Atta's office. That's the name of the doctor for our program, who I suppose we have to ...

Hello again and once again apologies for the delay! Thanks for all you messages and keep em coming as it's really good to hear what's going on at home. Sorry for not replying to you all individually but it's not free for me to use the internet so I have to be as quick as possible due to a very tight budget that Vikki likes to remind me of on a regular basis! I'm gonna upload some photo's today (or try at least) so have a look for them. I've not decided whether I'm gonna put ...

... time I make a real effort to pack light and it has backfired on me bigtime. I have had to buy a cheap pair of sunglasses as I had not thought I would need mine- Graham will be pleased to know they look distinctly like aviators. The Healy's home is very nice although it is their second home whilst their main house is being refurbished. It is set in a complex where there are a lot of houses all together and a big communal garden and two swimming pools in the middle. I have been ...

... There's too much to put down and I've already been at this cafe over an hour, and seeing as I'm pretty sure my words wont do it justice, I'll keep this brief. Among our other finds during our safari with Mike were two lepoards resting in a tree with their kill, countless hippos and crocodiles, two wild dogs out scouting for a hunt, undescribable bird life, a serval, two rather amerous lions and so much more... Mad Mike ...

... vultures, helmeted guinea fowl, franklin etc.. In fact, as for the lions, we were less than 12 feet away from a pride of lionesses in our open-sided 4WD. The rule is as long as you are in your vehicle, they ignore you. If you step out of your vehicle, you're dinner. Thankfully they were all aware of the ...