The Potholes of Botswana
December 21, 2006
Such a lot has happened in the last five days.
We picked up our rental car on the 16th. It was supposed to be a mini van or SUV, but it turned out to be a little sports sedan. It’s a fun little car to drive, but probably not the best choice for driving through Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Our first day’s drive found us in Gaborone; the capital of Botswana and the home of the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency. We stayed in a nice hotel right off of Tlokweng Road. The next morning we drove around the city a bit and then headed off for Francistown. It was an uneventful drive full of trucks and jalopies on a beautiful two lane tar road.
We stayed the nights of the 17th and 18th at our friend Stan’s house. Stan used to be the mine manager at Sadiola. Now he works at a mine outside of Francistown. We were very comfortable in his spacious accommodations. He fed us pork roast and fresh veggies the first night and took us out to a steak house the second night. We did some shopping and toodled around town a bit, but mostly we watched TV and lounged by the pool.
We set off on the 19th for Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We knew it would be a long day as we had 600 km (~350 miles) to cover and a border to cross. The drive started out great. As we meandered north, traffic got less and less until there was virtually no one on the road at all. We left Nata and headed off on an isolated 200 km stretch towards Pandamatenga where we thought we might cross over to Zim. It quickly became apparent that that stretch of roadway had not been maintained as well as the rest; there were potholes everywhere. After 90 km, we blew a tire. Fortunately it was the rear one, but the front tire on that side also suffered some damage. We installed the tiny little spare and limped off towards Pandamatenga.
The “town” of Pandamatenga is really nothing more than a gas station, a bar, and an auto repair shop. Needless to say they did not have the tires we needed. We stopped a police officer and solicited his help. He took us to a lodge where there might be the tires we need, but the fellow sent us back to the gas station. The fellow there happened to have a used tire that fit our vehicle. He loaned it to us on the provision that we give it back on our return through town. The auto shop mounted it on the rim of the blown out tire, the damaged front tire was removed and placed in the trunk, and the spare was kept on the back. We learned that there was a tire shop in Kasane (100 km) that could probably help us out.
By this time it was 4:00. The border crossing at Kasane closes at six and everyone; and I mean everyone has told us not to drive that stretch of road at night because of animals. Not cows, donkeys, and goats, but buffalo, giraffe, and elephant (can you imagine hitting an elephant?). We debated whether or not we should give it a go, but finally decided to stay put for the night. It’s good we did as our spare was flat by bedtime! I had it repaired the next morning and we embarked on another slow journey to Kasane.
Tires were ordered (they arrive today) and we headed for the border. It took a while to get through and it was sort of expensive, but eventually we broke free of the gates to have a beautiful drive down a wandering two lane road. We had to stop once to allow a family of Giraffes to cross, but we arrived in Vic Falls unscathed. We rolled into our lodge to learn that the bus was waiting to take us on our sunset cruise on the river. We dropped our bags and jetted off for a wonderfully relaxing evening.
We returned to our lodge to fix dinner and discuss some pressing issues. The quaint cottage with exclusive pool we paid for is actually half of a house with a shared pool. There are others staying here; in fact there is a strange man asleep on the couch in the lounge right now. To compound matters, we discovered last night that the two and a half day rafting trips we’ve already paid for aren’t guaranteed and in fact currently they aren’t happening at all. For me, all else is secondary to the rafting; it’s the main reason I’m here. If I am not able to get on a boat and spend several days on the Zambezi, I am going to be really upset.
In the meantime we shall explore the area, get some new tires, check out the Falls, and try to relax…
MJR
Such a lot has happened in the last five days.
We picked up our rental car on the 16th. It was supposed to be a mini van or SUV, but it turned out to be a little sports sedan. It’s a fun little car to drive, but probably not the best choice for driving through Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Our first day’s drive found us in Gaborone; the capital of Botswana and the home of the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency. We stayed in a nice hotel right off of Tlokweng Road. The next morning we drove around the city a bit and then headed off for Francistown. It was an uneventful drive full of trucks and jalopies on a beautiful two lane tar road.We stayed the nights of the 17th and 18th at our friend Stan’s house. Stan used to be the mine manager at Sadiola. Now he works at a mine outside of Francistown. We were very comfortable in his spacious accommodations. He fed us pork roast and fresh veggies the first night and took us out to a steak house the second night. We did some shopping and toodled around town a bit, but mostly we watched TV and lounged by the pool.
We set off on the 19th for Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We knew it would be a long day as we had 600 km (~350 miles) to cover and a border to cross. The drive started out great. As we meandered north, traffic got less and less until there was virtually no one on the road at all. We left Nata and headed off on an isolated 200 km stretch towards Pandamatenga where we thought we might cross over to Zim. It quickly became apparent that that stretch of roadway had not been maintained as well as the rest; there were potholes everywhere. After 90 km, we blew a tire. Fortunately it was the rear one, but the front tire on that side also suffered some damage. We installed the tiny little spare and limped off towards Pandamatenga.
The “town” of Pandamatenga is really nothing more than a gas station, a bar, and an auto repair shop. Needless to say they did not have the tires we needed. We stopped a police officer and solicited his help. He took us to a lodge where there might be the tires we need, but the fellow sent us back to the gas station. The fellow there happened to have a used tire that fit our vehicle. He loaned it to us on the provision that we give it back on our return through town. The auto shop mounted it on the rim of the blown out tire, the damaged front tire was removed and placed in the trunk, and the spare was kept on the back. We learned that there was a tire shop in Kasane (100 km) that could probably help us out.By this time it was 4:00. The border crossing at Kasane closes at six and everyone; and I mean everyone has told us not to drive that stretch of road at night because of animals. Not cows, donkeys, and goats, but buffalo, giraffe, and elephant (can you imagine hitting an elephant?). We debated whether or not we should give it a go, but finally decided to stay put for the night. It’s good we did as our spare was flat by bedtime! I had it repaired the next morning and we embarked on another slow journey to Kasane.
Tires were ordered (they arrive today) and we headed for the border. It took a while to get through and it was sort of expensive, but eventually we broke free of the gates to have a beautiful drive down a wandering two lane road. We had to stop once to allow a family of Giraffes to cross, but we arrived in Vic Falls unscathed. We rolled into our lodge to learn that the bus was waiting to take us on our sunset cruise on the river. We dropped our bags and jetted off for a wonderfully relaxing evening.
We returned to our lodge to fix dinner and discuss some pressing issues. The quaint cottage with exclusive pool we paid for is actually half of a house with a shared pool. There are others staying here; in fact there is a strange man asleep on the couch in the lounge right now. To compound matters, we discovered last night that the two and a half day rafting trips we’ve already paid for aren’t guaranteed and in fact currently they aren’t happening at all. For me, all else is secondary to the rafting; it’s the main reason I’m here. If I am not able to get on a boat and spend several days on the Zambezi, I am going to be really upset.In the meantime we shall explore the area, get some new tires, check out the Falls, and try to relax…
MJR
posted by Bronx to Timbuktu at 9:02 PM
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