Monday, 9 June 2025
This morning we set out at the very civilised time of 9.00am, with me taking a turn up the front in the co-pilot’s seat beside Wian. I was looking forward to seeing the potholes and not just feeling them, ha, ha. First we drove back across the execrable road on the bridge over the Nata River. The funniest thing? Passing the sign to the Roads Department as we nearly disappeared into the potholes! With the state of the roads it is hard to believe they even HAVE a Roads Department. Oh, hang on, they must because for the first half an hour out of Nata we endured kilometres of roadworks, so I guess they are trying to make their roads better??
I asked Wian if all the Zam Land trucks carrying freight were coming from Zambia. Yes, he said, everything going to/from landlocked Zambia has to be trucked in and out of sea ports in either Namibia or South Africa. He told me that these ones were travelling south to SA. Which, of course, meant that we were travelling north on the A33 heading for Kasane.
We passed another Veterinary Checkpoint around 10.00am, but this time we were just waved through. The roadside vista was low scrub with occasional trees and golden grasses growing right to the roadside. I was bemused by the roadside lay-bys which were not very attractive places to stop, generally strewn with litter AND accompanied by a wildlife disclaimer:
THIS IS A WILDLIFE AREA YOU ARE STOPPING HERE AT YOUR OWN RISK
The roadside was punctuated with Antelope signs and elephant droppings, suggesting that they would be commonly seen along the road. However, I only glimpsed one antelope deep in the scrub and one elephant some distance from the road. Bernie said that he spotted a couple of elephants during our travels today.
About 20Ks out of Pandamatenga we started seeing signs of civilization with livestock – sheep and goats – appearing alongside the road. Late morning we pulled in at a roadside coffee stand. The scooter was situated out the front of a large commercial building that is the headquarters of an agricultural enterprise growing grapevines, coffee and sorghum. The office staff very kindly allowed us to use their toilets. The coffee drinkers amongst us tell me that the coffee was as good as any they have drunk in Melbourne.
Wian said when he drove by with his tour group last month there was only the scooter. Now the set-up includes some fake grass and shade awnings overhead. There is a plan to build a more permanent structure as a roadside stop for travellers heading north along this stretch of the A33. Wian looks forward to making it a regular stop with his clients.
It never ceases to amaze me how the more outgoing members of our group gather all sorts of information from other travellers and the locals. David managed to glean that the owners of this large swathe of agricultural activity are white famers displaced from Zimbabwe. The Botswanan government has welcomed them and provided incentives for them to re-locate here. I guess they recognise that agriculture on a large scale contributes to the country’s economy??
We passed a military base camp and safely negotiated an 80kph zone where a speed camera was active. We arrived in Pandamatenga, which was dominated by huge silos presumably for the sorghum harvest?? We saw cows in the long paddock, actually being tended by a cowherd. So many other herds we have passed seem to be on their own out on the roadside. This area was characterised by its very, very large scale agriculture. Fields of sorghum as far as the eye could see and I also spotted a sign for Panda Potatoes, so quite a bit of mixed agriculture.
I had been steadfastly remaining awake, trying not to miss anything while I had the benefit of being the front seat passenger. Wouldn’t you know it, the moment that my eyes grew heavy and started to close, Wian called out – giraffe! Was there really a giraffe or was he teasing??
We arrived in Kazangula and turned left towards Kasane, with Wian telling us that this is the point where Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe meet. And, just for a change from all the agriculture, we passed the Aquaculture Fish Farm. Driving alongside the river, Wian told us that it was the Chobe River and we were at a point just 11 kilometres from where it flows into the Zambezi River.
We arrived at the Cresta Mowana Safari Resort and Spa about 1.00pm, where we were greeted by baboons on the driveway … and signs warning us BEWARE OF WILDLIFE IN THIS AREA with diagrams of hippo, elephant, baboon, warthog and … worst of all, in my opinion … snake!
With our rooms not quite ready for us, we retired to the outdoor restaurant to partake of the buffet lunch. When our rooms keys were issued we headed off to our room looking forward to an afternoon at leisure. We were pleased to find that the internet seems promising here and settled in to do some catching up on the travel blog.
Mid-afternoon we wandered down to reception to enquire about walking into the town to try to find a barber. We still haven’t found somewhere for Bernie to have a haircut on the African continent. After being told that walking into town is not recommended due to the wild animals, that plan was scuttled. After a turn around the grounds of the resort, we returned to our room to record a few more holiday memories.
We met the rest of the gang in the outdoor restaurant at 7.00pm for a smorgasbord dinner. Debbie impressed us with how she is keeping up with her exercise regime walking laps up and down the driveway and around the grounds. I confessed that all we had done was work on the travel diary. She excused me by saying that I have been feeling poorly with my head cold. I said, well … not that poorly, to which she responded well, you’ve just been lazy then. I said, let’s go with the feeling poorly excuse!!
The staff had a very precarious looking fire stacked up in the fire pit below our table which we were all worrying had the potential to burn the resort down. Especially when many of the building have thatched roofs!! A trio of Chinese girls started to dance around the fire and when they saw us watching them, they invited us to join in. Debbie headed down to the fire pit and danced with them briefly.
Steps: 9,737 (6.53kms)
