Not a good start in the morning. The day started dull as I had a bad dream yesterday night. I dreamed of my father, looked very sad. I am struggling to get used to the fact that he is no more. I miss him a lot and try not to think about him. I wish if I could have spent more time with him. Especially during the times he needed me the most. I didn’t or I couldn’t and I hope he knew why. Where ever he is, I wish he is having a better life than the one he had. He deserved it!
Once we had our breakfast we started driving toward the Makgadikgadi pans. When compared to the roads in Namibia, Botswana is still in infancy. Though the main highways are good, especially the ones that was quite often used there is absolutely no sign boards at all. If you are looking for turns off the highway you are in trouble. Before driving to the pans we decided to stop at the McKenzie’s at Maun to settle our bills for the rescue. We called them in advance to see where they are located as their office is in outskirts. The bill was quite expensive – around 750 USD for the two days! But there was nothing to argue about it as they had to be paid for the service delivered even if it was inefficient. Though we communicated our location exactly on the first day itself it took two days for them due to the lack of any GPS. The owner was a nice guy and in the end I thought everything turned out fine and we are safe, so why complain unnecessarily.
We drove to the Khumaga campsite in the Makgadikgadi National Park from there. While driving in Botswana one thing that you come across quite often in the highways are the people standing on the sides of the road and requesting a lift. I am ashamed to say that we never stopped even when there were women with babies waiting in the hot sun! I always had the lame excuse in my mind that the double cab is filled with our stuffs. Though it was true almost all the time, it is also true that we could have made space, if we wanted, by shifting them to the luggage area, which we never did! I always preach about helping people in need, and I also feel good when I do that, still the truth is that I didn’t do it when I could have done. Is it the double face of me? I hope, I wish that someday I will have the courage to do what I believe in! On the other hand Botswana is no longer a poor country as it was when it got independence in the 60’s from Britain. It is currently one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a GDP or around 14000 USD, one of the highest in Africa. With a population of around 2 million I don’t understand why the government can’t provide the basic services, like transportation, for its people. The tourist already invest a high amount of money in the country through the governments “low-volume, high-value” tourism and shouldn’t be expected to compensate for the misgovernance of their rulers they selected.
The Khumaga campsite is on the south side of the Maun Nata highway. One has to cross the Boteti river to get into the national park. There is a private ferry service, to which we tried to call in advance to see if it is still operating in offseason. But the phone number was not reachable. We drove there anyway and were happy to see that the service is still there. It seems to be a family operation. The first river crossing in a ferry, that was interesting.
The Lady and I hardly talked today. We talk less and less now a days and she seems to be less interested. Whenever I ask how she is doing, I get the standard monologue “alright”, even when she seemed not so. I never knew what is wrong, probably I am wrong. But it is also true that I knew a different person before! I didn’t want to disturb her in anyway so I kept my distance.
The Makgadikgadi NP is quite different from the NP’s that we have visited so far. It is situated on the western edges of the pans. The roads were quite sandy than muddy. The campsite itself was on the western border of the park right on the banks of the Boteti river. Though one can expect high concentration of wildlife on the banks in dry season, it was not so when we came. After the rains the wildlife seemed to have vanished. We did a game drive in the afternoon. It was really disappointing. All we could see was a bull, some antelopes and some birds.
At night, after dinner we sat on our campsite drinking beer. Suddenly I saw some near our car. My first guess was that it should be hyenas. As we shone the torch light towards it, to our surprise, it was a honey badger. Not just one, but two! Honey badgers are nocturnal and very difficult to spot. And they are also famous for being fearless. They were not at all concerned by our presence and seemed to be used to the campsite and its occupants. They came back again later, scanning through our camps. That was nice. Later on we had some other little visitors. Spiders, almost 3 cm long and looking very scary. That was not nice!!!!
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