Kalahari Desert

One more night in Botswana and it was unique! The drive to the next camp was pretty short which was appreciated after the party the night before. When we turned off the tarmac road it was a couple of kilometres of sandy and bumpy road to the campsite itself. Even though it is winter the temperatures are hot! We estimated that it is at least high 30's which was starting to get up there.

As we entered the site we saw some rather cute little huts and a few shade shelters. Unfortunately all the shady spots had been taken by another truck and the huts had no windows. Most people decided to stay in the tents and we all crammed into the shade provided by one tree.

Jacques then gave us the local wildlife warnings. So far we have been used to looking out for Zebra, Lions, Elephants and even Pigs. Now we were told to keep an eyeout for Scorpions, Spiders and bugs. There was a really annoying fly which we were warned about. It is quite large and will try and crawl into ears and noses. Jacques told us that they were difficult to kill and to give anyone that had one of them a 'hearty slap'. I don't think we have ever been more paranoid!

We had been told that there was a swimming hole nearby and all of us decided to beat the heat with a swim. Surprisingly we didn't take Kwando (our truck) but all 19 of us piled into the back of a ute and the lady who owned the camp drove us to the swimming hole. It was an exciting trip with a few people having a rather unstable ride over the sandy tracks. About halfway along we got a flat tyre and the lady told Jacques and JP that they had to change it. A piece of cake for our experienced guides and we were back in the ute, hanging on tightly as we lurched along.

The swimming hole was not what we expected. It was a very deep square cut hole in the middle of the desert. There was a small shaded area and even a bush bathroom. Originally it had been a quarry and then the water started to seep in and filled it. The 3 metre leap in was off the cut rock on the side and the biggest surprise of all was how cold it was! The temperature turned a few people blue. The flies mentioned above followed us out there and in the end the only way to get rid of them is the catch them (not that difficult) and remove the heads. They didn't even drown, and some how managed to survive even if you trod on them!

After a couple of hours swimming we headed back to the campsite where we met some of the local Kalahari Bushmen and went through the bush with them. They took turns showing us what plants they used for food and medicine. Later that night we saw them perform some dancing for the other truck.

We feel that it is important to mention that Botswana has a strict 'foot and mouth' prevention program. Part of this is a Buffalo Fence that runs through the Delta and we could see it from the air during our flight. The other defences are random inspection points where at the least every person has to walk through disinfectant and do the same with our spare shoes. This happened at least 5 times. Only once did the officers insist on seeing our luggage and inspecting for other shoes and meat. Easier said then done for most people as our packs had been emptied into the lockers. A few of the packs were repeatedly shown to the officers. Luckily the guards weren't all that dedicated to the task, as if they had inspected the lockers themselves they would have found quite a few of them full and the odd bit of frozen meat as well.