Botswana

 

After entering Botswana, we headed towards Ghanzi. Our next stop, the Dqae Qar Sun campsite, was just after Ghanzi, and we had ample time to get there.

The road was paved and there wasn't a lot of traffic, which was nice, especially since we experienced our first (and only) flat tire before Ghanzi. We heard a clang sound from the back of our 4X4, and I thought it was the tea kettle tumbling around at the back (which was weird because the kettle was inside a trunk). But the flaba-daba-dab sound told us that it was actually our rear tire losing air pressure fairly quickly. 

It was possibly the best time and the best place to get a flat; the shoulder of the road was wide, the grass had been cut (curious animals couldn't hide too near), we were on a straight stretch of road (we could see other traffic, and they could see us) and it was still hours before sunset (gets pitch black at night). It took only about 15 mins to change the tire, and getting the tools out probably took the longest.

The puncture hole was fairly large, it was about the size of my thumb, and we tried to get it fixed in Ghanzi the following day, but we were told that it was impossible to fix. Luckily we had another spare tire, and we had just under 2000km of driving left on our trip (we'd driven over 4500km so far). But it would've been nice to have another extra tire. Later on we heard that a couple from South Africa had experienced five flat tires during their two week drive, so I guess we were lucky experiencing just the one!

After changing the tire we continued on to Ghanzi, stopped at the gas station to fill 'er up , then moved on. And on. And then started to wonder where the campsite sign was. We drove back and forth and eventually drove back to Ghanzi to the gas station and asked for directions and were told there's a sign after about 22km. Back we went, no sign, drove back and forth wondering how we could miss a sign, I mean there weren't that many. 

There was one faded sign at a turning to a dirt road, and although the name was slightly different it did say 'lodge' on it, so we took that. The dirt road led us to a closed gate, and we'd seen those before, so of course we opened it, drove in, and closed it behind us and kept on going. We came to an intersection: do we take the road to the left or to the right (both were less travelled)? We took the one to the left because there was a small sign with that faint 'lodge' name on it. We drove until we came to another gate, but funnily enough, it was locked. Now why would a lodge lock their gate? Were they already sleeping? We couldn't force the lock open (we did try), and as the insects were out and about and it was rapidly getting dark, we decided to leave it and turn around (not so easy on the narrow road).

Back we drove to the intersection and this time we took the road to the right. Eventually we saw some lights and thought that finally we made it! It was a small house (surprisingly small for a lodge and campsite) with a small yard, and in the yard there were old American cars. I thought that was interesting, was this a place where locals vacationed? We drove into the yard and then we realized that this wasn't a lodge, it was someone's private house!

A dog started to bark and I guess it was because of the American cars that I started to wonder if the owner would come out holding a weapon of some sort. But no, this was Botswana, not the States, and he kindly told us that our campsite was about 12km back towards Ghanzi.  

Back we went, and no sign of a sign. We drove back and forth a few times again, then decided that since it was pitch black, we didn't want to risk accidentally hitting any living thing in the dark (the paved road is nice and warm for animals and cattle to rest on), so we headed back to Ghanzi.

We drove up the main street looking for a place to stay. Eventually we spotted the Kalahari Arms Hotel and luckily it wasn't fully booked. We had just enough time to enjoy a lovely meal at their restaurant, then enjoy a relaxing G&T while watching a couple of wacko kittens playing in the courtyard before we headed to sleep.

The next morning we heard from our travel agent that the campsite sign had been taken down because the lodge was preparing for a big celebration and they needed to paint the sign again. Well that's understandable, the sign needs to look good, and the locals know where's what and what's where, so they can get around without signs, and there aren't that many foreigners driving around on their own who might need them.

Like a lodge owner in South Africa told us, "This is Africa."