Botswana, Africa

BOTSWANA

TRAVEL INFORMATION

Date of travel April 1988

Botswana

Travel itinerary

Johannesburg
Martins Drift
Sua Pan
Sua Pan - Nata
Nata
Makgadikgadi Pans

Martins Drift

At Martins Drift we cross the Limpopo River that marks the border between South Africa and Botswana.
Our destination Is Nata where we will pay a visit to a family of acquaintances of my travel companion.
Unfortunately a few kilometres from Francistown we have an accident: nothing serious but the car is pretty much destroyed. We decide to spend the night in Francistown.

Sua-Pan

The following day we manage to find a vehicle to reach Nata. We stop in Sua-Pan since our truck’s engine overheats. Our driver assures us that it is nothing serious.

Da Sua-Pan a Nata

We are just about to get in the brush to reach our friend’s house (photo above to the right). We ask once more to our driver if he is sure about his truck’s conditions, he just says "no problem". Well, we get into the bush and just about an hour later some white smoke comes out from the hood.... We are stack in the bush.

Fortunately the pickup truck stops close to a Bushman’s farm. My travel companion writes a message for our friends and the bushman runs to their house to ask them to come and pick us up.

Nata

Finally we get to Nata!
In the farm of our Bushman friend we have spend practically all day, only in the evening we are able to reach our friends house.
The poor bushman had run without rest for the whole afternoon!

Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve

The following day we get into the nearby National Park Makgadikgadi Pans.

The National Park Makgadikgadi Pans and the attached Nxai Pans, have been created in the 70’s.
Here it takes place one of the great African migrations, in the dry season great herds are going at Makgadigadis Pans to move back in the rainy season in the Nxais Pans.
The Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve extends over an area of approximately 4.000 km² and includes saltpans, grasslands and above all savannah.

Unfortunately today we are no luckier then yesterday. The abundant rains of the last days have scattered the wild animals that normally assemble around the water. During all day we are not even able to spot an antelope!
If however we had been in the park in the full of the rainy season, the better part of the territory would have been completely flooded.