Botswana

I crossed into Botswana from Namibia in to the town of Shakawe. I camped on the Okavango Panhandle just south of town. I joined a group of Dutch travellers for dinner at the main lodge that evening. The staff brought us by boat to the main lodge.

Sunset on the Okavango Panhandle

The next day I rode into Maun. The road along the way was heavily potholed. I managed to hit one squarely at 80 hm/h which caused the left pannier to detach (see issue on the Wild Coast) and go sliding down the road. This ruined one of my gas can straps so now the whole operation is ratchet strapped together.

That evening I met Ieuan, who I met at the Horizons Unlimited travellers meeting,  for dinner. Ieuan is a pilot in Maun at the moment and setting off across Africa in April on his Yamaha Super Tenere. We went for Indian food, which I haven’t had in quite a while so I was happy to get some curry.

On Friday we picked my tires up from the shipping company and then went for a ride along the river with some other local pilots. The water level is quite high though so we had some challenging sections. All in we didn’t finish the ride and had two bikes end up in the river so it was only semi-successful. Oh-well beer solves most problems of this nature.

On Saturday I went to the local tire shop to get the tires changed. Unfortunately the staff there was not well trained and ruined the rear axle threads and brakes. Don’t go to Supa-quick if you are in Maun. I then spent the rest of the afternoon fixing the damage to my bike.

On Sunday I rode to Kasane in the northeast. I saw four big male elephants and two smaller ones alongside the road.

Elephants along the Highway