We woke up to a grey and wet day. Despite the rain, the birdlife was prolific and it is a splendid campsite. Kittytoo came to enjoy some yogurt and other kitty delights and then we keenly walked across to the Wondergat in the light rain. This dolomite sinkhole is an amazing natural phenomenon and really very impressive. It is at least 70 m deep and divers come here for technical diving. The campsite is actually set up for diving. Thankfully the rain abated a bit and we could at least take some photographs of this spectacular sinkhole. We left in pouring rain and the dark grey sky seemed to reach deep into Botswana. Paul’s GPS took us on a strange shortcut, but soon we were at the small and very friendly Ramatlabama border post. In no time we had completed the border formalities on both sides. The Botswana officials had not even bothered to search our vehicles for fresh meat and fruit. This was very contrary to the posting on the DriveBots about the larger border posts.

The road to Lobatse was very attractive and quiet. We even passed a lodge that offered camping – something to remember for future trips! Our GPS quickly led us to the new shopping center in Lobatse with a Super Spar and several other usual South African franchises such as PEP stores. The Spar was reasonably well stocked with the usual Spar products and we managed to get meat, fruit and vegetables. Stephen chatted to a Zimbabwean who moved to Lobatse to set up a trailer making business. The trailers looked very good, but the Ukraine war had stopped his supply of materials from Russia and he did not want to use Chinese axles which he considered to be sub-standard. We also managed to draw money from the FNB branch. We had been worried that the shops might be closed it being a Sunday, but the shopping center was bustling and we learned that the shops were only closing at 18h00. Paul got an Orange Botswana Sim Card and soon we were on his hotspot and enjoying wifi. He had bought a rather large amount of data so we would not run short!

Stephen and I led the way and we chose the Kanye - Molepolole road to bypass Gaborone . We found a place on a track to pull off for lunch and realized that we still had a long way to go. Once we were off the Trans Kalahari Highway, we found ourselves on a beautiful new tar road leading through the attractive rocky hills to the west of Gaborone. We stopped at a Shell garage near Kanye to fill up and found that diesel was considerably cheaper in Botswana than in South Africa, P 13.90, about R 18.00. This was a relief but it would be short lived. Now we headed for Letlhakeng via Molepolole. This was the most potholed road we had ever driven. All the vehicles were swerving and diving to avoid the vicious holes and at times one simply had to drive next to the road. And it was busy too! It took ages to cover 40 kilometers. We soon realized that we were not going to make it to Khutse gate before nightfall. And despite it being Sunday, we were caught up in a hectic traffic jam in the market area of Molepolole. After this crazy town, the traffic calmed down, but we still had to cover 60 kilometers to Letlhakeng and this is where we also had to fill our vehicles to the brim to make it through the Central Kalahari. We had no choice but to pull off somewhere along the road. Petra spotted a track leading off and we decided that this would serve the purpose. There were several cows grazing and there were obviously people nearby and we were also rather close to the road, but this was Botswana and not South Africa. We managed to find a spot in the bush and soon had our prepared meals going. It was actually good to be “wild camping” again, even though it was out of a need to stop this time. It was a remarkably pleasant evening and no one bothered us. The traffic also calmed down and we were lulled asleep to the lovely sound of cowbells around us.

Geschreven door Leartravels