While in Chobe National Park, we see this enormous lizard crossing the road.
Because we visited Moremi and Makgadikgadi last time we were in Botswana in 2020, we make a beeline for the south of the country. We overnight in Francistown and stay in a guesthouse for a change. We even go out for pizza!
Next day, I get a speeding ticket for going 95KMH in an 80KMH zone. 400 Pula, which is about 40$ CAD.
We reach Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. We stay at the delightful Mokolodi Backpackers just outside of town. It’s home to a menagerie of animals, including several cats, an enormous pot-bellied pig, and a very friendly bull terrier-type dog, Lizzie, who loses no time in attaching herself to us.
Meat is a real bargain in this part of the world, as we’ve mentioned. For example, we purchase this gigantic tomahawk steak for the equivalent of 9.20$ CAD. They usually go for a lot more than that at home. As in ‘prohibitively expensive’.
We drive to Khutse Game Reserve. The reserve is 2,500 square kilometres. We are the only people in the park. It’s VERY remote: no cell service, no electricity.
We don’t see any lions or big cats. We DO see elephants, giraffes, eland, ostriches, and several interesting birds.
It involves 50-KM drives down 2-wheel tracks like this.
We stay in a couple of campsites. This is Moreswe Campsite KHMOR-02.
Tracks4Africa describes the sites like this:
“There’s no water inside the park so visitors must be totally self-sufficient when staying here. Facilities at the campsites consist of a wooden shelter with concrete floor, bucket shower, and a surprisingly ‘unsmelly’ long drop chemical toilet. But no running water.”
Note the screening material duct-taped to the windows: we sleep in Dassie because these unfenced sites are well known for having wildlife walking through during the night. Including lions and elephants.
We are unvisited all night. Not sure if we’re relieved or slightly disappointed.
Sight or Insight of the Day
Going back to JoJo the mongoose – turns out he’s not just friendly, he’s super-friendly.
It’s unusual, because mongooses usual wander in big groups and are very social. This one seems to like hanging out with people.
He tracks us down to our campsite to pay a visit.
And his name isn’t even JoJo. When we first see him in his house, “JoJo” is emblazoned on the front.
This turns out to be a South African company that sells agricultural products. Including this owl house that the proprietors here provided for his dwelling.
