Southern Africa - Day 17

Wednesday, 29 January 2020 - Namibia to Botswana 

Today we travel east to neighbouring Botswana. The capital of Botswana is Gaborone. It is home to most of the San (bushmen) population. Next biggest tribe is Tswana. Its major economy is diamond mining, cattle farming and tourism. It was formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland. They used the Kalahari desert as a training camp because (they thought) it was a poor country so they didn’t want it as a colony. 

But then in 1973, after the British left, they discovered quite a big diamond mine 😬. Botswana adopted its new name upon independence on 30 September 1966. It is now one of the richest countries in Africa. The currency here is known as the ‘poola’; USD1 is equivalent to about 10 poolas. Poola means rain in the Tswana language.

Botswana used to be ruled by a royal family, even after the British left. Then one of the princes went to study in England and married an English bride. The custom here is that the King must marry a local woman who knows all the local customs and traditions as she will be a public figure and therefore set an example to future generations of women. Because of that the Prince was denied the throne. So he asked his father, the then King, to make Botswana into a democratic republic so that he could become President.

So that is how Botswana became a democratic republic and the prince became the first President of Botswana. The Presidency remained with members of the royal family for a few generations until the current President, who is not a member of the royal family. The people here are very happy with him because they can see growing development of industries, the roads are slowly being upgraded and maintained etc.

Breakfast at 7 a.m. and then we had to say goodbye to Rigmar as she leaves for Denmark today. On this tour I was closest to Rigmar and Jay and now they’re both gone and I feel so alone. She is really so sweet, before leaving she asked the rest to look after me and she told me to chase all my dreams no matter what, don’t hesitate! Oh, I will miss her.

On the way we stopped at Gobabis, a small cattle town of about 20,000 people. Most of the people here are from the Herero tribe, their main occupation being cattle farming. So important is cattle to the tribe that the women folk don a type of head dress resembling the horns of a cow. The more cows you have, the richer you are. 

And then the truck couldn’t start. Apparently a fuse had blown and this involved dismantling some parts and buying a fuse and putting it in. We were stuck here for more than 2 hours and the afternoon sun was just relentless, with very little wind. We had lunch in the truck. I guess when you’re on an adventure like this things like this are bound to happen and you just have to take it in your stride. I’m just glad I didn’t have to repair anything or push the truck 😅.

Finally we continued our journey. We said goodbye to Namibia and hello to Botswana! The man at the immigration counter upon seeing my passport said “Apa khabar?” and I was so pleasantly surprised. It’s nice to know other Malaysians have walked the same path I am walking now. 

Then we were already in central Kalahari but it’s unlike any other desert I’ve ever seen. Green vegetation everywhere and full of cows, horses and donkeys. The Kalahari desert is a vast area covering about 900,000 square km. It has the most amount of rain out of all the deserts in the world. Botswana is big on animal farming and there is apparently animal disease control cleansing peoples’ shoes here and there as you cross the boundary from one district to another so that infectious diseases are not spread to the livestock. Donkey meat is especially exported to the China market. They really eat anything and now they have infected the world with the coronavirus 😡. 

We arrived at our hotel in Ghanzi close to 7 p.m. We were supposed to go for a walk in the desert but that is only happening tomorrow due to the delay in us arriving. Likewise, we were supposed to be entertained with a dance performance by the descendants of the San or bushmen but it was cancelled as it was getting late and everyone (including Clever and Taro) was tired after sitting about 11 hours in the truck in the sweltering heat. 

Poor Clever had an upset stomach and we had to stop along the way which further delayed us. I gave him my charcoal pills which seemed to do the trick 😁.

During dinner I tried the St Louis beer which is the national beer of Botswana. It was ok. I am really missing Rigmar and Jay 😔.