Today is to be a day of travel with our final destination being Gaborone where our Wells and Denny team will be joined by Fran and Jamie.
As we were in no great rush we had a leisurely start to the day with a cornflakes, yoghurt and coffee type breakfast followed by the packing our bags. We then had a brunch meal of eggs, sausages and bacon before setting off from the Pioneers Camp. The farewells between us and the Pioneer Team were quite emotional with lots of hugs, good spirits and warm handshakes. Tendayi and his team here have been outstanding and this special location, remote as it is, has proved to be a marvellous experience.
Staff at Pioneers Camp
The drive back into Victoria Falls was punctuated by brief stops to once again photograph birds and other animals. A sighting of more than 12 giraffes was a special extra.
At the entrance to the Zambezi Park we said farewell to Tendayi and transferred to another vehicle for the drive to the Zimbabwe – Botswana border. This took about an hour and the passport checks, once again went very smoothly. We had to have our shoes disinfected but this only took a few minutes and we changed drivers again.
This driver delivered us to the Kasane airport where our flight to Gaborone left on time at 1600. The plane was an ATR 42/72 high wingedprop plane and the time to Gaborone was just under two hours.
We were met at Gaborone airport by Faith from Olive Leaves Guesthouse and she drove us into the city where on unloading our gear we had a joyous reunion with Fran and Jamie who’d arrive in Botswana much earlier in the day.
We unpacked and then walked around to a very pleasant nearby restaurant for a group dinner.
Rae, Malcolm, Jamie, Jak, Fran & Corinne
Gaborone is the capital city of Botswana and has a population of nearly 700 000 which is about one third of the whole country’s population of two million. Gaborone is a comparatively new city having been established in the early 1970s when diamonds were discovered in the region. Diamond mining together with the cutting and polishing of diamonds has now become a major industry and employer in the Gaborone region of Botswana.
As Fran and Jamie had just had the long flight from Australia and we’d had a fair amount of travel too it was an early night for all. Tomorrow see the start of a new adventure as we cross back over the border into South Africa to commence our Madikwe Safari trip.