Maun, Botswana to Gweta, Botswana near Makgadikgadi Pan (Tues, Sep 5)

Today’s journey will take us from Maun to see another dry salt pan like the one we saw at Etosha, however this one took some time to get our mouth’s around! And on the hunt for the adorable meerkats.

Maun is a service town for both the farming and tourist industries. It’s got modern shopping but as you can see from the pictures, cattle and donkies wander even the main streets. The group of cattle at one corner were having trouble getting across the controlled intersection and of course the jokes flew about them waiting for a cattle crossing light. We stopped at a strip mall for 20 minutes or so for people to visit various services i.e. Exchange money, pharmacy, grocery store, camera store, etc. Our group is a great one for being on time. Not once have we been held up by even one person being late. Usually there’s that one person.

It’s uncharacteristically cloudy today. It’s coming in to the spring here, and the rains will start in a few weeks. We’ve been lucky up until now that the only rain we’ve had was when we first arrived in Cape Town.

I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to get a good shot of the most often used method of transportation in the countryside and towns. There is a bad shot here of a donkey cart along one of the highways today. They are used to transport people, goods, thatch for roofs, etc. Most of them have 2 donkeys hitched up, but today we saw a “suped’ up version using 3 donkeys. The donkeys, when not in service, like cattle, are free to wander wherever. We’ve frequently had to slow down to allow them to cross. I’m not sure how the owners claim them.

At one point today we came across a journey of giraffes, and this was the first exposure to them among the group that joined us in Windhoek, so there was great excitement. It had been a few days since the rest of us had seen any so we were all pretty happy to take their picture. These seemed a little smaller and lighter in colour than the ones we’ve previously seen.

We did go through a “Veterinarian check point today” and we all disembarked the bus, with spare pair of shoes in hand and walked through a pad soaked with disinfectant, swiped our other shoes through it and then walked on to the other side. Sandile drove the truck through a pit in the road filled with some liquid, to clean off the tires as well. We all piled back on and away we went.

Before we arrived at our overnight stop in Gweta, we pulled off to take some pictures of a huge Baobab Tree. This one was apparently between 400 and 500 years old. Innocent told us that we will see a larger one in Victoria Falls that is estimated to be 1000 years old.

Our lodge tonight, the Gweta Lodge, is a small one, with cute little rondovels with thatched roofs and that have outdoor bathrooms with toilet, sink and shower. And as with most places we’ve stayed, the common areas are all outdoor.

After a lovely lunch we mounted up into two 4X4s and headed out hunting for meerkats. To get to the area where they live, near the pan, it took 30 mins or so along a really sandy road that zigged and zagged through the brush and trees. The drivers were amazing at maintaining the right speed not to get bogged down in the sand, which more often than not was a break neck pace. We were kept busy dodging tree branches with thorns that could do serious damage. Finally we came to an open grassy area with the pan in the distance, where cattle were grazing, and where there are some colonies of meerkats living. We searched for a while, over the grasslands in the 4X4s, until at last we saw one meerkat behind a small bush, and the other 4X4 had found a few not far away as well. They live in colonies of 8 or so and we think we saw 6-7 of them, but it’s hard to tell them apart.

The meerkats were not at all afraid of us as we’re not seen as a threat, and let us get quite close. Innocent said that if you threw a hat in the air, however, that they would all dive for their holes thinking it was bird of prey. They were all very busy digging in the ground looking for their dinner, typically scorpions or beetles. They go by smell, and they stand in their characteristic position when watching for danger or sniffing out food. We saw one finally pull a scorpion out of a hole that was bigger than they were and munch away on it. They don’t need any water to survive, getting all they need from their food. We spent 30 minutes or so watching and photographing these adorable critters. Nanci got a great shot of several of us intent on getting the most special picture of them.

After we were all happy with our shots, we jumped back in the 4X4s and headed out to what our guide called “paradise”, NOT. The pan here looked the same as the one in Etosha, nothing for as far as you can see. Unlike the one at Etosha, this pan no longer gets flooded any time of the year, as the flow of rivers from the north has been disrupted, likely by changes in the tectonic plates. They offer a program where you can camp out on the Pan, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why you would want to do it. Because it’s there, I suppose.

On the way back we stopped a couple of times to admire and take pictures of the setting sun. The constant dust in the air makes for some awesome sunsets even if it plays havoc with our sinuses and lungs.

After a bumpy, dusty drive back to our lodge, I luxuriated in the outdoor shower, so happy to feel clean again. I had a chance to download pics from my camera so I could take my iPad to the dining area with me to use the wifi over dinner. Seems really rude, but we have come to accept this behaviour from each other since we have so limited time on wifi and in most places there is only wifi in the common areas. It’s quite hilarious that so many of us have iPads or iPhones that we all spend the time sharing pictures around using AirDrop. I was thinking last night that it would make a great Apple commercial as we’ve all become such experts at it.

After a delicious dinner of chicken and beef with a cream of broccoli starter we were treated to some traditional Botswana songs by the staff. Their easy harmonies and dance are spell binding. One of the young women had a particular call that was piercing. A couple of brave folks from our group got up to join the dancers when invited. At the end the staff asked us to stand and remove any hats for the singing of their national anthem. I was a puddle. Their earnest faces shone with pride, and the harmony blended perfectly. Although we didn’t know the words it was still very moving.

Tomorrow it’s on to Chobe National Park and along what is called “Elephant Highway”. Wonder if we”ll see any elephants tomorrow?