Submitted by SafariADV on Sun, 2019-11-10
We are in Botswana, at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, near Serowe; yesterday afternoon we did a few hours of safariand it was very nice and we saw the rhinos.
This morning we get up, it's really cold and there is a lot of humidity, our car and the tent are completely wet and there is also fog; but where are we? In the Po valley?
We have breakfast and then we prepare our car to leave; in reality we are so satisfied with yesterday's safari that we would like to leave immediately, but the temptation to get to the pan is too strong and so let's see what we see.
When we actually arrive the view is not the best because of the fog that here seems more dense than where we slept, but the pan has a unique charm.
At 8:00am we are ready to go, bye bye rhinos!
We go out from the gate and we turn to the right, we know very well which road we have to take, despite maps.me would like to send us to the other side to make us circumnavigate all the complex of the Makgadikgadi Pans, pure madness!
Initially we did not understand why it does not want us to take the road that passes from Letlhakane, Orapa and Mopipi to then arrive at Rakops and finally arrive at Khumaga, where we will sleep tonight; we understood it only later: this app sees the gates of the Veterinary Fence as an interrupted road, mystery solved.
We arrive at Lethlakane and enter the city, we have already been here and we know very well where to go; we do a bit of shopping at Spar, we fill up our Dr. Livingstone and then we continue our journey.
The absurd thing is that in Botswana there is practically no one but here in the city there is traffic, in fact here there are only three roads, we say that creating an efficient road is not their strenght.
We continue and overcome Orapa, in the vicinity of this city is the largest diamond mine in the world and access to the city is forbidden to all those who do not have a permit to get in; then a sort of ring road was built to continue the journey and pass Orapa.
Shortly afterwards there is a picnic area where there is also a gigantic mean of those that are used in the mines, obviously it was decommissioned and positioned here to make a fine show of itself; we stop to watch and photograph this giant monster and, while we're at it, we decide to have lunch here.
While we are at the table another car stops with two locals aboard and they take a drink; they are a bit far from us but they look at us curiously and come closer.
When they are close to us they greet us and ask us where we are from, they are very curious, they want to know what we do in Botswana and they look very happy when we tell them that it is not the first time that we have come here and that we love their country.
After lunch we leave again and, at Mopipi on the roadside we see a pan, smaller than the Ntwetwe Panor the Sua Pan, but still fascinating, so we stop to take some pictures.
From here the road turns North and runs along the Western shore of the Ntwetwe Pan.
We don't meet many cars, on the other hand we see some donkey-drawn carts, one of these has a very beautiful Hererowoman on board who wears the typical hat with horns and her husband, we can't not take a picture of them so we get over them then we stop and we ask if we can take some pictures, they say yes but they seem very surprised by our request.
We continue our journey, we pass Rakops, we will return here in two weeks when we enter the Central Kalahari Game Reserveand, shortly after, we reach Khumaga.
We leave the main road and follow the signs to theMakgadikgadi Pans National Parkand for the Boteti River Camp, the campite and lodge where we will sleep tonight.
At the gate, as a bell there is a big cow bell and a sign that says "Ring the bell, scream loudly and then enter! Welcome! "; but we find a man right in front of the gate, so he opens us.
We enter the Boteti River Camp and we love it immediately from the first moment: there is the campsite and a series of small houses in the green, the swimming pool and the central structure with the bar, the restaurant and a panoramic terrace overlooking the Boteti River.
The campground is surrounded by greenery and flowers, it is really very relaxing and, although the sun is warm in the middle of the day, here you are really well.
We position ourselves in the place we were assigned and, while we relax and drink something fresh, we have to decide what to do, there are two options: enter the Makgadikgadi Pans National Parkalone or go on a safari with the Boteti River Camp guide; we opt to go on safari with them, we leave at 3.00 pm so we relax a little more while waiting to leave.
