From the Boteti River to Gweta

We are located along the Boteti River in Botswana, near the Makgadikgadi National Park; yesterday afternoon we went on safari in the park and it was a wonderful experience.

This morning we are relaxing because we have nothing special to do, we just have to reach our next destination: Gweta, but it is not far away so we can afford the luxury of taking it with a little more calm.

We set the alarm a little later than usual, but we wake up early anyway, we have the safari time zone!

Here at the Boteti River it is not cold in the morning so we prepare breakfast outdoors on our table and we still enjoy some relaxation and silence in this garden.

After breakfast we prepare and arrange our Dr. Livingstone to leave, we go to pay the bill but, before leaving the Boteti River Camp, we go up to the terrace to enjoy the last view of this wonder while drinking a coffee; the terrace, as well as the patio with the restaurant, are special, tastefully furnished and using objects such as cast iron pots, the result is very interesting.

Here on the terrace there are also some books, among these there is a very interesting one entirely dedicated to the Makgadikgadi Pans; we photograph the cover so we can search for it on Amazon and buy it.

After taking the last photos at the Boteti River, we return to our car and leave.

We leave the gate, where cow bells are hung so that they can hear when the gate opens, and we go; we cross the village and reach the main road and turn right.

The last time we traveled this road was two years ago, at that time the asphalt was ruined in several points and there were several holes, but today we are happy to see that they have completely redone the asphalt and this allows us to travel at a faster speed.

On the roadside there are, as always, cows, donkeys, goats and horse-like types as if we were in Texas, but less than other times, perhaps it is too early or the land is too dry this year, due to very little rain, and the grass is dry.

Instead of going all the way with the paved road passing by Motopi, we decide to take the shortcut that passes from Morematao, that, more than a village, is a small group of houses scattered in the sand by the river.

The first piece of road is paved but then the road becomes a dirt one, but the bottom is compact so we proceed well; what really worries us most is not the sand because this short cut is only 7 km long in all, what we do not know is how to cross the river from this road because we have never traveled it before.

We arrive on the bank of the river and we see a sign with a ban on access and another where there is written "no entry" but we do not understand why since the river is dry here and the land seems compact; we ignore the signs, that in reality perhaps indicated the prohibition of passing only in a specific point or when there is water in the river.

We pass the river and go back up to the opposite bank where there are other signs prohibiting going down to the river, but at least here they are justified by the fact that the bank is partly collapsed and, if you go down, you risk ending up in a huge hole.

This dirt shortcut is only 7 km long and has allowed us to save 86 km of paved road passing by Motopi and more than half an hour, not that we needed to save time, but useless road yes.

We arrive on the main Nata-Maun road, the A3; the asphalt is old but, compared to the last time, they patched up a few holes, thank goodness; who knows if they have even fixed the part of the road that goes towards Maun, we will find out in the next few days.

Wow, there is only land and yellow and dry grass on the roadside, and it is clear that the rains were very scarce this year; even when the road passes through the Makgadikgadi National Park and the Nxai Pan National Park, of which it marks the border, the situation does not change: usually the land flanking the road is green and there is fresh grass and, consequently, there are animals, especially birds, oryxes and steenboks, but now we only see a few male elephants that are going somewhere to look for water and some ostriches running.

We arrive at Gweta and turn right to enter the village, this time we are not at the Planet Baobab as usual, but at the Gweta Lodge because we have not found a place there; well no problem, we are curious to see how is the Gweta Lodge because we have never been there before.

Gweta is not really a town, but a village, where, as it often happens, it is not easy to orientate because the houses and huts are a bit scattered and the roads are not properly aligned, but with maps.me and tracks4africa we find the Gweta Lodge without any problem.

We enter the gate, there is nobody at the security sector, they probably use it only at night, and we head towards the parking lot and try to figure out where the reception is.

At the reception there is a too nice girl, she looks like Woopy Goldberg and if she laughs badly at our jokes; she checks us in and then takes us to the campsite and makes us settle everything in the best way: she calls a girl to clean the bathrooms, she calls a boy she says to bring us the electricity and then she tells us "this is our secret", she is too funny.

We are alone at the campsite at the moment, who knows if someone will come or if we will have the entire campsite to ourselves.

We also book 2 activities with them: the sunset at the baobabs for tonight and the Ntwetwe Pan for tomorrow morning; we could also go alone by our Dr. Livingstone but it is not easy to identify the roads, or rather, on Tracks4Africa there are only the main roads and we could follow them, but we cannot find the secondary roads, while instead they know how to orient themselves and they know where there is something to see.

Also so we don't have too much will to drive and so we enjoy the activity more, we also park Dr. Livingstone for 2 days and we don't move it anylonger.

Since it is time for lunch we prepare the table and unroll the tent so we shelter a little from the sun, it is the first time we open it during this trip and we usually open it on average once per trip, also because if we are not stopped in a place for at least two nights without moving the car it doesn't make much sense.

What a relaxing lunch here in the shade and in the silence, broken only by the greetings of the lodge staff who pass by and seem happy to see us; we are pleased that they greet us so willingly.

Initially today we did not want to do anything and stay here relaxing and working a little, the hard life of the digital nomad, and going to see the sunset tomorrow, but then Woopy made us change our minds because she told us that tomorrow there are about 20 people who go to the baobabs and therefore it is better to go today.

So after lunch we arrange a few things, we do the laundry, that with this sun and this heat will dry instantly, and then we go to the lounge of the lodge where the wi-fi is located so we can connect while waiting to leave for the sundowner at the baobabs.