Day 2 - 5 Long drive north to Kasane, Botswana

Previous Post:  Day 1 - My Introduction to Africa - a near death experience in Johannesburg

Photo Album: A long drive to Kasane
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After the extreme drama yesterday and the near death experience, I was still shaken but feeling fine. Then the news and dire warnings from my friends via the internet were coming through, thick and fast....Ebola, the dreaded disease was breaking out into an epidemic throughout Western Africa.....which raised this question of whether to continue the journey after this rude introduction, and so with the rest of the itinerary, which will include Botswana and Namibia, none of which I had never been before. 

Holy mackerel !  a very questionable and possibly dangerous unknown ahead, plus a looming epidemic that was 6000 Km away, out of control, by the words of the United Nation experts.

I was looking into the big unknown......it did flick through my mind, for a complete millisecond or two, that I should pack my bags and return to the airport.....

But I somehow, took those negative thoughts off my mind, walked out onto the dangerous streets of Johannesburg again.

My task over the next few days, was to reach Kasane, a small Botswana town in the north, near the border with Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia, a 1400 Km drive ahead. I shalt be joining a 4x4 Safari into the coveted Chobe National Park, my first ever animal safari.

The CBD area was now, full of people, going by their daily chores on a Monday morning.  Having had all my cash taken off me, I needed to refill my wallet.

I walked into the nearest bank, and found the ATMs were not working, so I rushed another block away.  There was a queue...then after inserting my card, the systems came up with the message, " Out of Service ", and refused to return the card to me.   What...my luck !...though I had cash and credit cards....but I certainly did not want to lose my ATM card down the black hole of a foreign bank.

I rushed into the office and asked the security guard, he just waved me off saying that I have to report the lost card with my bank, he can not help.  Upon seeing my insistence, he reluctantly asked the manger to help.  

I was just about having enough !!  I do not know how I kept cool, but I did.

To cut a long story short, apparently, their IT guys were rebooting the ATMs just the instant I inserted my card.....and it took them another half an hour to retrieve the card and returned to me.  My luck !

After that, I decided to try another bank, and it worked.  With another fistful of South African Rands, I drove off into the freeway traffics leading to Pretoria.

The freeway to Pretoria is just like any in Australia or the US, unremarkable, well, a freeway! Being the Capital of South Africa, I intended to have a small picnic lunch at Church Square, the main square, presumably.

But it was not to be, the traffic was jam packed around downtown Pretoria, and in particular, I did not like those kids loitering around the streets trying to get a parking space for you for a small tip. I am just not comfortable with this sort of street scenes.

So I left Pretoria with only the following picture to show for...some building just behind Church Square.

After leaving Pretoria, going towards Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, the freeway, slowly turned into highway, rural scenery took over.  Other than the many toll collectors, one could not make out the difference between this and Australia, low profile mountains with long straight roads.

It was late afternoon when I reached Zeerust, the largest township so far, busy with shops and people.

Not sure if the border posts would be opened, still another hour away, I decided to check into a local lodge for the night.

I inquired about the law and order situation with the host, before venturing out into the town to buy a set of blankets for my camping need, just in case.  It was a busy town with mainly native folks, but I felt safe, for some reasons.  There were a couple of shops run by Chinese merchants from Fujian, selling mainly low price household items.

Early next morning, the host advised me to take a different, and a more scenic road to Gaborone, through another less busy border post, Kopfontein.

The narrow highway was dotted with native villages, some seemed run down.

Small minibuses were running between villages, presumably the local means of public transports.

The border crossing at Kopfontein was not busy at all, there were no big issues, and it took less than half an hour to see through all the stamps required.  No fuss, just pay the money for a road permit for the car.  I was let in.

Gaborone is not a big place, being the Capital of Botswana, it has quite a lot of government buildings, and of course the Parliament House, which unfortunately is not open for visits.

The currency of Botswana is Pula, approximately 20% higher than South African Rand.  So I approached the nearest bank to get a fistful of Pula, just in case.  Credit card worked fine when I put in fuel, and bought my lunch at the local supermarket.

As I still have a long way to go, trying to reach Francistown, which is still another 450 Km in the north, so I did not linger on too much after a quick lunch. For little that I have seen, the city is pretty clean, tidy, and safe, nothing ostentatious.

But I did get, from the Tourism Information Bureau, a very nicely, professionally presented and free, Tourism book, highlighting some of the attractions with beautiful pictures, especially, the wildlife attractions of Botswana. They must be very protective and proud of their environment, floras and faunas.

It was a very good highway going north towards Francistown. Somewhere along the highway, I crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, theoretically, I was now into the tropics.  The weather so far has been mild, nothing drastic. I seemed to have left all that negative energies of Johannesburg behind.

There were a couple of largish townships along the way, which I just drove straight through. When I got to Francistown, it was nearly dark.  The motel I stayed seemed to only have one customer. But, cooking for one person, it still took the little lady chef a couple of hours to prepare.

Each room has its own WiFi router and cabled Internet, a bit of a pleasant surprise.

Whilst waiting for the dinner, I fired up my Spot Tracker in the open car park area, which sent the GPS Co-ordinates to my daughters in Australia via a email, to tell them where I am and that I am safe.  The same device can send a distressed signal to Emergency Services Center in the US, where they'll contact the local Emergency Services to render rescue.  During the last five years, I did have to use this emergency alarm once in Australia, and it did work.

However, tonight, I was not getting any email messages to indicate a message has been sent, despite many attempts.  After contacting the US service provider online, they pointed out that this part of the World is just outside the footprint of their satellites.  Oops, that adds anther element of risk to the trip, at least, that means if I am ever out of Internet connections, my daughters would not know where I would be. I would have to send them emails ahead of time to tell them of my intended movements.

The next morning, I decided to get myself a SIM card, so that I can at least get as much Internet connectivity as I can during the trip, though I have absolutely no idea what the quality of the local network would be like.

At least, at the service station, I was getting a lot of services, 3 girls were surrounding my car, as soon as I pulled in, one filled the tank whilst two were cleaning all the window glasses.  That's what I would call service, all smiling faces too.  Or was it !

By mid morning I was out of town with my new SIM card in the phone and a full fuel tank.

But there was this old truck, creeping and puffing black smokes occupying the only lane of the highway, which has a solid double line. The car in front of me decided to overtake it via a inside left turn lane, so I decided, what the hack!, and followed through.

Soon, I heard the sound of sirens behind me, and a police car overtooked both of us, and signaled us to pull over.  Oops.

The police approached me, have one look at my driver licence and passport, asked me to wait and indicated, a fine would be levied.  After they finished dealing with the car in front of me, then they returned, and demanded a P1800 ( about US $150) of fine.  I asked for receipts if I were to pay, then they say I have to go to the police station 20 Km ahead to obtain it, and asked me to follow.  Another 5 Km or so, they pulled up again, and waved me to go to their car.  Then the officer sat inside the car, very timidly ask me how much can I afford, now I knew the game!  I said, without a receipt, only P400, then, he hushed "OK" to me ( there were nobody around except them, on this open highway ! ).  As I was handing over the money, another car was approaching on the highway, immediately, he asked me to take the money away, and only collect it after the car passed.....it was hilarious !

Anyhow, they sped off after the "transaction"..... leaving me alone.


The rest of the journey to Kasane through Nata was quite uneventful.  In fact the highway from Nata to Kasane was almost brand new, some sections were not even marked.

Soon out of Nata, there was this big group of workers harvesting, what seems to be reed grasses to me, along the highway.

Wondered what were they for?

It has to be said that the Mobile Network signal along the whole stretch of highway seems to be quite strong, even though it is sparsely populated, and few cars were on it.

Soon, I saw encouraging signs, 

and this

And I did see a pair of Kudus jumping across the highway, which my little GoPro video camera, set on continuous recording, captured.

So here we are, my first wildlife video in Africa.

These are certainly good signs of what else to expect when I got into Kasane, and Chobe National Park !!

During the next day, in Kasane, I was able to confirm my booking for the 4x4 camping safari which I only verbally booked a couple of weeks ago back in Sydney.

Kasane is only a small town, it is a gateway town, on the banks of Chobe River across from Namibia, the end tip of Namibia's historical Caprivi Strip.  Conveniently located next to the famous Chobe National Park, which draws thousands of high paying tourist each year to view the large diversity of wild lives in their natural habitat.

Chobe National Park can only be accessed by 4x4 vehicles, however, for this first trip to Africa, I decided to rent only a 2wd car, and joined local safaris where necessary.  And all the rest camps inside the park were fully booked anyway, apparently a year ahead.

I had a rest day after settling into Kasane. Just by casually driving around, I can see far more varieties of animals then I have seen elsewhere, roaming and mingling around a human settlement.

Here is my first herd of Elephants, just come out of the bush, and crossed a main highway....presumably to get to the banks of Chobe River for a drink.

And it can be dangerous too!  At dusk, a small herd of elephants lost their way on a busy road, ran into fences, and was trying to find a way pass, causing traffic chaos, until they found the way to go.  Seeing the animals wandering around lost, it was both funny and dangerous !

Later I learnt, that they were possibly drunk, after eating the fermented rotten fruits of the Marula trees...one would expect to know that in the  normal course of our sedated daily life ?!!! Would we?

And here we are, warthogs scavenging, 

and Banded Mongoose, trying to avoid me,

And a fantastic and brilliant sunset over Chobe River, setting the scene for a Camping Safari tour into Chobe National Park.

The 4x4 Safari into Chobe couldn't come early enough....

By the way, the SIM card worked well too, I was able to call my host in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, whom I was going to see in three days time.  I booked this B&B place through Airbnb.  He gave me instructions of how to pick up a taxi to his place, after crossing the border post, which is not far from Kasane....it was all still a bit unsure at this stage, but he assured me that it will work out fine.

Next Post:  Chobe National Park Safari - night stalking by lions

First Day in Africa - A near-death experience in Johannesburg

Previous Post: Planning for Southern Africa

Photo Album: Violent Johannesburg
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My first day in Africa was a violent one.

After a near 30 hour flight from Sydney via Hong Kong, I arrived Johannesburg on this very cold and sunny, Sunday morning.

This was my first trip ever to the Great Continent of Africa.

Transiting in Hong Kong

A cold crisp morning in Johannesburg

The airport exchange kiosks only offered murderous exchange rates, so I decided to try the ATM, and it worked.  So with a pocketful of South African Rand, I was ready to hit the town.

The trip to the hotel in the business district of Johannesburg was easy enough in my near new rental car, and the room was terrific.  I was not tired after the long trip, jet lag had not hit me yet.


I then asked the receptionist for a map and directions to a nearby supermarket, as I wanted to stock up on some water, fruits and snacks, for my long trip ahead to Kasane of northeastern Botswana, a 1400 Km drive, to my first safari stop.  She was not too forthcoming with the directions, just to say that they can take me there with their car, I thought it was a case of trying to get me to buy more services, but on hearing that it was a complimentary service, I was pleasantly surprised.  She recommended that I always use their car to go anywhere within 5 Km, I should have taken the hint !

Carlton Center - where the supermarket is.

At the supermarket, there was a long queue in the checkout, I was overdue in returning to meet my driver.  Then I saw him come running in to look for me and take me to the car.  What was his worry?!  I missed the second hint.

The car was parked just outside the large shopping complex, and there were many men loitering around for a small tips to look after someone's parked car, a sign of security problems !?

Looking out of the windows of the restaurant whilst having lunch back at the hotel, I noticed that the building next door is the Anglo American's head office, a mining giant of South African origin.  

That brought back memories that I would have been in that building in 1983, some 31 years ago, to make a presentation to the senior managements about a new line of hi-tech scientific equipment that we were manufacturing in Melbourne. 

Soon after lunch, as I was still feeling fit, I decided to go out for a walk, not wanting to be bothered with a chauffeured car.  Hell, it was a quiet Sunday afternoon, and it was sunny and peaceful around the hotel, why bother with a car !! I thought.

But I thought better to leave all my passports, wallets, and expensive cameras in the hotel, save a pocketful of Rands, and some USD cash plus a small pocket camera, smartphone etc. All hidden inside my Columbia overcoat and the zipped pockets of my pant.

Johannesburg is the economic capital of  South Africa, mining is a major part of the economy, so there are no surprises that many global mining giants have their offices in here.  And I was wandering along the streets towards Carlton Center, where I shopped earlier in the day.

Passing Gandhi Square, and of course, Gandhi had a very remarkable role in anti-apartheid politics in South Africa even before the ANC and Mandela, how can one forget that.

A couple of blocks further, I set foot in Carlton Center again. It was not unlike a typical Westfield Shopping centre in Sydney on a Sunday afternoon, with most of the shops closed, except a few cafes and eateries.

By now, I was becoming complacent, and decided to exit the center at the northern end, and saw a long row of smaller shops lining the narrow street, there were plenty of shoppers, but not overly crowded.

So I kept wandering north aimlessly, just to kill time. Quite a few blocks further, I noticed that it has become a crowded street of people waiting for transportation, so I decided to turn left, and walked in the general directions of the hotel. 

Halfway down the block, I smell a stench coming from the buildings around, and across the road, a black building, fairly dilapidated with a few gangster looking blokes loitering in the front, then it clicked.

I remembered some BBC documentary a year earlier, talking about this building and a couple of others on the same street, were hijacked by gangsters, and this had been ( probably still is ) the battleground between them and some vigilante groups and the polices.

Hell, how did I get here!

Feeling unease, I quickly pocketed my camera, and finished the half block, turned left and go straight towards Carlton Center again.  It was about 3 pm, and there were quite a few hawkers selling bootleg DVDs  along the way, I brushed pass them, and quick paced back towards Carlton Center, with my head down.

After a couple of blocks, Carlton Center Building was right in front of my eyes, I was in a much better neighborhood, it seemed, a main street with shops closed for Sunday.  I was ready to cross the street, then......

First, this African man overtook me and approached me from the front, he pushed my head backwards, I felled onto the arms of another, who proceeded to arm locked my neck and choking me hard, and one from another side, try to push me to the ground.  The strangle was becoming very hard......

Then... I fell into a dreamy state.  I felt was swimming in a tight and brightly lit enclosure, like a round fish bowl or a big bubble, feeling very restricted and probably was drowning. I was feeling frustrated with the lack of space and freedom....and yelled with all my might.  But I had no recollection of anyone else surrounding me, fleecing my pockets etc.

Reality came back, I was lying on the ground, free and panting heavily, and trying to come to terms...There was a fist fight going on....someone in uniform.....  Then a couple of African men were kicked to the ground, face slapped, and bundled into the back of a police car in the middle of the road.

I saw my smartphone and my Garmin GPS unit and the batteries were scattered on the ground.  I was saved by three policemen on car patrol.

I was mugged...the police told me, I could have been killed if not for someone on the street alerting them to this direction when they drove by.

My pocket camera was gone, and so were the cash in my pocket.  Everything was fleeced out of me in the time I was unconscious...and they were caught in the act.

My throat was very sore, and I spoke like having a cold.  But nothing else seemed to have been injured.

It all happened in the middle of a sunny and bright afternoon, on the main street of Johannesburg.  I should have taken the hints about using the hotel's complimentary car.

We were driven to the Central Johannesburg Police Station, and were taken into a big room, like an unused gym.

Whilst one of the officers was getting paperwork filled out, the usual personal details and my recollection of the event, my lost properties etc.

The two thugs were stripped of their belts and taken in turn into another room, presumably for interrogation.  When they came out, they were weeping, and one of the officers was slapping their face occasionally.  Later on, I understood that they were forcing them to contact the one who ran away with my camera.  They were trying to get my camera returned.

One of the thugs and their mobile phones

The two arrested left their mobile phones on the table, and the officers were monitoring the phone calls to and fro.  After a flurry of mobile phone calls, all spoken in, what I presume to be an African dialect which I do not understand.  After a couple of hours, two officers took them out and returned half an hour later with my camera.  Then the two criminals are left lying on the floor lamely, awaiting charges to be formally laid.  An hour earlier they violently disturbed my space, and possibly my family's happiness.

The efforts that these officers put in to helping a poor tourist were beyond my words.

There was one more piece of paperwork that I had to sign, is the release of the "suspected stolen" properties to me, of which, I promised to produce if required by the court.

My cheap smartphone had its glasses cracked, but is still usable, the camera was slightly scratched and working, the Garmin GPS was put back and worked fine.  Save the cashes lost.

I waited for another hour, for a case officer to be assigned, who, as I understood, would be the officer who was going to investigate and see through the prosecution process etc.

The two criminals were committed to detention, they said "sorry" as they were led away.  I too, was sorry for them, why did they have to resort to this.  Perhaps life was quite impossible for them !  Though I did not find out, I suspect that they were not South Africans, but illegal immigrants from the north, possibly Zimbabwe or Mozambique.

It was already dark, when the three officers kindly offered to take me back to hotel.  They were very friendly, and had been very helpful throughout.  We exchanged contact details, and I sent them a big Thank You note come the next X'mas.

The next morning, before embarking on my long journey to Botswana in my car, I visited the Police Station ( Johannesburg Central ) early in the morning to see if I can catch the Case Officer and see what else he would want.

It was a case of running up and down the floors of this old building, fairly dilapidated, no lifts were working on this 12-14 stories building. This was the same building, that during apartheid era, made notorious for the human abuses and tortures that were dished out to black dissidents....but now it seems that it is mainly staffed by native Africans.  The state of the building speaks volume about the resources available to policing in this notoriously violent city.

After some searches and querying, I finally located the office of the Case Officer, but he was in court for the morning.  So I left my email address with his colleagues, and decided to start my long trip north.

I still had not found the time, nor do I want to at this stage, to reflect on the traumatic experience. It was a near death encounter alright.

And that was my introduction to Africa.

One other issue was also starting to brew, 6000 Km away, that nearly sent me scurrying for the airport.........



Next Post:  The Long Drive to Kasane.