My new home – Botswana Pt2 01st July 2010
Date: Monday 30th August, 2010 | Country: Uncategorized | Tags: africa, blogsherpa, Botswana, Gaborone, Kubu Island, Shakawe | 2 Comments »On my 3rd visit back to Botswana I was able to go on a small road trip with my friend Luisa and we decided to visit a couple of places one new to me and one that I fell in love with the first time I was there.
Kubu Island
Lying southeast of the Okavango Delta and surrounded by the Kalahari desert Makgadikgadi is technically not a single pan but many pans with sandy desert in between, the largest being the Sua (Sowa), Ntwetwe and Nxai Pans. The largest individual pan is about 1,900 sq mi (4,921.0 km2).
We were told by a few people in Gabs that Kubu Island is a must see place and we wouldn’t regret it. It took us a day and half to drive to the start of the pan where we could book one night camping on the Island and for entrance and camping costing around £15 each it seemed reasonable enough. It’s run by a local community trust and the money goes back to the employment of the staff that work and maintain the place. Kubu Island is a igneous rock "island" in the salt flat of Sua pan. Kubu Island lies in the south western quadrant of Sua Pan, contains a number of baobab trees, and is protected as a national monument
Above: Getting to the Island
When someone told me that in the middle of a salt pan there was a granite rock Island full of Baobab trees, it’s difficult to comprehend the size and beauty and spiritual nature that the Island offers to you, when you first arrive there are 8 designated camping sites to choose from, all are different in their layout and the baobabs that the camp has so it took us a while to choose our own site due to the beauty of each site and as it was empty at the time we were there we had the pick of the bunch.
Above: The Magical Kubu Island
The Island is a very special place, the camping facilities are basic with a small drop toilet and no shower facilities so if you can get past that it’s a place to unwind and experience a remote wilderness.
Shakawe..Again
The thought of being back on the Okavango delta brought a serious sense of excitement to me and it’s a place that I seriously will be visiting on a regular basis while I am in Botswana. This time I came with my own rod and some lures and John was not surprised to see me back. It was a long weekend the time we went up and some old friends of John and Heather arrived around the same he first day that Lu and I were out with John, he took us to a place called the ‘Bread basket’ that he has had some luck with in the past and after a few hours in other areas without a bite, the bread basket came to fulfil its name and within 5 minutes we all had a fish each. Lu and I had caught our fishes at exactly the same time which was very freaky but fantastic to catch my very first fish. The only problem with catching your own fish is that you have to de-scale and gut the fish yourself getting very messy in the process! Over the next few days I managed to catch a few more fish some small, some big and even had a whopper get away but there was confusion on the boat as to whose line was what so I didn’t feel that bad, and after a good few days on the delta relaxing in the sun, casting into the shimmering delta and eating some fantastic meals round the Braii (mostly thanks to Heather and Anne) we had to leave. John and Heather, once again thanks for your hospitality and you are one of the reasons why I am here to stay so thanks!
Above: I love Fishing!
Junior Achievement/Barclays & Stepping Stones
I thought that I would be doing a lot more volunteering for the Junior Achievement/Barclays joint achievement scheme that I saw a lot of in Ghana, but for whatever reason it didn’t work out as planned. I got to visit one secondary school called Kagiso just outside Gaborone and met two sets of kids that were running their own initiative. The first set of kids were running a specially designed mug that either had a pattern on it or would change colour when hot water was put into it, unfortunately as I explained to them the cost of their mug was around 100 Pula (£10) and this straight away stopped them being able to sell it within their own school which there were around 1000 kids. The second group however were a success as they came up with contemporary jewellery designed and manafactured by the kids themselves and their designs were fresh and at 10 pula a pair of earrings (£1) they were able to sell beyond their targets and making 20-30p per sale in profit they were on the road to bigger and better things.
Above: Kagiso Secondary School Junior Achievers
When I first got to Gabs, I met the Barclays contact Egenia who took me to see another project called Stepping Stones in a place called Mochudi. Stepping Stones was setup to help HIV children with after school activities. One of the projects run here is called ‘Income Generation’ which teaches the kids here how to run their own business, so there is a catering group, an events group, a jewellery design group and a cinema club group. It was here that I met my friend Celia who is co-ordinating the income generation group and it was here that I felt I could volunteer my time to the cinema club. Celia welcomed the assistance and I started to try and help promote the cinema’s next few films, starting with Twilight. After a few weeks they had their second film night and from 3 tickets being sold the first time they did the club, we collectively managed to sell 30. I hope to continue volunteering here as I like the kids here and hopefully over time we can get the whole of Mochudi coming to see the films that the kids are putting on. I’d also like to say a big thanks to Celia who not only has put me up on her living room floor for the past couple of months but has also gone out her way to introduce me to all her friends and contacts and without her help it would have been a hell of a lot harder, thanks Celia.
Above: Stepping Stones Cinema Club
End Credits
At the time of writing this last post in my blog, I have been on the road for 9 months, I have visited some of the most colourful, vibrant & friendliest places in Africa and possibly in the world by comparison. I always had a yearning to see if South Africa was the place that I wanted to spend a few good years of my life but as with most things in life, they never always go the way you planned it might and sometimes you have to go with your own gut feeling which suits the time you are currently at in your own life. I loved seeing the mountains of Morocco, the Senegalese food was amazing, the party atmosphere of the Guinea Bissauan’s, the wild beaches of Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast, the friendly nature of the Ghanaians, the rollercoaster ride you experience in Nigeria, the grandeur of the Cameroun hills, the vibrant jungles of Congo Brazzaville, the ease of camping anywhere in Angola, the solitude within Namibia and the epic scenery that South Africa throws in your face everywhere you look. When I got to Botswana I found many of these aspects that I loved on this whole journey were all there in one country and at this time in my life it feels like a good place to be. For those that have known me for a while, although I have worked in the corporate world for many years, one of my ambitions has always been to setup and run my own cinema/bar/cafe. When I got to Gaborone (Gabs) the capital of Botswana, I could clearly see that there are opportunities here and I could either go for it now or turn my back on an opportunity and maybe never realise this ambition of mine. Being on the road for such a long time, you have plenty of time to think about your own life and what you want to do with it from this moment onwards, well my time came up with the conclusion that at 35 years old it’s a good time for me to try this in a city that is one of the friendliest places I have ever been too as well as the city is developing and crying out for places/venues such as what I have in mind. I have just applied for permanent residency (entitles me to 5 years) in Botswana and also setup my own company that I can start trading through, I will be back in the uk around Mid Sep and remain there until the new year when I will return and start my new life in Botswana, I look forward to seeing all my family and friends that have supported me throughout this journey soon. For those people that I met along this journey and opened their doors to me and became good friends with, I will never forget you and you have taught me many things about human nature that I never knew existed.
Here are some photos that in pictures try to explain what this journey was all about.
Above: My African Nomad Adventure 2009 – 2010
Look forward to hearing from you and thanks for all the kind words and support I have received from friends, family and people reading the blog that I have met along the way.
Noel
