Palapye, Botswana to Johannesburg, South Africa
05/23/10
We woke up damp and wet in our soggy tent that smelled of the scent frogs must release in heat, a mix of old hockey equipment and stinky shoes. Although our tent never received one droplet of rain, it was unpacked drenched the night prior. I was more upset than I was when Bambi’s mother was killed. But the Ribatron-don persevered. It was 5:45 a.m. and we took down the tent and said goodbye to the one-inch thick mattress that turned my voluptuous bootae into a larger version of my flattened forehead.
Then we drove for 10 hours. That’s right, 21 hours in a van for two days, only stopping for to-go food and passport stamps.
In Botswana, we picked up a Canadian named Will from Calgary, Alberta who had taken a ferry across from Zambia. Back home, who was set to attend Thompson Rivers University - the same school I received my Bachelor of Journalism from in a small city called Kamloops, British Columbia. Sometimes it can be a really small world, there we were in the middle of rural Botswana, talking about a small city in Canada we had both lived in. With only 80,000 people in Kamloops, the odds of meeting someone from Kamloops in Botswana were slim to none. He also wore underwear. We had a lot in common.
After setting up our tents at Camp Itumela in Palapye for the last time, thankfully, we had a great buffet dinner with vegetables, rice and chicken. For dessert and to snap out of boredom from another day on the road, I ate a dried caterpillar when offered. It tasted like a mix of old meat, dirt and dried leaves, capping off a boring and uneventful day by grossing out my mom and girlfriend.
The time on the road gave me the opportunity to try to blow things up with my mind (I failed miserably, in case you wondered) and also look back on my time with Livingstone Trails Budget Tours. Overall, we all enjoyed the trip, saw a lot, met some great people and had a blast. However, the long drives, lack of sleep due to shitty mattresses was tough. There online advertising of “bedded camping” to me was a straight lie. The late lunches after long days on the road at often 3 p.m., and even later dinners, really took a toll on our bodies and I was glad our tour was over.
Our guide David (aka Spinning Ugly) was also friendly and always in full spirits. My only complaint was he cooked the same meals over and over, though they were tastey, resulted in me desperately craving something new. So at night, we went out for Italian food.
That’s all for now.
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