Botswana Report Travel.

 

 Then from the Bus Station in Pretoria, near the train station, I buy a ticket for Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, at the price of 260 Rand, with the Intercape Company, the only one that travels this route. The bus leaves at 1.30pm every day. At the Botswana border there are often queues and therefore the bus can arrive late in Gaborone.

In fact, at 9.00 pm I arrive at the Shell Distributor, near the Gaborone Mall. A pitch dark in the streets of Gaborone. Taxis are waiting for you.

I then reach the Tindi Lodge for the price of 40 Pula by taxi (cost of 500 Pula per night including a hearty breakfast), which is about 1.5 km from the center. The lodge is very nice, with double for single use, very clean and with television in the room.

Visited the Mall of Gaborone and changed money in one of the numerous banks present in it, I then reach the Bus Station for the price of 40 Pula by taxi, where I take a bus to Francistown in Botswana. There are several buses a day for this route. The ticket costs 97.5 Pula and you get it before getting on the Pulman. The trip takes over 5 hours.

Once in Francistown in Botswana, I visit it and then go to sleep at the Grand Lodge in Francistown, located about 1 km from the Bus Station and about 200 meters from the train station. The lodge is very nice, with double for single use, very clean and with television in the room. The cost is 275 Pula per night without breakfast but with free tea and coffee.

The following morning, with one of the numerous collective taxis from 4 seats for the price of 5 by taxi, I reach the Bus Station, where I take a Minibus taxi to Maun in Botswana. There are several minibuses or buses per day for this route. The ticket costs 105 Pula and you get it when you are already on the Pulman. The journey takes over 5 and a half hours (500 km scarce). The journey is not comfortable.

At the Maun Bus Pulman Station I take Minibus no. 1 which leaves when it is full to Matlapaneng fraz of Maun (about 14 km) at the cost of 4 pula. Just communicate it and the bus stops wherever you want on the main road. Then from there with a few hundred meters on foot I reach the beautiful Audi Camp (cost 310 Pula x night with double single use in a tent, including abundant English breakfast). Here there is malaria and therefore we must be very careful.

At the Audi Camp I book an excursion in Mokoro on the waters of the Okavango River Delta (Botswana) for the price of 675 Pula plus 100 Pula for the single supplement, including packed lunch. The day consists of 2 hours of transfer by open road, 1 hour and a half by boat in the middle of the reeds, 3 hours on foot and back on the same itinerary. Very few animals can be seen: some zebra, giraffe, elephant, hippopotamus, crocodile.

After spending another night at the Audi Camp, the next morning I have the campsite staff take me to downtown Maun for free. At the bus station, I take the bus to Francistown (there are several), but I get off in Nata after 3 hours 30 'and 304 km (price 66.30 pula), where I wait for the minibus for Kasane, which leaves when full. The trip takes about 4 hours approximately for 312 km and costs 70 Pula.

In Kasane I sleep at the Water Lily Lodge, located 200 meters away. about from the Bus Station. The cost is 695 Pula per night for double single use, with free tea and coffee in the room. Very nice and clean, with swimming pool. Here I book a Jeep Safari for the next day in Chobe National Park for the price of 300 Pula for 3 hours starting in the morning at 6.00.

My complete travel report with map, photographs and videos is available at this link:

http://vivendosalendo.blogspot.com/2016/10/viaggio-in-sudafrica-lesotho-swaziland.html