All Roads Lead to Maun

Part of the major financial hub that is the Kalahari

An early rise this morning, we had a lot of ground to cover. We didn’t have to deal with customs, clearing agents, border posts, silly regulations, or any other man made hindrances.  We had breakfast, asked the front desk to turn the water on in our bathrooms so we could shower, (nobody seemed to know why it had been turned off in the first place) and hit the road. And it was a long, long drive. We also thought that we were driving across the Kalahari desert. That’s what the signs said anyway. Its not supposed to rain in the desert, but we hit the first rains of the year, It wasn’t too bad and we drove steadily to Maun, the major town in the Okavango region.


Again there were huge quantities of livestock which grazed on the edge of the road. For some reason there is a little grass that grows there but doesn’t seem to grow anywhere else. Occasionally the animals meander into the road but a good siren wail cleared most of them. Les also made an interesting observation. Donkeys always hang out with others of the same colour, and normally in groups of three. This hypothesis was proved out by empirical observation of the hundreds that we passed.

The river that flows through Maun

Maun is an interesting small town that is clearly the commercial hub of the region. There were Herero women in beautiful traditional costumes, an d a huge variety of people going about their business. The business ranged in sophistication from the very primitive to branches of major companies. We went to a Nando’s for lunch and then moved on, eventually getting to our lodge at about four.

What a relief and what a great place Planet Baobab is, and how different from the prior night.

The baobab at the entrance.The shack is the original area post office

The manager and his assistant were there to greet us, and show us around.  It is more an environment than a traditional lodge, and has a Jetsons feel to the design of the interiors. The entrance is through a curved building that seemed like another world, dark and mysterious as you walked through it to the main dining area. There is a huge pool and a fire pit, and the bar is amazing.







It is lined with pictures from Africa of yore, and the chandeliers are made of dozens of inverted empty beer bottles. The key though is that it is fully stocked and the bartender, Bank, is helpful, friendly and knows his stuff. After he got us all to sign an indemnity, he made a wonderful cocktail with a lot of ingredients that went down very well, looked like cough syrup, and is called Liquid Cocaine. A great start to the evening!

The lodge itself is built around a number of huge baobabs that look like they are 1000 years old. Our huts are arranged in a circle around the base of one, which has to be about 20 feet in diameter. They are traditional mud huts with thatched roofs, but in the back there is a small passage that leads to a private bathroom in a smaller hut. There is an option of staying in a traditional thatch hut that looks like an African version of a teepee, but that really doesn’t look too comfortable. . Interestingly there is very little wild game here so we won’t be doing game drives or anything like that. Instead we will be walking through the bush for a couple of hours learning about the plant life. The whole thing is just spectacular. And at night afew of the trees are lit - just amazing

We also discovered that there was a class of about twenty mostly American sixteen year old girls staying here. Apparently they have just completed a semester in Africa and this is the final stop before heading home on Sunday. Allan arranged for us to give them a tour of the fire trucks tomorrow afternoon.







Dinner tonight was a traditional Tswana meal of beef stew, corn cake and vegetables. It was great, the first good meal since Windhoek and once again Les came through with some of the Stellakaya. All in all this is a wonderful place to stop for an extra day, unwind from the driving and really enjoy the hugeness of Africa