Day Deux (duh)

We slept in. We had  to. By 10 we had cleaned up a bit and arranged for a driver from the car rental company to come with us to the Botswana border and drive the car back. We said our fond farewells to our lovely hotel on the peak, managed to get the trucks out of the driveway without any damage and headed out. Then we had to fuel up, and what a surprise. We were met at the gas station by the Zimbabwean Ambassador to Namibia and her husband, two delightful people. What made it even better was that it was he birthday. We spent a while chatting about the state of affairs, took the obligatory pictures and got underway.

The road was actually surprisingly good. The Trans-Kalahari highway is under construction and while we would probably call it a tertiary road at best, it is “lightly” paved.  And its really cool to put on all the flashing lights and the sirens and cruise down the highway at about 50 mph. It scares the bejesus out of the assorted donkeys, cows and goats that have free reign over the highways and byways

We made it to the Botswana border at about 4 p.m. and that’s when the fun started. Leaving Namibia was no problem. We changed some money at the general store about 100 yards from the border post and that was when I decided to change careers. We bought Namibian dollars at a 25% discount and the lady Shylock has a lock on the market. The SEC would never live with that but then we aren’t in America. 

Waiting for our courier's return at the Botswana border

If you aren't the lead dog the view never changes, but sometimes the view ain't so bad

Peter went in to present our paperwork and we thought we were in good shape because the clearing agents were expecting us and telling him what to do. After a couple of hours of telling him what to do it turned out that we had a tax to pay, the office didn’t take dollars and we didn’t have enough of any other currency. The clerk told him what we needed and off I went back to Namibia to the monopoly lady without my passport which I was told I didn’t need.  I changed the money, lost some, went back to get some more, and went back to Botswana customs. Peter took the funds to the window and there was told that it was good he had enough for one truck, but what about the other one. They (our genius clearing agents and the customs clerk collectively) had forgotten to mention that the amount needed was a per truck basis. So Johnny was dispatched to see the financial wizard in Namibia and change more money. Boy, she had a good day with us. At last we had enough money in the right currency, and we were free to go on. It was now about 7 and we had a couple of hundred kilometers to go to get to Ghanzi.

The drive was long, everyone was tired and we had to keep a lookout for animals. Carcasses on the roadside gave new meaning to the term roadkill. The good part was that we made it to the lodge without further adventure at ten. At last we thought we could have something to eat and drink and get a good night’s sleep. It had been a long and stress full day. The manager was a charming fellow who told us that while there was time to get a drink at the bar, food was absolutely out of the question.  He refused to have his staff even get us a sandwich, and then walked out in front of us with a heaping plate of food for his own dinner. What a great hospitality demonstration.  Our rooms were tiny and it was hot. They had ceiling fans but between the six of us we could not find the controls. Eventually a wizard from reception arrived and switched them on. Les and I who were roomies for the night decided that we should make our own dinner; we proceed to have a sumptuous feast of some great Italian cheese which he had been keeping for a special occasion, a solid South African fruit cake which I had been saving, and a good bottle of Stellakaya’s best. I also had a little container of Ultramel custard to make everything work well. At midnight he went onto our balcony to finish his cigar and there in front of us were three beautiful waterbuck, grazing. That was the best part of the day I think.