Letlhakane

I was venturing into diamond country this far north. I'd already seen a large sign on a junction indicating 160km inland on 4wd roads to one mine, and to call ahead. Not sure if that was for security purposes or search and rescue. The town of Letlhakane had a long strip entrance layered with little tin shops, various food stalls and ubiquitous tyre repair yards. It also had a shiny western style mall with Spar and Nando's and Debonairs a regional pizza chain. Serene Rest guesthouse provided welcome respite, at a reasonable P450 and a friendly hostess. I just needed some cash to finalize that. After a late lunchtime meal on arrival I settled for a supermarket ready to go for dinner. Like a buffet they load up a dish with rice, stew and 2 salads. Then wrap it in a plastic wrap and stick a fork under the pricing label. P30 is about usual, and it's my quick dinner goto, along with many locals.
The plan from here was to cross the pans to Nata. These are large salt beds formed via evaporation dating back millions of years. It was a challenging concept, less so on paper. In the flesh I realized that the lack of shelter, the blazing sun and the isolation weren't a great combination. 300km further up the road was the town of Maun, launchpad to Okavango Delta. This is an inland Delta ever the water doesn't flow into the sea. Instead it evaporates or absorbs into the ground. Lots of wildlife and verdant landscape as the water from further north flowed down. As a significant natural feature it was also a massive tourism area. One of those places edger they provide prices in USD as if some tourists can't do currency conversion.
Target than another 300km I settled on a bus stint, bringing the bike along was going to be possible on the big bus !Read more