Ghanzi

I woke and found it Impossible to get out of bed. My alarms went off.
I read all the texts I'd recieved last night. They were great. I re-
read Rakhee's quotes. My body felt so heavy and my tent was so cold. I
decided to stretch off still in the sleeping bag. It felt really good.
I couldn't believe I'd not been doing this up to now. I knew I really
must get going early and then I might hope to avoid the midday winds
and could plod all day not fearing the dark. This leg was shorter, but
still almost 200km, I hoped to reach Sehitwa by the end of the day. I
was scared I might just not be able to do it because yesterday had
been so tough and then I hadn't eaten all night. I'd had no energy
then and this morning I felt I just couldn't afford to leave late
enough to cook properly. So I headed out with an empty belly. Still I
wanted to get out before the winds. I was kidding myself that then I
could hide from the heat of day and eat then. Come on, lets go!

I had a packet of biscuits in my panniers (a bit like rich teas) these
and my water bottle served as breakfast. I headed into Ghanzi to get
some Botswanan cash. At least then I could buy cold fizzy drinks from
stalls by the road. The only place I could find was a Barclays. The
machine didn't work and the bank wasn't open for another two hours. I
really couldn't wait I had to push on. I was now on a real low.
Possibly the nadir of the trip.

Then strangely things slowly began to improve. Leaving Ghanzi the
200km sign I was expecting to pass said only 180! This may still seem
like a lot, but I felt like I'd just been pulled 20km by one of those
lorries from yesterday. As well as thus when I'd woken this morning
I'd texted a few people to tell them I was having a tough time. I
began to get replies and these really helped and began to lift my
mood. Deby you particularly were fantastic.

Around 100km in I'd stopped for five minutes under a tree to eat some
nuts and crisps. A pickup stopped by carrying some San people. They
were talking in their clicking tongue (one of the most complex
languages in the world) and tried to get me to join in, or at least
make some of the sounds. I was rubbish and they thought it was all
very funny. I was beginning to enjoy meyself again. It may have been
that I was past halfway for that day and there was only a 100km day
tomorrow, but it think it was something else. You see part of the
reason I'd chosen to do this trip was the experiences I've and things
I've seen just through being on a bike have been fantastic even just
in the UK so translated to a trip across Africa surely it would have
to be mindblowing. And it had been inredible (I did actually quite
enjoy the Bosua pass road) but the last few days I guess I'd got into
a bit of a rut with the distances and it had become a bit of a slog.
I'd started cursing myself for not just hiring a car and driving
around with a tent for a month. I'd have been able to cover a lot more
ground and visit more countries and without the mindnumbing peddaling
along open flat baking roads. Had I made a big mistake. But what I
would not have experienced were things like I was now. I think this is
why my spirits began to lift. 30km further down the road it happened
again. Signs appeared for village called Kuke. This was not even on my
map! Even so there right by the road was a tin hut with a girl sitting
below the window selling cold drinks. I stopped for a grape fanta in
the shade (I was getting quite into these now). A white man stopping
by at all, let alone on a bicycle was a novelty and I was soon in the
middle of a bug crowd, passing my map around to show everyone what I
was up to. Yes I think this was why I was feeling better.

Then not much further down the road I rassed the Kuke fence which is
a long distance veterinary fence to try to prevent the spread of
domestic animal diseases. These fences run dead straight across the
landscape for hundereds of miles. They also tend to stop to movement
of wild game. So I was now on the same side of the fence as the
Okavango. Nothing between me and places like Chobe and Moremi. This
felt good. Here the fence also runs close to the Tsau hills. They're
not all that large. Mere bumps to be honest, but for a few kilometers
I had changing views and hills to climb and slopes to roll down (I've
decided I quite like hills now, well see if that changes once I reach
South Africa)

North of the fence the vegetation seemed to have changed too. The low
scrub and savannah I'd become used to gave way to a medium height
mopane woodland. There were more species of birds, but unless you
count roadkill no new wild mammals (the oxpeckers I saw were, well,
pecking oxes)

As I approached Sehitwa it seemed my early start had paid off and it
was still light for a change. I met man on horse who came cantering
out from the woodland and raced along next to me. I've seen some very
thin animals along the road (and quite a few dead ones) but his horse
was in fine fetter and seemed to enjoy having something the ride
alongside. I asked him about places to stay or campsites in Sehitwa.
He said there was nothing official but there was a hospital which
often let people stay. As a doctor I was pretty keen to give this a go
(though looking at the size of the town there was a good chance I'd be
up all night delivering babies if I wasn't careful) Sehitwa has a lot
of nice traditonal round Tswana huts and I was tempted to just go up
to one of these and offer to share my food for a nights accommodation,
but I needed water for the next day so kept going. Sadly I couldn't
find the hospital and ended up sleeping in the police compound but
they were really nice too and as with everyone the were all facinated
with my maps and the journey I was on.

I went to sleep happy. Only 100km tomorrow. The first half of the
Kalahari had nearly swallowed my soul, but I was back, I would make it.