How Hot?

The B & B that I checked into when I arrived in Nata was, how can I put it, interesting. It was a property that was accessed via a sandy track off the main road. The property was surrounded by a 6 ft wall with circular barbed wire on the top. It was like something you would see on the walls of a prison. Once in the walled enclosure the property looked quite nice. So I checked in and was shown my room, which on first impressions looked ok until I used the sink tap and there was no water. I then switched the air conditioning on and it immediately started to drip water on the floor at such a rate that I had to put a bucket underneath the air con unit to catch the water. I decided that watching a film might be a good idea but I couldn’t switch the TV on...great. Eventually I realised that by replacing the batteries in the remote as if by magic, the TV switched on. Then five mins into watching a film I could hear some scratching by the room door. I looked down on the floor and there was the largest beatle I have ever seen walking across the tiled floor...nice!

Anyway on the upside the owner did muster up some decent food and a beer, which after riding 230 miles in 34 degrees, was very welcome.

The next morning I continued on my journey to Gaborone. The roads got progressively better. In fact after passing through Francistown the road turned into dual carriageway with painted lines, Armco barriers, road signs and no pot holes, a real treat.

It was another 190 miles to Gaborone and although the roads were in good condition, they were straight for as far as the eye could see, so were extremely boring to ride and with the temperature continuing to sit at 34 degrees I actually started to feel very sleepy, the first time this has ever happened to me whilst riding a motorbike. Needless to say when I eventually passed a petrol station, I stopped for a cool down and a Red Bull!

After 4 hrs in the saddle I finally reached Gaborone, an extremely busy town. Fortunately I had prebooked a B&B on the outskirts of the town, on the road to the South African Border, so headed straight there.

The Kinross B&B was a real find. It was probably the most luxurious place I had stayed at since being in Africa and only cost £31 for the night.

The lounge area....

The TV room had the most amazing TV and sound system....

Soon after checking in it was off to find a local restaurant. Gaborone was definitely closer to home with decent shops and restaurants. In fact some of the residence were clearly well off as a new Maserati parked up right in front of me...of all the cars!

I even managed to find a coffee shop, the first since being in Africa and had to treat myself to a coffee and piece of cake. The occasion was even worth a photo, how sad!

Whilst sipping my coffee, it was only then that I starting to feel a sense of achievement...I had ridden my Yamaha 700 Tenere solo from Nairobi, through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Botswana and tomorrow I would cross over the border to South Africa having covered 4,500 miles in just over 4 weeks and still the adventure continues.

South Africa here I come......