Maun – 19 maart 2024

It is now Monday morning March 18, half past eight and we have just finished our breakfast and still enjoy some morning coolness and coffee. It even rained a bit last night and during the night it was cool (20 degrees).

When we had a drink in the bar here yesterday afternoon, a so-called ‘big rig’ arrived at the campsite. That’s a 4×4 truck, a bit like the European campers but on testosterone. Everything is then in a kind of container that is on the truck. This, German, big rig was huge. Three axes and at least 10 meters long and, I estimate, well above 12 tons. An older man and a very young woman were the passengers, later she called him ‘dad’.

During the night the air conditioning turned in full swing and driving out this truck this morning costed half a tree.

We are going to pack and towards Maun. Due to the weather, we are going to a campsite known to us so that we can take a boat trip from there tomorrow.

It’s now half past one and I’m standing in a parking lot in Maun in front of a Spar. Lisa does some shopping and I’ve tried to get the E-sim going. That doesn’t work, so I sent another email to customer service (which needs the internet, but the campsite has this). As soon as Lisa is back we are going to have some lunch here. Maun is a decent place clearly aimed at tourists and those with a lot of money. You do not drive to your lodge or hotel here, but you fly and are then completely pampered. Some places can only be paid in US$ or €. Five years ago this was already somewhat visible and why not? Europeans and Americans want to pay a lot for a few days of ‘Africa’. Unfortunately, that money ends up with a limited group of people we see when we drive through this country.

We just go to the campsite by car!

While driving, we listen to podcasts. I have recorded a few and especially History of South Africa by Des Latham is very cool. Lisa of course had history (of South Africa) at school, but that was coloured by apartheid. However, my view of the history of South Africa has also become very different because of this podcast that paints a very nuanced picture. For example, there has been a lot of battles between Khoisan, Khoi-khoi, Xhosa and some Afrikaner Boers, but there were also a lot of mixed marriages. In short, it wasn’t that black-white

It was a sobbing night with some cooling only in the early morning. We both slept very badly because of this although the meal with a lot of beans yesterday may also have something to do with it. I had the idea to drive around in the environment which we did. As described above, this environment is entirely focused on the very wealthy tourist who does everything by plane. The story behind that is that the ‘ecological footprint’ is then minimal. After all, hardly any roads are needed and the amount of visitors is minimal while the merits are quite large. For example, this city lives entirely of tourism (55000 inhabitants) and the standard of living is quite high. Some parts of the delta can be reached by car, but with considerable effort and not without danger. In short, the stakeholders have created a perfect environment but who these people are, I leave in the middle.

We had hoped to be able to see the river with a boatguide but the delta is now completely dry waiting for the water from Angola which is expected in a few months. In short, we didn’t do anything today and are heading to Nata and Kasane tomorrow. I have now got my e-sim working so we have internet.