Day 57 – Switzerland.

If you look at a map of Botswana there are 2 features that stand out. The Okavango Delta and the Makgadigadi. The latter is an enormous salt pan. It is the size of Swtzerland. There are 7 million people live in Switzerland. There are none in the Makgadigadi. But this is the location for Jacks Camp where we are currently holed up. It is hot and desert like. The temperature is 43 degrees. It is difficult to ingest sufficient water to stay hydrated. To sleep midday it is necessary to cover oneself with a wet kikkoy….a light scarf that cools as it evaporates. Despite the apparenty desolation, wildlife abounds. Desert adapted elephant, oryx, lion, brown hyena, jackals, ostrich by the hundreds and a unique selection of birds.

In the morning we took a drive out to Chapmans Baobab. It was on Livingstons trek across Africa. It is estimated to be around 5000 years old and is 14 metres in diameter. Just pace out 14 long strides and see if you can believe that there is a tree so large. It has been a key navigational point for centuries as it stands proud in a flat featureless landscape.

The afternoon was a little more participatory with Tim, Charles and myself on quadbikes and Gregg, Sam, Robin and Nick on bikes. We covered 35 kliks only into the pan. And how many falls would you guess the bikers suffered? Answer at the bottom.

Broken foot. No problem. Quad Bike is the answer.

The pan is a very unique place. It has a grey brown crinkly surface with patches of white. It is utterly flat and endless. Often the horizon is a mirror and sometimes you can see an island floating curiously above the silvered rim. In the rains it floats with water and the flamingos arrive in the hundreds of thousands. Frogs and other aquatic species emerge from 8 months hibernating below the crust and the place comes alive.

Well there were eight falls, with Sam the leader on three. A mixture of either sand hazards or slippery mud hiding maliciously just below the hard surface crust.

I on the other hand had no falls on my quad. Thank goodness. J