Old Legs Tour Angola 2024 – Days 43 & 44

Drostke Lodge, Botswana to Bulawayo - Almost home!

We’re thrilled to share that our fundraising efforts are going incredibly well! We’re on track to meet, hopefully even exceed, our goals, which will make a huge difference in the lives of countless pensioners. To ensure we reach our full potential, we need your support. While you’re reading this, please consider making a donation. 

Day 43

Drotske Lodge is a birder’s paradise, a testament to creativity, pioneering spirit, and adventure. Jan Drotske built the lodge 38 years ago, well before the road was tarred. It is beautifully appointed and is only a 100m walk to the water’s edge. The main deck is elevated several meters above the ground, overlooking a beautifully manicured lawn, with indigenous trees surrounding a classic-shaped swimming pool. The backdrop to all of this is a breathtaking 10-kilometer expanse of reeds and waterways of the Okavango.

Sadly we don’t have time to hang around so we scoffed down some toast and coffee and set off on the long, potholed road to Maun. We’d hoped to see views of the river and scenery along the way, but this area is very flat, and the shrubs obscure much of what lies behind them. Other than the odd elephant or kudu, our trip through the famous Okavango panhandle was booorrring!

Maun didn’t exactly blow us away either. From the car, after miles of semi-desert, the town seemed dry, dusty, and bleak – not at all what you’d expect from being on the edge of a famous water wonderland.  Sorry Maun, we’’ll definitely have to come back again sometime and give you a fair chance.

With no other distractions to tempt us, and very eager now to get home, we pressed on ambitiously for Francistown.  Unfortunately the rapidly-approaching sunset forced us to stop in the town of Gweta, at the gates of the Gweta Lodge. As we stepped out of the cars, our legs and backs stiff from the long drive, we were greeted with a cheerful “I know you guys, the Old Legs!” Bilton, the owner-manager, had met the crew returning from the Skeleton Coast Tour 18 months ago and was thrilled to see us. His lodge boasts a crystal-clear pool, bar, restaurant, and most importantly, BEDS! After such long days on the road, none of us were keen to set up another dusty campsite and yearned for a proper bed, brick walls,and concrete floors.

Dinner was hake or pork chops, with chips. The chatter flicked between excited recollections of the past few days and the gloomier prospects of the tour fast coming to an end. Again, the consensus was that we were blessed to have had such a fun and epic tour but that we still have the challenge of completing the Do Good.

We’re thrilled to share that our fundraising efforts are going incredibly well! We’re on track to meet, hopefully even exceed, our goals, which will make a huge difference in the lives of countless pensioners. To ensure we reach our full potential, we need your support. While you’re reading this, please consider making a donation. We know it’s a schlep and might seem like a small contribution won’t matter, but every dollar counts. Imagine if every reader donated just $1 – we could raise over $250,000!

We understand that not everyone will donate, but we urge you to be one of those who do. By making a donation, you’ll be part of a community that cares and takes action.

Thank you for being part of the power behind the pedals!

https://www.oldlegstour.com/donate-2/

Day 44

We enjoyed our short stay at Gweta Lodge but were eager to hit the road early and cover as much ground as possible to reach Bulawayo in time for the Bokke vs. All Blacks match. A few kilometres out of Gweta, however, we stumbled across a giant pink aardvark, and who could possibly resist stopping for such a thing?  Certainly not the 7 remaining Old Legs, mostly because 3 of them are the ADHD media team, and it doesn’t take much to distract them. No, not a real aardvark.  That would be Epic.  But this one was pretty impressive – the Planet Baobab Lodge had cleverly constructed a huge, perfectly proportioned concrete aardvark to advertise their turnoff. Keegan and Troy were the first to climb onto the giant concrete sculpture and start goofing around, but soon enough, we were all joining in the fun.

As we continued our journey towards Francistown, we spotted elephants drinking from a roadside water source. Botswana’s water authority has laid down kilometres of pipes to transport water from remote sources to towns and villages along the highway. Every 200 meters, they’ve built large, brick-lined inspection boxes for maintenance, big enough to allow workers to enter the massive underground pipes and check for problems.  They assumed the huge, reinforced concrete lids, measuring around 5 meters square and 150 millimeters thick, would be too heavy for elephants to move.

Sorry for that! The eles had clearly had no difficulty whatsoever in tossing the lids off, cracking the pipes inside, and drinking their fill of the cool, clean water, even liberating enough to spray themselves all over as they cooled off. It must be a huge frustration for the water board but it was great entertainment for us!

We finally reached Francistown by midday and the excitement was palpable as we prepared to cross into our homeland at last. The border was thankfully quick and by 3 pm we were on the outskirts of Bulawayo, in plenty of time to shower, change, and watch the tense encounter between two arch-rivals.  A great end to a long day!

Tomorrow we drive home to Harare and leave Gary behind, as Bulawayo is his hometown.  We will be sad to say goodbye – apart from being a wonderful member of the team, Gary is also an epic photographer and videographer.  Many of you will agree that Gary’s photos this time have been the best-ever of any tour. Thanks so much Gary!

So, from a happy, but weary group of now just 6,

Have fun.  Do Good.  Do Epic.  And please don’t forget to donate, if you can.   Just one dollar can make a difference! Thank you for being part of the power behind the pedals!

https://www.oldlegstour.com/donate-2/

#OldLegsTour #Angola2024 #EvenMoreEpic #PedallingForPensioners #ThePowerBehindThePedals #HaveFun #DoGood #DoEpic

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