When I first arrived in Botswana, I had no car. I arrived with 70 other teachers, so we naturally made some friends. Our first holiday was Christmas, and it was 5 weeks long. So, two friends and I decided to drive one’s Volkswagen Chico (the southern African version of a VW Rabbit) to Uganda, to see a friend of his.
Consider the distance – about 15,000 kilometres.
Consider the car – compact.
Already, you can see it was interesting.
J, the car owner, wouldn’t let either M or me drive it, so we both had a lot of time to look out the window, watching the countries go by. I wrote a very long journal, and have always wanted to share it. Well, now I can.
What follows is true, edited for coherence only. It is completely subjective.
The Cast:
J – 42 English, teacher, car owner
M – 23 Irish, teacher
Me – 28 Canadian, teacher, supposed 2nd driver
December 1 - Otse to Francistown
1st day on the road. The valiant little Chico, how far will she take us? We are full to the gills with tents, sleeping bags, giant gas cooker, spare wheel, food.
We were all very excited about going north of Gaborone, as none of us had been before. No hills, but aside from that, much the same. Varying amounts of scrubby trees and slightly differently coloured soils. The driving is a lot like that at home, but the roads are narrower. I’m getting better at manual shift – by the end of the holiday should be proficient.
M and I took the car to my place to pack last night, and it took me ages to get out of J’s driveway. Then I remembered neutral rested under 3rd, not 1st. O. We were very ruthless (Ruth, Ruth, where are you?) and have only a 25 litre backpack between us. Not bad. We will be very bored of our clothes at the end of the odyssey!
I think the saturated colors work well for this photo essay of past events - makes it seem a bit apart from the ordinary, a bit larger than (present) life. All that space and tarmac a sign of the long road of chapters to follow.
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