July 2017 | 57 the head-man in person . Charlie and � hastily volunteered ourselves and we jumped into the back of his car , nervous and unsure of how we should behave in such a setting .
Arriving at the head-man�s house , we were told to wait in the car . Mr Rahthdkwnake strolled over to a small gazebo supported by tree trunks with a thatched roof on top . A fire was burning in the middle and a handful of children and three women sat around chatting and attending the pots .
A while later , we were beckoned out of the car and introduced to the family . We were told the chief would see us soon .
Minutes or hours later , who knew at that stage , a man emerged from the main house . There was no mistaking his identity . The �ead Man . �e was dressed in a brown corduroy �acket , black shirt , �uorescent yellow gardening gloves , high-vis construction worker trousers and hiking boots . Quite a look .
He shook both our hands for a prolonged period of time ( apparently a sign of trust and friendship ) and spoke to us in Seswana . After some more chat between him and Mr �ahthdkwnake , we all drove back to where Theo and Wadi were waiting .
The head-man gathered us around and began speaking with a soft tone ; the teacher translating his words .
‘ Welcome to our country of Botswana .’ ‘ May God bless you on your journey to Nairobi . ‘
‘ You have arrived and blessed us with rain . You are welcome to sleep in the school tonight .’
It was a very special moment and one that shows the incredible generosity of all the people we ’ ve come across in South Africa and Botswana . After being told by a British expat in South Africa that ‘ you ’ re crazy to be doing this ’, it was a real endorsement of the spirit of what this trip is about .
The willingness of all of these people to take time out of their days to help four weary travellers was something really quite special . This sense of generosity and willingness to help others has been the convention rather than the exception to the rule on this trip .
To bring it back to this idea of time in Africa , the whole process took between three and four hours and at no stage were we given any indication of how long it might take . Not that I was counting or anything …
Botswana has been great in lots of other ways .
Three days ago was a personal highlight for me . Walking down a sleepy street , in our matching Craghoppers shorts and puffa �ackets �orange , blue and black �really quite trendy ), a guy stopped his car in the middle of the road to inform us of our impeccable style . He concluded this small cameo in our lives with an invitation to his brother ’ s wedding on Saturday . We regretfully declined the invitation , purely because we ’ ll be back in the saddle somewhere on the road to Kasane .
A couple hundred metres further down the road , after we ’ d said our farewells , another lad popped his head out of his garden to be met by the sensorial overload of our technicoloured garb . His reaction was to burst into hysterics for about five minutes as he followed us down the road at a safe viewing distance of 200m .
Continuing on this theme of unorthodox social interactions , none was more so than our first port of call upon arrival in Botswana : the petrol station . They�re strange places at the best of times whether you ’ re in Slough or Martin ’ s Drift , Botswana , you get a wildly eclectic bunch of people , including four oddballs appearing on bicycles with enough kit to start a small hippy commune .
Anyway , we rolled out of this petrol station an hour later having met an Irish bloke from Wicklow ( the most direct and nonchalant character you ’ ll ever meet ), and a marriage proposal directed at me from a lovely lady by the name of Harry . Hope you ’ re not reading this Dad , as the dowry is really quite steep . Give me a call if you want to talk shop and I can put you in touch with her people .
One other insight into our daily lives is that everyone wants to know why we ’ re doing this cycle . Whether it be Harry at the petrol station or the various policemen , border officers , shopkeepers and random people sitting under trees 2km either side of a village for no apparent reason .
It ’ s initially quite fun to have so much interest in you everywhere you go and , in a way , when we get back to the UK it might be a bit strange not to get the attention we ’ ve been getting out here .
It usually starts out with some excitable ‘ hellos ’ and ‘ how ’ s it .’
This is swiftly followed by a range of reactions to where we ’ re heading ( Nairobi ).
The reactions of people in South Africa largely consisted of :
�W�AAAT ! � �T�AT�S TOO �AAAA�� ! � ‘ You ’ ll die !’
Batswana , on the other hand , have a slightly less brutal analysis of our grand plans to reach Nairobi .
Their reactions usually consist of a nonchalant�