babwe and truly enjoyed the sim-
ple pleasures of riding on the open
road! Of course, what brings many
people into the confluence of these
two countries is the Victoria Falls
and Zambezi River, which were both
impressive. I think I more enjoyed
the open road, the hundreds of brick
factories, children selling grilled rats
on a stick as a road-side delicacy, the
termite mounds, and the Baobab for-
ests! We met some wonderful people
along the way during a tyre blowout,
the personal connections displaying
the common humanity, respect, and
kindness of complete strangers.
One interesting fact is that the in-
frastructure for goods and services
continued to improve every kilometre
south we travelled. We had finally
come to larger grocery stores whereby
we could stock-up on food for travel.
Botswana was an area that I longed
for due to the natural wonders, in-
cluding the Okavango Delta as well
as Chobe National Park with the vast
number of elephant herds. It was
here that we were literally driving
through the areas and would see wild-
life, including herds of elephants, on
the open road, along with warning
signs while eating lunch regarding
predators in the area – unsettling at
first, but we never saw any large cats
TRAVERSE 68
while taking a roadside break.
One sight I will not forget was see-
ing a large, male elephant that was
apparently a victim of a recent poach-
ing. The family herd had all gathered
around and was in the process of
mourning their loss and, upon our ar-
rival, slowly lumbered off. We felt as
if we had intruded on something quite
personal, so we quickly moved on to
provide them with privacy and respect
for their loss. Quite touching, indeed!
Chobe National Park was phenom-
enal, both on land and in the water.
We were able to spend a wonderful af-
ternoon and evening on the water to
witness the playful hippos as well as