The week that was ...

Hi there all ... arrived in Maun, Botswana just now. Came straight thru to the internet cafe ... getting it done today so that we can enjoy our off-day tomorrow!

• We started off from Livingstone with an individual 40km time-trial ... I did real well and enjoyed it tremendously. Everything just seems to have worked out well on the morning.
• Thanks to Andy Paton for the use of his tri-bars ... the time-trial and riding in Botswana is so much easier/fun.
• We went on an amazing, relaxed boat cruise on our first day in Botswana ... on the Chobe River ... beautiful environment and great animals ... especially the Fish Eagle and the family of elephants.
• The roads thru Botswana are real tiring and tedious ... actually boring at times!! They are all straight (for many, many tens of kilometers at a time!), flat and continually the same. No shops, Coke Stops, children, people, minimal cars and little else.
• Awesome though are the ELEPHANTS! They are all over the place ... I had some very close, scary experiences where I was not watching out (cruising along on my tri-bars) and suddenly there was an elephant five meters from me - ears out and not too impressed. This is definitely one of the major the highlights of the trip.
• Our distances have been continually around 160/170km. And our pace has been quite high too ... so we are all a little bushed and tired ... and ready to enjoy the day off tomorrow.
• Hoping to go on a flight over the Okavango Delta tomorrow ...
• Thanks to my fossils for their visit to the Falls ... it was great to see you!
• Congrats to my boet - Andre - on the purchase of his new house!
• The temperatures have also been quite high ... but more importantly, the sun just somehow seems to burn so much more intensely out here.

Well that is all for now. This country is really great and I'll be coming back here soon ... so if anyone is planning a holiday and wants to come with me ... see you soon.

cheers

patty