Day 1: Vic Falls to Kasane

Kasane, Botswana - One down, ten to go! Day one was a wonderful way to start. We had beautiful blue sunny skies, a smooth paved road and a relatively short route: 82km.

I was pretty excited and nervous this morning - packing up my bags and scarfing down my breakfast so that I would be able to get an early start. Having just completed the previous leg, LP team member David Nelson was on hand to see us off. And so Tom Hall and I set off before 7am to take advantage of the cool morning air. Unfortunately, the first few miles were rocky dirt roads and Tom promptly got a flat!

But after that inauspicious start, everything went smoothly. When we rode through villages, the children would come to the roadside to shout greetings and cheer us on. The roads were paved and smooth - certainly better than the roads in Lincoln Mass! There were a few hilly spots but just enough to keep you on your toes.

Because it was a short ride, we had an early lunch break. I pulled in somewhere around 10am, which is sort of funny, but of course I was hungry.

Aside from lunch, the highlight was the border crossing from Zambia to Botswana. The border is at the confluence of the Zambezi and Chobe rivers, and during the cross you can actually see four different countries: Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe all meet here. After getting our exit stamps from Zambia, we rode a ferry across the river and disembarked in Botswana.

But you're not in yet! After getting your Botswana stamp, you have to ride through a puddle of murky grimy water as a precaution against foot & mouth disease!

Since we had a relatively short riding day, most of the cyclists are taking a sunset cruise on the Chobe River this afternoon. I have opted out of this activity, since Jerry and I took the same cruise last week. But I will take the opportunity to post a few photos, since I wasn't able to earlier.

It was indeed a lovely way to spend an afternoon, watching hippos and elephants frolicking in the river, spotting the majestic fish eagle and the spry fisherkings perched in the trees along the shore, and admiring the cranky crocodiles who were glaring out from the water with their beady eyes.

But the undeniable highlight was watching the white-fronted bee eaters. This is one of the reasons we came to Botswana. It was like being dropped into the middle of a National Geographic special, as the boat was able to pull up close enough that we could observe the birds feeding their chicks in the funny nests they make in holes in the river bank.

Tonight  I'm going to eat as much dinner as I possibly can and then go straight to bed. Tomorrow we have to ride twice as far as we did today. One cyclist reassured me that it will not be so bad... "It's just like today but we do it twice," he said. I agree that does not sound so bad, except that the second time we do it is in the hottest part of the day. And it is HOT. 

Of course it's hot. This is Africa.