Bus ride to Kasane

Here is a quick story of a typical day whilst traveling with Matt.

I woke up at dawn in my hotel in Francaistown and walked about half a mile through town to the bus station. Francaistown is the second largest city in Botswana. Imagine something about the size of Maspeth, Queens but without the tall buildings.
At the bus station I asked where to find the bus and was directed towards a mini bus across the parking lot. It was mostly full when I arrived but we waited an hour until every possible seat was full and three people were left standing. I would spend the next seven hours with no more than about 60% of my rear end actually on my seat and the rest on my body in the aisle. This would become more difficult as I realized the bus tilted a bit to the left which made staying my seat tricky.
As we were leaving town we passed an accident which caused everyone to gape out the window. I didn't pay it much mind until I glanced out and saw a mass covered by a yellow wool blanket. A limp forearm stuck out from under it.
The bus settled down eventually and I tilted my head back and tried to sleep. Within an hour I was woken up to find everyone dismounting the bus. The driver instructed me to take out any extra shoes in my bag and follow the group. We walked to a trench on the side of the road where everyone was either walking through or dunking the soles of their shoes into a hole filled with liquid. Apparently it was one of the check points set up throughout the country to stem an outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
Back in the bus I leaned my head against the seat in front of me went back to sleep. I believe one of the standing passengers took this opportunity to create a seat for himself between my lower back and the seat. Honestly, I didn't mind as his added weight kept me from falling into the aisle while I slept.
About an hour later I woke up to violent shaking.
We were on a one lane road that was being used as a detour as they rebuilt the actual road alongside it. The road we now drove on had the look of shattered pavement. Any suspension that my bus may have been built with was long worn away.
I sat with fascination for the next hour watching the road and the dense bushes stretching out as far as I could see. We were in the middle of nowhere. Occasionally the driver would get out and look under the hood or play with the tires. I was thrilled every time he got back in and kept driving.
It's the dry season around here which also means it wild fire season. I started to see smoke in the distance  and soon brilliant orange flames could be seen in the bushes off the left hand side. I was surprised how clear and saturated the flames were even in at noon. Along the horizon large clouds formed that could easily be mistaken for actual clouds except for their brown hue. It occurred to me that unless you count the sandstorm in Dubai, the last time I remember seeing clouds was London.
Eventually we returned to glorious well kept pavement. The gentleman next to me got off and I spent the final hour of the journey staring out the window. I knew we were getting close to my destination when I saw a giraffe strolling around.
Kasane is a little town on the border of Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana know for it's great wildlife.
Once off the bus I enjoyed a good stroll around the parking lot. Two locals directed me to a cab which I took to the lodge where I would spend one night. The woman who ran it was a pleasant South African who showed me to my $80 tent I had reserved (that's on the cheap end for this town). I asked if there was anything near by to walk to. She replied that there wasn't, but if I decided to stroll around I should watch out for elephants. They were having "an elephant problem".
I did stroll around, but l guess I was lucky because I didn't encounter any elephants, but did have to dodge their droppings on the side of the road.
Eventually, I spent the evening at the lodge drinking windehoek (Namibian beer). Occasionally, the power would go out as the generator failed, but then I just looked up at the stars.
Out here in the middle of nowhere the stars are beautiful.