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.

Botswana

I got into Botswana relatively painlessly. The biggest issue was probably walking between the South African border and the Botswana border after disembarking from my bus. There weren't any signs so my group sort of stumbled around in the night before finding customs.
Once in Gaborone (capital of Botswana) I decided to share a cab with a Zambian fellow I met on the bus. However, I didn't have any pula (Botswana currency). I asked a taxi driver where I could find an ATM and he directed me to follow him. We walked through a parking lot and in-between two office buildings where the only light came from the lonely ATM where someone sat in a chair next to it. It didn't feel like a great situation, but made an escape route in my head and went towards the ATM. Everything went fine and I walked back to the guy laughing saying I would never have done that in South Africa. He smiled and said "Hey man, this is Botswana not Johannesburg!"
At my hotel, I discovered a casino attached to it. I played a hand of blackjack for the hell of it. On the deal I got an eight and a six. The dealer had ten. When she hit me again I got an eight and decided that it was a sign I shouldn't pay anymore blackjack so I retired to the bar.
This was a good choice as I found myself in two long conversations while watching the Americas soccer tournament. First, a man from Zimbabwe who told me about as a child white soldiers would give him biscuits on his way home from school to try to get information out of him about guerrilla movements in the jungle.
Next, I talked with an insurance salesman who recounted a story about his time studying in London:
One night out with his friends a British girl starting asking him about Africa. She explained that her view of Africa was a place where everyone lived in trees. Without missing a beat his friend replied "It's true. The British high commission has the highest tree in Lusaka."

New friends in Johannesburg

Johannesburg

My last night in Cape Town I drank at the hostel bar (got to drink somewhere right?). Around windhoek #4 (Namibian beer) I got to talking to the brother of one of the hostel owners who lives in Johannesburg. I told him I would be there in about 3 days and he offered to house me. So... I accepted.
And I'm glad I did.
He and his roommate were good guys and I was introduced to their circle of friends. We traded music, travel stories and on my final night they send me off with a proper South African braai (bbq generally with sausages).
Good times.

Cape Town

I left Cape Town a few days ago, but here is a quick run down:
I SAW A WHALE! I met some other travelers at my hostel and took a public bus down to one of the coastal suburbs. While driving along the coast I looked out the window and there was a whale tail flapping around in the ocean. The two girls with me were concerned that it might be stuck (kept flapping its tail in the same area) so they phoned a local they had met earlier.
He asked, "Is it in the ocean?"
"Yes"
"Then it's probably fine."
Also on the wildlife topic, I got to pet a (very fat) wild seal. Some guy in this town lured a seal onto the dock with a bucket full of fish guts so tourists could pose for a picture/pet it/ride it/etc. The animal is massively obese so I assume this has been going on for a while.
The city itself is very beautiful and walkable. Probably the best nightlife I will encounter for a couple of months.
Rising up directly behind the town are several iconic mountains that top out at around 1000m. I climbed one with a group from my hostel and survived although it was close. Don't have a good picture, but you can check it out on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion%27s_Head_%28Cape_Town%29
To put the climb in perspective at one point near the peak the trail breaks in two. On your left the sign reads "Recommended Route" on the right "Chain Route". Of course, I followed everyone to the right where the parks department bolted chains into the rocks so you could climb up about 40 ft. Halfway up there is a small plague that reads something along the lines of "Parks Department is not liable for structural integrity of chains". Weeeee....

Stellenbosch

I went on a self guided wine tour in Stellenbosch via bicycle (sounds safe!).
Here I am sampling a 1998 port. It supposedly portuguese varieties in a blind taste test. Delicious.
I tried to get the cat to come over to me, but I think it only spoke Afrikaans.

Wine in Stellenbosch