November 21, 2025
To Palapye
Last night, I could hear more than a dozen mosquitos buzzing around me trying to break into my tent. I slept blissfully, safe in the knowledge that they could not get to me! Thre were a lot of them lingering in the morning when I woke up, but somehow they were a bit dozy and scattered when I wafted them away, probably exhausted from the nights efforts to gain entry!
The A1 is the main road heading South through Botswana, and the road I will be riding for a few more days. In recent years, the government spent millions of Pula re-building it in the interest of facilitating transport links and hence boosting the economy. Needless to say, the new A1 is immaculate and is being used extensively for commercial and private transport needs. The interesting thing is that when the new A1 was built, it was built in parallel to the old A1, leaving the the old A1 in place. This has resulted in long stretches of old A1 running parallel to new A1, in perfectly good condition, and traffic free, inadvertantly providing a wonderful super wide cycle lane! One of my photos shows this clearly. Ofcourse, I made use us this free cycle lane at every opportunity.
With no cloud or rain forecast, today was going to be a hot day, with temperatures creeping up into the early 30s. I was on the road by 8 am making good progress towards Palapye, a small town about 75km due South. The roads were quiet as usual, and I only stopped once or twice to take photos of bird nests full of birds making a most wonderful sound. A couple of donkeys grazing on the grass verge got startled when I rode past and scattered in a panic, poor things. I joined a couple of young boys on bicycles and chatted to them as we rode along together. Their bikes were single speed and not in very good conition. They were on their way to their father's farm to help with digging. "It is time to dig now because the rains will come soon and we must be ready to plant food for next year", the older brother explained. His statement reaffirmed to me how so many people in the world live as subsistence farmers, growing the food that feeds them, relying on seasonal rains for their sustenance. I wished them both good luck, as they turned down a dirt road leading to the farm.
I got to Palapye before the main heat of the afternoon and checked in to the Bonjour Inn, about 1km off the main road, in a quiet residential area. After a rest and shower, I went in search of food, and got a takeaway Papa with chicken stew, and a cucumber and green pepper, all from the well stocked Choppies supermarket. It had become second nature to locate the nearest Choppies Supermarket in every town I would arrive at!
A thunderstorm arrived later in the evening, with lightning flashes, and the rain fell in copious amounts, cooling the air. I couldn't help wondering if the heavy downpour would affect the two brothers' digging efforts of earlier today.
Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 842 km (523 miles)
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