Being able to charge your frig when you are heading into the bush is critical or the trip is in jeopardy. In the US, if you are going to get your car repaired, you show up at a shop that has all sorts of tools, the ability to hydraulically lift the vehicle into the air, and a team of mechanics to do the work. Let’s just say that’s not the way of things in Botswana! To start with, street signs with road names are simply NOT a thing! People give you landmarks that make sense to them. If those landmarks make sense to you it’s a bonus. If they don’t, then you drive around and stop to ask directions. Needless to say, we had difficulty finding the mechanic.
We were told to go to Palapye, turn onto A141 and then find Marrakesh junction. Hmmm….after driving back and forth a few times, picking places that looked like they might be the right places, we found the place where “the guy” was supposed to be. He wasn’t there, even though we had spoken with him on the way up.
So, the guys dropped Dani and Cheri at the biggest supermarket and went back to the pavement on the side of the road. They finally got “the guy” when they realized he did not have a shop, just a place on the pavement!
Francistown Next
He knew what the problem was but said we needed batteries that we could get in Francistown. So the guys picked up the girls. Meanwhile, Dani and Cheri had done the first of several shops. Each grocery store has what it has, but rarely everything you need. We were outfitting this expedition for 12 days in the bush and we had only acquired about a quarter of the food and none of the alcohol that we would require!
So, we needed to 1) shop and 2) get the vehicle fixed in Francistown. 2 hours on tar roads to Francistown as we were watched the day slip away. No matter how much difficulty we had finding the mechanic, we had to fix these issues. So, we found our way to Taurus Batteries (https://taurusbatteries.co.bw/) and then things really got going!
Three batteries were needed. Taurus had the three batteries and people to make the specialty connectors needed. After a few hours, we had three batteries all hooked up and an agreement that the owner of the trailer would reimburse us for them.
It was nearly dark and we had a long way yet to travel. Time to get on the road!