Sniffing Glue in Botswana

Hola everyone, just catchin up on the internet, this internet is pretty fast so can at least update you all on the last few days. I am sitting in this really modern internet cafe with about 20 computers, flat screens and fast speed internet whilst looking out on the dusty town in front of me full of shacks of vegetables and local produce. This cafe is surreal in the surroundings. Tel has gone off to get his hair cut by a local and ive only got half an hour so sorry for the brief blog. We are currently in Botswana, we travelled down on the bus for a day to get to the capital Maun.

The scenery has been out of this world, and as we reached Maun all the local children ran behind the bus to welcome us. As we all jumped off the bus the children were begging for money and saying ice, ice, a luxury for them as most drinks they have are really hot. Our guide said not to give any money as the children here use the money to buy glue for sniffing. Looking into their beautiful faces you could never imagine them doing so, but people here live in poverty, living in tiny huts, with little to no shelter and little to no food or clothing. We gave litres of water away but it was left to the side as this wasn’t really what they were after at this point.

We have just spent the last night in the famous Okovanga Delta, a marshland in the middle of the desert. As we drove to the waters edge, the delta became a mirage in the heat. The delta is full of high reeds and plant life as well as a few hippos and crocodiles. As we arrived we were greeted by the locals who were going to take us on our overnight adventure in the middle of the delta itself. We were taking on mokoros, which are little dug out canoes capable of seating 2 people and a gondaleer. It was around 12 noon as we set off with our overnight bags and tents in tow. The heat was pounding down on us and the gondaleer, a rather large man with no hat or suncream, was pushing us through the reeds with a large stick. After 2 hours we reached out camp and we all got in the delta to cool off with a game of volleyball. Little did we know the delta was invested with hippos and crocodiles but we were too hot to care.

We set our tents up and spent the evening helping the local ladies make bracelets and bowls out of the reeds and listening to the guides stories of the bush. The next morning we awoke early tohead out for a walking safari. By now, we have done many safaris on 4x4’s nearly one every 3 days but never have we done a walking safari. I was really excited about it until we had our safety talk 30 minutes into the trek. Our guide said in plain English, if we saw an elephant and it starts charging to run in a zig zag fashion and get up a tree, the same for Buffalo and just stand still if you see a lion! The crazy thing was that there seemed to be no trees on the Island! After a long 4 hour trek through the terrain, and spotting an elephant and a herd of buffalos we made it back to the safety of the campsite. The camp fire was going and we had some pasta for dinner as we sang songs from our countries and told each other scary stories.


So far, we have been extremely lucky to see so many animals, elephants, lions, hippos, hyenas, monkeys, crocodiles, springbok, gifarres, zebras and rhinos. I have even sat next to the king of Africa, every second of this trip has been fantastic so far. We are now heading through to Namibia, the kingdom of sanddunes.

Love you all, miss you x