Last weekend we headed out to a favourite location, previously identified in this blog as The Middle of Nowhere. I love the remoteness of this area, and the further into the African bush we can get - the better.
The road to the middle of nowhere. The dusty, dry season is in full swing.
Ordinarily, one of the first highlights en route is the wonderful Kanini-Kanini General Dealer and High Life Bar in the village of Mabele. It's usually a great place to buy a cold beer before venturing deeper into the interior, as well as having loads of character- and being quaintly photogenic (see photo in earlier blog posts, linked in further down!)
However, confusion followed by astonishment set in, as we first saw an empty space, then a giant pile of Kanini-Kanini-coloured rubble lying on the ground! It seems it has had to make way for the brand new tarred road... The tiny rural village is frantic with road construction and demolition. Further down the road an entire Chinese village (flagpost and all) has materialised alongside the river, while hard-hatted surveyors are to be seen all over the numerous road detours. Please don't get me wrong: in Botswana we never complain about progress and development of the rural areas, but I always have a private moment of nostalgia/sadness for old places that have to vanish... that's just me!
Having overtaken the roadworks zone, we found our way out to the little baobab island in the middle of nowhere. It has now evolved into a charming, environmentally friendly, tented bush lodge.
We were amazed by the transformation in less than a year. Have a look at MyBlog Post from last year. As always, I'm struck by the contrast between the dry and rainy seasons in our world.
The 2 trees on the baobab island, last seen in full greenery on an empty piece of land, now frame the new dining/lounge area with their bare, wintry branches.
The white arrow in the photo above, points to a tiny blob - that's me curled up in the baobab. This is the exact same tree as featured in my older post about Tree Hugging. Other specks dwarfed by the beautiful baobabs are Zac, (younger stepson) and a couple of Irish wolfhounds.
Of course there's no escaping a sunset shot here! A breathtaking end to a hot, dusty day...
Next morning, I decided to try and capture the atmosphere of the tented accommodation. Here is the outlook from the bathroom. Almost outside in the wilderness, but not quite! It's a lovely, relaxed place, perfect for escaping the weekly routine.
Life seems to be rushing along with not much time for blogging! We are presently enjoying a too short visit from Zac, and then we are going away at the weekend. There is always a pile of business that is saved up for trips to "civilisation", but I'll be back this time next week. Spring/summer greetings from this half of the world x
