Gaborone was a night to remember. We went to a pub called the Bull and Bush Bar and Restaurant and had a great night. The food was good, the music was good, and almost everyone left their mark on the dance floor. Night life in different places is one of my favorite things to experience and in Gaborone you can definitely tell that no matter where you are people enjoy good music and good food. From our camp, we could tell the party lasted until about 3 AM, but everyone in our group cashed out around 1 AM.
Next, we headed to Pilanesberg and spent two days there. On the way to Pilanesberg, we stopped to pick up supplies for the next couple of days. While the tour leader was shopping, I picked up some lunch at Nando’s.
The facilities, organization, and atmosphere of Pilanesberg is incredible and far exceeds the facilities of most national parks I have visited Stateside and in Africa. However, Etosha still holds the title of being the best park visited while on tour. It was nice to spend a couple days here. The first evening some people went on an evening game drive and saw a cheetah eating an impala carcass. The next day the group participated in game drives and game walks in both the morning and the evening. I skipped both morning activities, helped clean the truck, rested at camp, and went on the evening games drive the second day at Pilanesberg. That evening after the game drive, we had another bar-b-que. This was the last night everyone would camp together and we had champagne to complete the experience.
The next morning, we left at 6 AM to head to Johannesburg. On the way, our tour leader Janet treated us to breakfast at Steers. Instead of eating breakfast at 9 AM, I skipped to lunch and ordered the #1 combo.
The burger and fries were delicious. I had wanted to sample African fast food since I arrived in Cape Town and this helped contribute to my sampling. Steers tastes similar to Burger King. We would arrive at our hotel around 11 AM and then the majority of the group took a tour of Johannesburg. We visited Soweto and toured one of the communities. Visiting the communities was a big eye opener to many people on the tour.
That evening was the last evening before the group would split up and some would return home, while others would continue touring South Africa. We ate at a place called House of Ribs and everyone crashed early.
The next morning, I woke up early to say goodbye to the group that was continuing on throughout South Africa.
Lesson learned: Do not lose spirit when parting with people who you have shared great experiences and bonded with, but may never see again. Instead, be thankful for being able to have met, shared, and bonded with each other. This is one of the biggest challenges when leaving.