Linder in Botswana

Linder in Botswana

by William A. Patrick III

Copyright © 2014 by William A. Patrick III

Published by William A Patrick III at Smashwords.

This work is based on a real trip but this is a work of fiction.

Any similarities between real persons or events is coincidental.

(We changed a lot of names of people and places because

we didn’t really have their permission to publish them and we

also kind of fictionalized some events.)

From Linder’s Journal: (in non-italic and Ash’s comments in italics).

CHAPTER 1

8-6-04 Friday LAX/Atlanta/Cape Town

This is our three-part African vacation. Right after last years successful Namibia adventure we looked into C.C. Africa’s other safaris. We were torn between two Botswana trips. One was a walking safari that Heidi (our guide in Namibia) mentioned and the other was a longer safari that went to all the main reserves in Botswana, called Parks of Botswana. I was wavering between the two and first booked the Parks trip and then booked the walking trip and then back to Parks again. We both weren’t sure about wildlife viewing on foot because you can’t get real close to stuff and the animals would run away. I booked the trip through Richard with Next Adventure. The trip started on Friday but as logistics had it we would have to overnight both in Jo-burg and Maun. I wanted to avoid that and asked about Kruger’s and Cape Town. Kruger also took overnights in Jo-burg so Cape Town it was. We extended the trip to 3 weeks with 4 nights in the western cape of South Africa. Ash was still out of work when we made the plans and we gambled that his new job would be flexible enough with prior plans, so now instead of doing two trips we are just doing this big one.

Imaging saying to a new boss at a new work, well, I have a crazy wife, and though I will only have been here four months, mind if I take a three week vacation? To my surprise, Jeff, my new boss, said YES! All the other guys in Prepress were sooo happy for me, they started calling me El’ Douche-bag!

Ash now works at a printing company called Webtrend, and they were fine with his three week vacation. Everyone at his work has asked him about his coming Africa trip.

Yeah, like are you really going to Africa, newbie? I haven’t had a vacation in three years, newbie, can you give me some tips on getting time off? Great stuff like that showed me they were fine with my little sojourn to the Dark Continent.

For the Cape section we are staying the first two nights at the Beach Guesthouse in Kommetjie half way down the Cape on the beach. I found this place online when I was looking up birdwatching. Apparently Kommetjie has a lot of shorebirds which makes for especially good winter birdwatching. We are going in their winter and on the Cape they have a wet winter. On Monday and Tuesday I arranged a private guide with Richard. His name is Roy D. A couple of weeks before the trip I emailed him, introducing myself and checked about what time he would be picking us up on our tour. We emailed back and forth about my interests and what we wanted to see. One day we will be touring the Cape of Good Hope Preserve and on the other the West Coast National Park. I asked about seeing Gannets and he said the best place to see them was at bird island at Lamberts Bay.

Image that, the best place to see birds is at as place called BIRD ISLAND. Who would have thunk it!

I had asked Richard what it would take to go there and he discouraged me by saying it would probably take an overnight and even then it would be quite a ways away. It is 4 hours from where we will be staying. I checked with Roy, who agreed with Richard and he then mentioned other birdwatching suggestions and I said okay. Then I really thought about it and emailed him back saying I really wanted to go to bird island because our tour guide in Namibia highly recommended it. Roy said we could go and that he would let me know which day would be best based on the weather. Sure enough I get an email and we decide on plan-A, the Cape the first day with a pick-up at 9 a.m. and Lamberts Bay (bird island) with a pick-up at 6 a.m. That way we have a more relaxing first day. He said it was currently raining with an 80% chance of rain on Sunday when we arrive, but that it should break the next day so we may be ok with the weather, knock on wood.

Ash and I both have had a lot of anxiety about this trip. It’s a long time coming and we are shooting our whole wad on just this one excursion. The last two weekends were weird and we felt like we were experiencing our Pre-Trip Curse, where normally fun stuff just wasn’t.

8-7-04 Saturday in the air.

Now I’m on our 808 Flight that took off half-hour late, cutting into our very short layover time of 1-hour 40-minutes to just over an hour. Boy! THANKS AIRLINE! (We won’t mention who…) Our pickup shuttle was a little early. They were supposed to come between 9:15 and 9:30, and came around 9:10 p.m. so we were out and on our way real quick! AND I MEAN REAL QUICK. The driver was training for the Indie-500 or something. He would rush around traffic real fast without signaling, he would tailgate and hit the gas real hard, you name it, he did it, as far as zooming goes. I thought will we make it in one piece? I was so grateful when he at least got off the freeway, as I’m not so fond of high-speed crashes. After all the rush, we hit the gate only to find it was a series of long lines and security checks. Boy, travel takes a lot out of you, I say to myself, and it has just barely started!

I took an aspirin for my aching back, trying to nip the pain in the bud. Our fight time is 3-hours and 40-minutes.

Ash and I ate dinner at a local chain restaurant before our pickup and we used our 2-for-1 anniversary coupon. I’m glad I ate because this is a Beverage Only fight. Way to pamper, guys! I had a half-chicken with ribs and rice for dinner at the restaurant; it was really very good. Our in-flight movie is Shrek 2, one of those DreamWorks projects.

The whole flight was miserable. The plane was old looking and we were crammed in, and you get no service. When it came time to land, another plane had some issue so they landed while we just circled and circled around and round, like a bus wheel. The plane in the sky goes round and round… It was made especially hard because for a while I was nervous that we wouldn’t make our 10:30 flight. We ended up getting off the plane at 9:35 and rushed to E-14 gate via a tram. We didn’t have to wait barely at all before they started boarding, because this plane was such a large one. When we get on a guy is in our seat. He had mistaken 38A for 58A, but for a moment he said he had 38A. BOY! We are in a brand-new nice plane with 2 seats, a window, and an aisle by ourselves, YIPPEE! We are in the front section, so it should be easier to de-plane. They have seat-back videos and we were handed amenities bags with socks, toothbrushes, etc. Everything is much improved from last year’s flight, and sooo much better than that last (BLANK) Airline flight.

On the screen in front of us is a video feed of the plane from a camera on the tail. It’s really strange to watch its movements. The plane has lots of little design extras; the tray table can be placed up but you can pull down a ring just to hold your drink. Ash said it’s an Airbus built by Europeans.

This is our first experience in an Airbus, and compared to the (BLANK) Airline garbage-scowl we flew in this morning, it seems the very Lap-O-Luxury. They gave us towels, an amenities bag and they serve free beverages, beer and wine included. The seats are big Business-Class like Bark-O-Loungers, at least as compared to the last plane’s sardine-can seats. We are two rows behind a lavatory which I at first thought was in First-Class, but then they closed a curtain and it was clear that it was our cabin’s bathroom. This is the most comfortable I’ve been on a plane, and with 15 hours till our destination, I feel we really lucked out. Last time we were on a 747 with no leg room and a third seat, so another passenger would have to push past us every time he/she would have to get up, which was usually once an hour or so.

Most of the passengers on this flight speak in a different languages or with an accent. I think there are some Aussies on board, and maybe some Malaysians. I don’t see a lot of Americans on the plane, except for some missionary types, all wearing the same bright red t-shirts. A fat one had gotten all comfortable-like in our seats, and stayed there until I pointed out that that a 3 and a 5 are not used interchangeably in today’s modern age of mathematics. He saw the error in his ways ands joined his large group in the back of the plane. I am in the perfect sized group: a group of two, just Linder and I, in the very infancy of what I’m sure will prove to be a very grand adventure. I’m wearing my new safari jacket and I am comfortable, happy and content (I’m sure that will change, soon).

My video screen blinks so I can’t use it. Ash is watching his. We just ate. My beef stuff was not to my liking but along with the brown stuff were some cheese and crackers and a caesar salad that were yummy enough. Ash seems to actually be enjoying his flight! It’s around eight hours to an island called Sal Island, where we refuel and get a change of crew. At work I went online and printed out information on lots of mammal species from the C.C. Africa site called Wildwatch, so I have reading material. Turbulence, turbulence, turbulence, has been the theme of this flight so far. There are spells were it calms down and I walk back to the rear bathroom in order to stretch my legs.

Once I came back and they were cleaning up water that was spilled all over Ash. POOR ASH! He hates