Botswana from Pandamatenga, by Daniele Somenzi

Botswana In our Nissan X-Trail, after having been on safari in the splendid and isolated Hwange park in Zimbabwe, we drive along this road that in places seems to vanish into the vegetation; in fact it is nothing more than a track, even though it's marked on the map. Near the border I catch some hint of Botswana's closeness, and then all of a sudden a sign tells us custom 50 meters. Thank goodness, I thought I'd taken the wrong road. A fence with a gate, which we open by hand and close again, and here we are at the Zimbabwe border post of Pandamatenga, for me one of the most beautiful borders there is. Four cars a day pass through here, and that's why the customs officers are very friendly and playful and, not least, they don't ask for the usual bribe; they're so kind that we give them something anyway, both to the Zimbabweans and to the Botswana ones.

As soon as we enter Botswana, the mobile phone starts working again and above all there's fuel at the filling station. bye