The realm of the ancestors. Botswana. [S5 - Eps. 67]

I gotta say, on a bike this is quite a lot easier than on a car because I can avoid the potholes Much easier Good morning internet, it is 8:15 in the morning and welcome back to the channel   Welcome to Botswana. Today is going to be my first real ride, full ride in Botswana. I'm pretty excited   about it. I'll show you on the map what the plan is for today. So I am now here in Shakawe just over the border here with Botswana so you can see that I exited Namibia quite quickly. I just went   Pop, pop, hup Onto Botswana and my plan is today to ride to Gumare which is over here but I'm going to make   a detour, so first I'm going to ride in Tsodilo  hills. Um.. so I'll just ride a little bit south  

Tsodilo hills and then to Gumare over here. Aright let's go. I first have to ride back to   what's it called? Shakawe, to get petrol  because when I arrived, I didn't have   cash and then when I went to get cash, I  didn't bring my extra fuel bags so I first   have to ride back about seven kilometers  north sort that out and then I'm on my way So the distance of the day.. about 200ks. So that should be totally possible. Anyway you might notice   that I have a different camera on my helmet now. I had to dust off my old Go Pro Hero 8 because in the   last video, the media mod of the Go Pro Hero 9 that I've been using the audio thingy connection broke   And uh.. unfortunately, yeah more than half of the footage that I recorded for the last video  

was just.. I couldn't use it because  the audio was completely failed So I have to go back to my previous  camera so I'm really quite sad about that But such is life that's all part of the  game, I guess things break all the time but I'll just have to manage like this Okay, back at the main road Which is uh.. has a lot of potholes like these ones, which you don't.. you don't want to hit those Big potholes. Donkeys A lot of obstacles around here Wow, there are actually dark clouds. I have not seen clouds like this in months, I think definitely   not in Namibia it was every day,  it was blue skies and sunshine   So it was like last time in South  Africa somewhere Back in town Oh there's a queue.. even Ah this one? Not sure why the  other cars don't go here then Good morning Morning ma'am Okay Now the ride can really begin Not sure what's going on here I gotta say on a bike, this is quite a lot easier than on a car because I can avoid the potholes Much easier Hi Must be a school somewhere here Oh and a pothole Hi Hello Oh, everybody's waving it's been  a while since all the kids are waving But I have to also keep an eye on the  road because these potholes are nasty So I'm now riding on the dirt road towards the uh ct dolo todilo.. Tsodilo hills and I'm pretty  

stoked about this place, it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it's also called   the realm of the ancestors. Wow, because there have been tons and tons of archaeological finds here   and that evidence shows that people have been living in this part of the world for almost   a hundred thousand years it's absolutely  incredible so I'm really excited to see it   I just have to follow this road for another  30 kilometers There's loads of animals.. oh Oh look at the little donkey Tsodilo.. this way Hi You are welcome Good morning Morning Entrance fee is 50 pula 50 Okay Morning! This way I think I'm not sure She said turn right at the white beacon But I've already passed like three roads to the right I think it's this one but I'm not sure What a cool track, leading up to the  to the hills here Really stunning Good morning Alright it's time.. hiking time to go see all  the treasures that are within these mountains  

And sorry what was your name? Paul - Paul? - Yes Yes, he's going to show me.. what is here the paintings. I think there's some paintings but   there's a lot of archaeological finds here right? -Yeah.. we have an old settlement on top Oh there's an old settlement on top? - Yeah But we're going to climb that mountain? - Yes, yes To the top? - Yes, Yes Okay And then we can see the remains of that settlement? - Yes, yes The port, the port sheds - Because people have been living here since the middle stone age? - Yeah So we are also going to see some remains of the iron ores Because they were mining specularite Ah yes. Can we see pieces of specularite? - Yeah

There's pieces still? - We're going to see the remains as they were smelting - How they were melting it? - Yeah We are going to see the remains.. the waste - Ah okay - Yeah But they were using specularite for cosmetic..? ..purposes, no? - They were using it to make tools Ah tools? - Yeah - I thought it was also for like the shiny.. powder? - It's some form of a metal which is used to make   domestic tools - Ah domestic tools - Yeah I thought they also used it as makeup? - Maybe - Maybe Oh they're also up there? -Yeah - Ah yeah, there   But here it's also very visible. So this  is oryx. - Yeah Oryx and then I see rhino.. or not? - Yes That's a rhino One of those is an eland Ah, that's in eland? -Yes - Yeah How old do they think these paintings  are? -Um.. between 70 000 and 100 000

Hundred thousand - No these can't be a hundred thousand years..  -It's less Because these are somehow related  to the Stone Age These ones? Are these not San? The San? Yes, because.. ehh Oh wow, yeah Overhangs So this is where they used to stay.. probably.. people That almost looks like a donkey - Yes - Is it a donkey ?  Yes, it's a donkey.. because with  white paintings, they depict domestic animals Ah domestic animals. But that's a giraffe or not? With the.. - Yeah, that one is a giraffe

With the long neck and then a cow? - A cow Some are not clear to tell.. but that one looks like an elephant Which one.. with the red, ah yeah From the front Let's see what else is here This is an interesting place because it  has both white and red paintings Yes. Yeah Oh wow Wow those are really cool.  And then some oryx here also  

Those two rhinos are amazing  oh and there's giraffe I think Yes, there's rhino in here Sorry what did you say? - There's a rhino - Oh there's also a rhino there A zebra Oh yeah But those are really.. -Yes, those are.. - .. clear And then what is this? A buffalo? - A buffalo yes - Ahhh Cool But what I do.. It's dangerous filming out here Cool Alright Bye Okay that was uh.. the site. I'm now going to ride back but um.. I am so disappointed   Ah, I mean Paul was he was a really nice guy and bless him he really did his best but he   was actually not the guide he was kind of the site manager and uh.. none of the guys rocked up   today none of the guides I should say. They just didn't show up um.. partly because there's just   so little visitors nowadays that they are going to look for other jobs which is understandable   But Paul just didn't really know much And some of the things he said or he started with the first paintings, I asked him so how   old are these paintings and he said well  they're a hundred thousand years old and   I just know that can't be true and this  is not my area of expertise< I mean I'm not a   rock painting expert but I know for sure that  those paintings are a couple of thousand years   old probably like four or five thousand maybe a similar age as the San paintings in in Namibia   But there is no way in this world that those  paintings are a hundred thousand years old   So after that I was kind of thinking.. you actually don't really know what you're talking about  

And I've obviously, I've done my research  on this place before I came here   So I knew a few things about it and  he just said different things so yeah And I'm just disappointed because there is just so many interesting things about this place and   It just didn't came out it just yeah.. I didn't  really learn a lot, I did enjoy seeing the rock   paintings some of them were really impressive and just really cool to see and it was a nice walk but   Yeah other than that I think the real value  of why this is a UNESCO World Heritage Site   That just didn't really shine Shame Anyway, it is a stunning area look at this Look at this scenery it's beautiful, really beautiful   I'm now just going to ride back and be on my merry way onto Gumare and we'll just take it from there Nobody here It really was a long time ago since  I had to avoid this many potholes People just start riding here on the side they prefer the dirt over this, but in this case I  think the tarmac is quite fun avoiding all these potholes. And there's animals on the roads to avoid Ah poor donkeys.. they're getting a beating

Okay Let's go in here What my navigation says Doesn't seem to be a road leading into a town but actually is Oh now I have to.. Cross the main road and go straight to this track I am in town That's the post office Somewhere here Is a guest house.. oh there Here I think Hello Hi - Hello Hi And so I made it to Gumare, quite a nice relaxed little town. I quite like this place. Um yeah today   it was a little bit of a deception but in the  end I blame it on myself because you can only   get disappointed when you have expectations that aren't met and my expectations of the place were   quite high but then yeah if there's no guides  then there's no guides and yeah that's why I was a little bit disappointed but yeah I blame it on myself, I can totally understand the situation   for the people as well but I still really enjoyed the walk it was such a beautiful area and we saw   elephant track and there's leopards also in the mountains but we didn't see any leopard track but   it was just a really really beautiful place and it felt so different from Namibia so I was really   like yeah definitely in a different country the  vegetation looked different and it was just really   nice and I didn't have to ride very far today so that was also in the end quite relaxing, I guess   So yeah that was it for today, I really hope you liked that the first full episode in Botswana   I have a feeling that I'm gonna have  a lot more adventures in this country   Um.. but anyway that was it for today. I really hope you liked this video, if you did please give a big   thumbs up and subscribe down below and  then I'll see you in the next video

2021-08-23 20:35

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