 Have you ever considered a trip to Botswana? Why not? Gillian was here in NZ to attend a wedding and celebrate her 70th birthday with her twin brother. This gave her the perfect opportunity, as a former member to visit us and bring us up to speed to what’s been happening in Botswana. It was back in 2008 that Gillian and Graeme first visited Botswana on holiday. Graeme returned in 2016 with position in the local University and Gillian joining him full time ,two years later in 2018.Since then Graeme has retired from the academic world and now works hard, along with Gillian at setting up and launching a company called Self Drive Tours Botswana. This has not been without its difficulties with visa paper issues, covid, plus other barriers to business such as internal regulations, transitional costs and other red tape. Their base is in a city called Palapye and has a population of approx. 57000. Botswana itself is about the size of France with 2.5 million people. Gillian was quick to dismiss the myths of safety stating that it has a very safe environment which she believes is far safer than South Africa and a much superior roading system with speed limits in places set at 120kph. The Self drive tours is in direct competition to the high upmarket safaris that fly people into lodges or the clients are toured by other specialized safari companies. They customize your tour by booking all the accommodation, connect you with the local culture and all activities that will suit your holiday and all this at a third the cost of other operators .This has value as this is all done to set you up in unknown country with them sharing a wealth of local knowledge. There is plenty of wildlife to see as they promote the Okavango Delta using dugout canoes to see the bird life ,Chobe National park, Khama Rhino sanctuary and many more wildlife parks that will offer viewings of crocodiles,elephants, wilderbeast, meerkats, antilope, zebra, porcupine, pol cats, bushbabies and much more. They even offer a foraging tour collecting indigenous vegetables and beans to be cooked up as part of your unique expierence.Gillian does say the tours are going well and her first NZ clients arrive next week.  |
Collectors are still required this Friday (23 rd June) outside Michael Hill Jewellers in the Meridian Mall from 1 - 2pm, 2 - 3 pm and 4 - 5pm.
