Makgadikgadi Salt Pans

Yesterday the tour continued to the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, my second to last stop before Gaborone... I left at 9 and was supposed to arrive at my accommodation at the southern tip of the salt pans in the early afternoon. But things don't always go as planned! 🙈😅 I turned on the navigation, 86 km to the next turn, so it will take a while! Since my navigation doesn't speak outside of cities, I have to look at it myself to make sure I don't miss the turn! 😝 And silly me completely forgot to check the navigation again at some point! 🤦‍♂️😣 When I finally remembered to look at the navigation again, I had already passed the turn about 50 km ago and the navigation had already calculated a new detour! Great, now I have to take a huge detour, you idiot! 😤 Oh well, let's just drive through the salt pans instead of just passing by, that's fine too, I thought! Yeah, right! 😝 First, it was just a gravel path road that was still in decent condition, but then I had to turn onto the worst sandy track for 50 km! At first, I dared to drive here with about 60 km/h. It was still okay in the beginning, but then the sandy track got worse and narrower! Suddenly, I could only go 50 km/h, then 40, 30, and in the end, I was happy if I managed to reach 20! It took me over an hour for those 50 km! 😝 And then I reached a gate. I was now leaving their national park and they asked if I had already paid the fee. No, I don't even know where I am! I've just been driving on some sandy track for over an hour! Where did I enter the park!? Wasn't there a gate where I drove in? No! I have no idea, I just ended up on it! I just followed my navigation! So we figured out on Google Maps where I could have entered the park. Turns out, no matter how, I have now crossed their park and I have to pay a fee for it! Oh well, nothing I can do about it! So I paid and continued driving!
In the end, I arrived at the lodge with over 2 hours delay. I actually wanted to use the laundry service and have my used clothes washed, but the laundry ladies finished work at 3 pm and it was already 3:30 pm! Great, if I hadn't gotten lost, it would have still worked out! 😖
Oh well, then off to the pool! The rest of the day was relaxing and the last leg was already planned for the next day, to Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, from where I will fly back home on the 12th...