A stroll through Government Enclave and Central Business District

Zombie post brought back to life after a few months of abandonment.

This morning I found myself at the bottom end of Main Mall, Gaborone without any wheels (that’s another story) and, since the weather was favourable, decided to walk home.

Gaborone is a relatively young capital city, with almost none of it having been built before the 1960s.  I didn’t take any pictures in Main Mall as it was all a bit grey, in fact everything was a bit grey and a battered phone camera lens gives everything a dodgy soft-focus effect.

Government Enclave was pretty much deserted, except one hawker with a set of scales and an assortment of chest-expanders, I need to go back and see what his unique selling point is.

Parliament Building

Continuing towards the new Central Business District you pass the Ministry of Health and Attorney General’s Chambers.

I then crossed Nelson Mandela Drive and the railway into the New Central Business District, home to more architectural wonders complete and incomplete.  Some of them have been incomplete for years.  I can’t bring myself to comment on the architectural, urban planning and construction achievements… draw your own conclusions.

Eventually you get to the northern end with the High Court and Three Dikgosi (Chiefs) Monument.

Gaborone Central Business District panorama at the eastern end.

There was a wedding group taking pictures at the Three Dikgosi Monument, and having had my eye caught by a BMW in a used car showroom the cars associated with the group caught my eye (mainly for the wrong reasons…).

From CBD I strolled out onto Willie Seboni (a road) and up hill past the Mass Media Complex (Botswana’s equivalent to Broadcasting House), across the Western Bypass and home.

A pleasant stroll through parts of central Gaborone showing that you don’t need to drive everywhere: the slow lane can be just as interesting.

Foreign Traffic On Botswana Rails

Some time before Easter I was proceeding along the A1 between Gaborone and Francistown when I saw a train being hauled north by non-Botswana Railways locomotives, did a bit of research based on the “AR&TS” livery and found they belong to a railway service company, African Rail and Traction Services.

Couple of weeks later, heading back to Gaborone after Easter and we found the same train heading south from Mahalapye.  Having time on our hands we put some distance between us and the train, and then found a convenient gate out of the road reserve with a dirt track up to the railway line and took a few pictures.

Ex-Queensland Railways class 2600, units 2609 and 2606, owned by African Rail & Traction Services passing through Botswana with grain wagons.

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Long Day To Tsabong

After weeks of preparation and waiting for materials to be delivered we sent our team down to Tsabong on Tuesday with a first-fix of goods.  A final delivery of R70,000 worth of PVC pipes and fittings arrived on Friday and was transhipped to a local transporter together with the remainder of the reverse osmosis membranes and a few tons of Grundfos pumps on Friday.

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Botswana Railways – Coal Train

Work took me back to Botswana Ash at Sowa Pan on Thursday, just another 800km day in the life.

As I went over the railway bridge at Serule there was a coal train passing underneath, I thought it would have made a good picture but the road there isn’t too safe to stop on: narrow and bad sight-lines.

Imagine my surprise when, about six hours later, I finished my business at Sowa and found a train load of coal parked at the mine gates.

Coal train at Botswana Ash, Sowa Pan
Coal train at Botswana Ash, Sowa Pan

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