Pretoria and the Botswana Visa

We walked off the plane in Johannesburg and quickly realized we weren’t prepared for all the details.  We split up to go through immigration as Tico required a visa and I did not.  After a few minutes I look over at the other line to see Tico waving me over. He wanted to know the address of where we were staying, in case they asked.  After searching my bag for the paper I really thought I’d printed, I could only remember the name.  I told him we had to wing it and we parted ways again.  As it turns out, they never asked for it so we lucked out.

Nelson Mandela statue at the Union Buildings

We made it outside of the airport and started heading to the Guatrain to make our way to Pretoria.  A taxi driver intercepted us and offer to take us.   We declined at first, but after hearing his price and knowing the price of the train we opted to take him up on his offer.  We spent the next couple hours in the car hearing about his life experiences and how he’d spent several months in coma after having multiple cell phones stolen from him while moving his merchandise.

Our main focus in Pretoria was to work out Tico’s Botswana visa so we left our bags at a nearby hostel and made our way To the Embassy.  We arrived after visa consultation hours, but got the necessary information from the security guard.  He told us turnaround time was 14 days and we both started working through plans in our heads.  The rest of the day was spent getting certified copies of his passport at the police station.  After arriving and seeing everyone else had copies in their hand, Tico ran (literally) to the closest print shop and came back a sweaty mess.  But, we got extra copies and were ready to meet up with our host for the night.

Pretoria skyline

The next day we spent the morning booking accommodations and transportation in Botswana to have a travel plan to present to the Embassy.  We had passport pictures taken and then made the same walk from the previous day.  The woman was much more understanding compared to our other experiences and was even kind enough to tell us our travel plan wouldn’t work (which we knew, but needed to present her with something).  After explaining what our real plan was, she told us that it would take 2-3 weeks to process.  We immediately started throwing out our various plans of how to get the visa when she said,

“We can send you the visa approval…through email.”

Such great news!  As it turns out, they don’t keep his passport either so we just paid the fee and left.  Still processing how well it all worked out.

The road to Botswana Embassy

Both nights in Pretoria were spent with Pieter, who we met through Couchsurfing.  He picked us up and we got our first taste of a South African braai (BBQ).  We had wildebeast sausage, chicken wings, braai bread (grilled sandwiches with veggies and cheese) and of course a South African beer.  Our second night was spent with some of Pieter’s friends at a bar that had an amazing deal on steak and pap (African staple that is similar to grits).  We got local input on Kruger National Park as they have been going there since they were kids.  They also answered our mIllinois of questions about their culture and way of life.  The night continued and he took us to one of his favorite bars, which happens to have picnic tables as the dance floor.  When we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer we made our way  home.  Our last hours in the city were spent at a farmer’s market picking Pieter’s brain for travel recommendations.  We spread out the map and started marking a few of his favorite places.  There’s still a lot of unknown out there, but it was helpful to hear about his experiences.

Maria and Pieter discussing the trip

See more of our pictures here.