The cold this morning has a bite that makes you want to stay under the blanket, but I was up before the sun anyway. Today is my last full day in Mahalapye, and I wanted to catch the town at its most honest hour. The A1 was already stirring, a few trucks rumbling through with their headlights still on, and the first kombis were pulling into the bus rank. There's a particular rhythm to this place that I've come to appreciate over the past week, and it's loudest before the day gets going.
I walked down towards the Watershed Mall just as the light was starting to soften the dust in the air. The mall is the commercial heart of this town, a stopover for everyone moving between Gaborone and Francistown. At this hour, though, it's quiet, just a few people sweeping the walkways and the smell of breakfast coming from the direction of Kaytees Restaurant. I stopped there for a cup of tea and a plate of magwinya, fried dough that costs about five pula, barely worth the change in your pocket but somehow exactly what you need on a cold winter morning. The woman at the counter knows me by now, and she didn't even ask before pouring my tea.
After breakfast, I caught a kombi out to the Tropic of Capricorn monument. It's just outside town, on the 23rd parallel, a small landmark that marks the southernmost point where the sun can be directly overhead. In mid-August, the sun is still low in the sky, casting long shadows, but you can feel the significance of the place. There's something about standing on a line that circles the entire globe, a line that other people in Namibia and South Africa and Australia also walk along, that makes you feel connected to something bigger. I sat there for a while, watching the road, thinking about how this tiny monument on the A1 is a marker for the whole solar system's geometry. It's humbling, in a way.
The monument is one of those places that rewards a slow visit. There's no ticket booth, no gift shop, just a small structure and an information board. But if you stand there and let your mind wander, you start to think about the earth's tilt and the seasons and why this place, of all places, marks the boundary of the tropics. I noticed a few other travellers pulling over, taking photos, and then quickly getting back in their cars. I wanted to tell them to stay a little longer, to let the geometry sink in, but I also understood the impulse to keep moving. This whole town is built on movement, on people passing through.
Back in the centre, I wandered down to the railway station. Mahalapye grew up because of this line, the colonial-era Bulawayo route that connected the region to the south. The station is still functional, but it's quieter than it once was, and the old open-air dance floor that made it famous is just a memory now. I sat on a bench for a while, watching a single goods train roll through, its wagons carrying who knows what between the two big cities. The rail line is the reason this town exists, but the highway is what keeps it alive. The bus rank is the real beating heart, always full of people and movement and the sound of vendors calling out their wares.
I stopped for lunch at The Braai Place, one of those spots that does exactly what its name promises. I ordered seswaa, the slow-cooked beef that's a staple across the Central District, served with pap. It's simple food, but it's the food of this land, and it tastes like the place itself. The plate cost me about forty pula, which feels right for the portion. As I ate, I listened to the conversations around me, the chatter about the upcoming weekend, the politics that always seems to find its way into any gathering. There's talk, apparently, of the Botswana Patriotic Front having some factional issues, with a parallel congress scheduled here in Mahalapye at the end of August. It's low-level stuff, the kind of political noise you hear in any town, but it reminds you that this quiet place has a pulse.
After lunch, I took a long walk through the Matlhware residential area, the quieter pocket of town that sits a bit off the highway. This is where you'd come if you were staying for a while, where the guesthouses are cheaper and the pace is slower. I checked the rates on a few places, just out of habit for the show, and found that a modest one-bedroom flat on the edge of the centre goes for around nine hundred to twelve hundred pula a month. That's somewhere in the range of eighty or ninety dollars, a striking figure for anyone coming from a more expensive city. The rental market here is small, but it's honest, and it reflects the town's role as a working stopover rather than a tourist destination.
The conversation about the prison came up again today. The Mahalapye Prison is one of the biggest employers in town, and there's apparently a new sports festival pilot running there, something called 'Sports for Rehabilitation and Reintegration', with football, netball, and even chess. I'm told it's been going on since June and runs through September. It's a small detail, the kind of thing you'd never find in a guidebook, but it speaks to how this town operates. It's a place of institutions and routines, where people are trying to do good work within the systems they have. I find that quietly admirable.
In the afternoon, I circled back towards the bus rank to check the timetables for tomorrow's trip north. I'm heading to Serowe next, to see the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, which is a short drive from there. The buses run regularly along the A1, so it's just a matter of showing up and finding a seat. I've been thinking about the logistics of getting to the Makgadikgadi pans after that, and then swinging west towards the Okavango Delta when the flood season brings the water in. The planning is part of the pleasure, honestly, and Mahalapye has been a good place to think it through.
There's something about a last day in a place that sharpens your attention. I found myself noticing the small things I might have missed otherwise. The way the light filters through the acacia trees in the late afternoon. The sound of a distant tractor out in the fields. The women selling vegetables at the market, arranging them in neat piles, the colours of the tomatoes and greens standing out against the dusty ground. I bought a small bag of oranges, which the vendor told me were from down south. They cost about ten pula, and they were the sweetest I've had in a while.
I also thought more about this town's place in Botswana's story. President Duma Boko, the man who led the UDC to end the BDP's long run in 2024, was born here. That's a point of pride that you can feel if you listen closely. Mahalapye isn't just a place people pass through; it's a place that produces people who shape the nation. And it's a symbol of how change happens slowly, then all at once. The town itself feels like it's waiting for something, a new season, a new chapter, the next bus. That waiting is part of its character.
For dinner, I treated myself to a proper meal at the Cresta Mahalapye hotel. It's one of the mid-range options in town, and a night there would set you back about six hundred to twelve hundred pula, depending on the room. The restaurant was comfortable, warm against the evening chill, and I ordered a simple grilled chicken with vegetables. As I ate, I looked out the window at the lights of the A1, a steady stream of traffic moving both directions. The road is the lifeblood of this town, and it never stops flowing.
After dinner, I took one last walk along the highway, watching the stars come out. The sky here is huge, and in the clear winter air, they shine with a clarity that feels almost unreal. I thought about all the journeys that have brought me here, and all the ones that lie ahead. Tomorrow morning, I'll pack my bag and catch a bus north to Serowe. But tonight, I'm in Mahalapye, and I'm in no hurry.
The water situation here is something I keep coming back to. There are reports that the North-South Carrier water projects are improving supply, and I've noticed the pressure in the taps at my guesthouse seems better than in some places I've stayed. But water is always on people's minds in a semi-arid country like this, and Mahalapye sits right on the edge of the Kalahari. It's a reminder that everything here is a negotiation with the landscape, a balance between what you need and what the land can give.
I'm packing my bag tonight, but I'm not going to rush. I've got a couple of the oranges left from the market, and I'll have those for breakfast on the road. Before I go, I wanted to leave you with a few practical notes. For anyone thinking of moving here or spending time in the Central District, banking is done through the national chains, like Absa or FNB, and you'll need your passport and proof of address. Getting a SIM card is straightforward, from Mascom or beMobile, and registration is mandatory with a passport. There's no transit card system here, just cash for kombis and buses, and they're reliable.
Everything I've talked about, and where to sort the practicalities, is in the episode notes. There's a lot to take in, but it's all there.
So this is the end of my time in Mahalapye, at least for now. It's a town that doesn't ask for your attention, but it rewards it if you give it. As I stand here on the A1 in the cold night air, I feel a sense of gratitude for the quiet places, for the working towns, for the stops along the road that make the longer journey possible. Dumela, Mahalapye. See you on the way back. And before that, there are rhinos waiting for me in Serowe, and the pans, and the flood season in the Okavango. Pula, my friend, and good night.