I spent 2 months in Maun back in Jan/Feb '09 and another two months in Malawi in March/April 09. I worked for Nyassa for the two months I was in Malawi, so if anyone has any questions about Malawi, send me a message or something, I can set you up with some of the guys that care currently there who can also tell you about the place.
That said, here are some tips about going to Maun:
* bring sunscreen with you. Bug spray/roll-on you can get there, but sunscreen you have to take with you. White skinned folk are the only ones who need sunscreen, and there aren't that many white people in botswana, so it's hard to find and quite expensive.
* Don't worry too much about malaria. Everyone I spoke to while I was there said that they have never heard of anyone getting malaria in maun. Technically Maun is in the malaria zone, but it's hardly a problem there. That said, it's not a bad idea to have some doxy with you just in case. Doxy is easy to find in maun, and it's cheaper too. Walgreen's in teh US tried to sell me a 2 months supply for $40, where I can get a months supply in Maun for 5 bucks. Doxy can be used as a treatment, or as a prophylactic.
* bring with you books to read, or SOMETHING to do. Preferable something that doesn't require batteries, as they are hard to find there. There is only one bookstore in Maun and it sucks for selections. They sell magazines at the supermarkets, but they are ridiculously expensive. Think 15-$20 for an issue of Car&Driver or National Geographic. They sell more more "local" magazines that are cheaper but they suck.
* Prepare to be bored. My daily routine was to take up at around 10AM, take a combi into town to get breakfast, then at 11:30 or so I'd go over to the airport and maybe waltz on into Sefofane or Kavango to ask if they need anyone. The answer was always "no". I'd then sit on a bench and watch planes land/takeoff for an hour or so. Then I'd take a combi back to Audi at 1 PM or so. Then I'd hand around the pool for 2 or 3 hours killing time. 5PM or so I'd go back into town to get dinner. Then until it got dark, I'd read through the stash of magazines they have at Audi. Then I'd walk over to The Bridge (one hour walk) to get my drink on.
I did that pretty much every day for 2 months.
* Botswana is a great place. I likes it way more than I liked Zambia and Malawi. The people there are MUCH nicer and way less corrupt. In Malawi, if you're white, you will get hassled all the time and the only way to make it stop is to pay out a bribe. I will say though, the people in Botswana hate speaking English. They all can speak it, but they much prefer speaking their local language (setswana). I never heard them speak English to each other. Whenever I had to speak to a native, I always got a weird vibe, where they seemed to be embarrassed to speak English, so they'd speak it really softly. It was annoying at first, but I eventually got used to it.
* I flew into Joburg, then took a flight to Gabs. I did this because I was under the impression that the bus station in Joburg (being in the middle of downtown) was extremely dangerous and was to be avoided unless I wanted to get killed. On my way back to Joburg after I decided to leave africa, I took a bus through Joburg's downtown station and it was no big deal. If I could do it again, I'd have taken a $15 bus ride from joburg to Gabs instread of taking the $150 flight. But I'm cheap like that. Theres a night train that runs from Gabs to Francistown that runs daily and is only like 8 bucks for coach and $20 or so for first class. It's a long ride but cheap as hell. Busses from F-town to Maun leave almost hourly and are cheap as well.
Typing this all out has made me nostalgic for Africa now
I want to go back
