I went looking for treasure and I found myself

by kwanele mbobo (South Africa)

I didn't expect to find Botswana

Botswana, known for its natural beauty and elegance was my first trip out of the country. Exciting times for someone who was about to learn about her roots from a country containing one of the biggest desserts - the kalahari. I was so excited that I started packing a day early. The reason for my travel was that my late father's sister had fallen ill and my father's side of the family was a side I was not familiar with much. The trip was going to begin from Pretoria and we would travel by road. Not hearing the alarm and waking up just 10 minutes before travel time didn't give the trip the greatest start for me however in due time, we made our way. Big brother would be driving, my mom in the back passenger's seat and I next to my brother preparing to be the world's greatest travel photographer for the next few days of my stay. Snap! snap! 1km out of home was my first trip selfie for the Gram! As we left the city and started seeing more Country, I was amazed at the beauty of South Africa. Surrounded by taxi's hooting and people shouting day in and day out in the city, we end up forgetting that there's more to the world than what we see - the same way there's more to us than what we know. Anyway, it wasn't long before we arrived at the South African boarder. It was pretty. The only boarder I had ever seen was the Maxican boarder the the movie "blue streak" and that was just a solid yellow line. This one has buildings and beautiful plants, perfect aesthetic to get my passport stamped for the first time. The officers were friendly. They searched our vehicle and the next thing I knew, I was a foreigner in another country. It felt exhilarating. The next stop was the Botswana boarder, that was slightly underwhelming. It wasn't the prettiest or the cleanest of places, but we made due because we were foreigners in another country. At the boarder we met a young man, he was vetyy bubbly and energetic and was looking to hitch a ride with cars going to Haberoni, which was where we were heading. We made the reckless decision to pick up the stranger with the hopes that he would help us get to our destination without the complications of getting lost. We did not expect to experience what came next. As we traveled with this young man, he couldn't stop talking. He seemed to know everyone and everything! Including my Aunt's family. He told us of stories of how my Aunt's husband was royalty in the country and how he couldn't believe he was in the car with royal relatives. We took it lightly. He made phone calls right infront of us telling them of how he was on the presence of royalty and that feasts must be prepared for us and authorities informed of our arrival. We were not certain whether this was a conman or we had discovered something we were not aware of! We waited until we entered Haberoni, and to our amazement, cops were waiting for us to escort us home. We were in fact foreigners in another country but it turns out, we are royalty. I went there looking for my Aunt, a treasure and the only piece of my dad left, but I found myself - I found my roots and my roots were royalty.