Income Inequality World Tour
May 2026
Embedded Files
Economists have a concept called Income Inequality.
The income inequality index, most commonly measured by the Gini coefficient, evaluates the gap between the rich and poor within an economy:
0%: Perfect equality (everyone has the exact same income)
100%: Perfect inequality (one person earns all the income)
Two of our sons (and one of our grandsons) traveled to Botswana to visit us. They got to see their parents/grandparents in a different light. We were delighted to have them come. With permission, we took them around the south-east section of Botswana as well as Swakopmund Namibia and Medikwe South Africa.
As it turns out, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa are in the top five countries in the world for the highest income equality. So our family was on the Highlights of the Gini Coefficient World Tour!
What an honor.
We took them to Mokolodi Nature Reserve just outside Gaborone for a Game Drive as well as an introduction to Game Burger (made of Kudu). They liked it!
Next, we flew to Namibia (through Johannesburg) to Swakopmund. It’s on the western shore of Namibia, and a completely different African experience for us from land-locked Botswana. Our guide took us south of Walvis Bay to the Namib-Naukluft National Parks and dunes. Amazing. The dunes tower to the east and the ocean expands to the west. There is a strip of sand accessible by four wheel when the tide is out. We drove south to Sandwich Harbour.
Sandwich harbor was full of fresh water, at one time. But the sea broke through the sand barrier, and the sea water seeped under the sand, so the harbor is now full of brackish water. But it’s still very pretty.
The highest sand dunes in the world are found in this park, and we drove them. Up. And Down! It was exhilarating, among other feelings.
After the dunes, we feasted on seafood, which we have missed in Botswana, as well as the local German-influenced fares. Our family tried Oryx steaks. All delicious.
The next day, we drove north up the coast, past the Zeila shipwreck to Cape Cross Seal Reserve. As parents, we were a little worried this would be underwhelming. When we arrived, there was a seal corral with a few hundred seals, so; OK. Interesting. Sort of.
But when we walked the fenced beach-side boardwalk and saw the beach, Wow!
Tens of thousands of seals!
Seals in the corral, seals on the beach, seals in the ocean. So many seals!
Our trip back to Swakopmund took us past un-manned tables with pretty pink salt crystals and a little jar where you put the money. It’s an honor payment system.
Our trip back to Botswana was eventful. We obtained our boarding passes at the Walvis Bay International Airport. But we neglected to preview them. When we got to the gate, Mark was flagged, because he had already gone thru! Well, our grandson had a duplicate boarding pass for Mark. The gate agent did some handwaving and rushed Mark through.
At Johannesburg, there was a disabled couple on the flight, and after everyone had disembarked and boarded the shuttle bus, they came down the stairs. Ever. So. Slowly. Our layover was about 30 minutes, so ever step was agonizing. The bus took us to the security re-screening. We had to pass through passport control. At the re-screening, the Security Screening agent wasn’t going to wave the duplicate boarding pass issue. Lynn and one son went on ahead while Mark ran back to the ticketing agents with grandson and dad in tow. They were happy to reprint the boarding passes correctly.
Then back to security. By then, the boarding pass checking machine said reject because it’s too close to take off time!!!! Arg!!!!
They finally let us through, and by then Lynn was at the front of the Xray line, so we all jumped in with them.
Rushing through the terminal to the other end, our younger lads raced ahead while we older folks limped along behind. As we descended the escalator, they were giving us Thumbs Up. The pilots were also delayed. Why couldn’t they show the delay on the information board?
After catching our breath, we were able to board and fly back to Gaborone without further incident.
Our next adventure: Medikwe Game Reserve in South Africa!
Flying into Gaborone Botswana
Google Sites
Report abuse