I have news from Maun, Botswana!
Thanks to our special blogger Kandace who was on the flight from Jo'berg to Maun, I can share some more info.
You can check out her blog here:
http://kandfotoblog.com/2013/01/25/its-not-an-apple-os-these-amazing-cats-of-botswana/From the blog:
We landed in Maun, Botswana, fighting off the film crew and contestants in the next season of “Amazing Race.” Our group leader, Andy, sat with two very beautiful young women from Austin, TX, who were contestants. Supposedly, it was a secret but they told us they were racing into the Kalahari Desert. Andy was lapping up all the attention he was getting as he flipped through his iPad showing the “racers” what he did. I believe I counted the use of the word, “awesome,” at least 50 times. At one point lights and cameras were rolling on us as the two women were admiring Andy’s work. There just might be a chance that I, yours truly, will be in a small segment of next season’s, “Amazing Race.”After contacting her, Kandace was so nice to give me some great info on who and what she saw!
The black bolded content below is her account, the red is my notes included!
We flew to Botswana on Sunday, Nov. 25, approximately 4pm... We flew in from Jo'berg, South Africa to Maun, Botswana on Air Botswana. The Asian girls, the tall guy with really curly hair, and possibly the black couple were there but there were more than I didn't see. [I asked for more info on teams & showed her the cast photos, she confirms their names below]
We sat in Row 1 with the film crew manager, and my friend was behind us with the two blond chicks from Austin, TX [Caroline & Jen]. When the plane landed we let the two girls get out first to get a head start. There were also film crew on the tarmac as the contestants came off the plane. Well, it was quite something . . . the logistics to get the contestants and film crew off and running to the Kalahari Desert. I'm anxious to watch the show since we met the two chicks from Texas, and talked with them. Those girls are really friendly and really nice. But, boy could they say the word, "awesome" numerous times.
I know for sure there was the two Asian girls, Pamela and Winnie, the blondes from TX, Caroline and Jen, curly hair guy, Chuck and Wynona, and I think Mona & Beth, and Joey & Meghan.
The plane was completely full with our photo group of 14 people and the Amazing Race contestants and film crew, and probably some other people. Yes, there were probably more teams [elsewhere on another flight].Just want to point out that with Max/Katie not being sighted and Kandace saying there were more teams she didn't see and some possibly elsewhere, it's possible that there's a few teams not in this group... Another flight? Or just not spotted? I'm not sure. But, we cannot conclusively say that THIS is the ONLY bunch of teams to make Botswana.
Once again thank you so much Kandace for your AMAZING insight into this, it's really appreciated by us all here and will help us immensely!