After a nice stay at the Sedia Riverside Hotel and a fair amount of preparation, we headed out to our campsite in the Okavango Delta, getting there by boat – more specifically a Mokoro!
Sadly, the delta has had a three year drought, the area is very dry and the water is low. While this makes for an unpleasantly arid landscape, it benefits animal viewing. Not only does the lack of lush vegetation make viewing easier (no place to hide), the animals stay closer to what’s left of the water.
Thus, we may have seen more of the thirsty darlings than usual. Nonetheless, the dryness parches ones enthusiasm. The tangled twisting tree limbs are tantalizing, but I miss the lush greenery, the leaves, the promise of life (photosynthesis). Foolishly, I thought all springs were green, alas no, and especially not now here in Botswana.
Instead of our bus/truck, we were picked up at the hotel by four-wheel drive safari trucks and off we went for two nights camping. After an hour or so on the road, we turned into the bush and the “African massage” (bouncing around) got more rigorous. We sloshed about on circuitous & sandy roads for over another hour or so.
We passed many poverty stricken patches of ground, surrounded by stick fences containing one or two small cement block buildings or mud huts with thatched roofs. But the goats frolicked and the people smiled and waved.
Eventually, we made it to the “station” – a spot on the bank of a delta finger with an agglomeration of “mokoros” evidently each owned by the operator?
The mokoro is a kinda of canoe, propelled by a pole, not unlike the Venice gondoliers or punting on the Thames. With two of us tourists per boat, and several boats of gear & supplies, we constituted a veritable armada creeping into the delta.
After less than an hour, much of it gently weaving up a thin tendril of the delta, we arrived at our camp site on the bank of a larger lagoon featuring a “bloat” of hippos wallowing in the shallow water.
Again, our tent city was erected, complete with a kitchen area, dining room around a fire, and a designated outdoor toilet area for some rather exposed “bushy bushy” business. After another nice lunch, naps were taken under trees, and closer to evening we took a guided nature walk around the neighborhood.
After a particularly good dinner, there was more than a little campfire circle entertainment, then bedtime with warnings about elephants, lions, leopards, and things that might spoil a night time bushy bushy…
The next morning we were up for an early, and much longer, walk in the Okavango. We saw various African ungulates, birds, and uniquely painted (wild) dogs. We encountered several substantial elephant turds, various animal tracks, and a hippo skeleton with a story to tell (last gasp of a dying planet?). After more than a couple hours and more than 10 K, we made it back to our camp.
More of our Okavango trekking…
In addition to lunch, the rest of the day was very relaxing with naps, hippo viewing, and a surreptitious walkabout by me. In the evening, we went for another mokoro ride to find animals and enjoy another dramatic sunset in Africa.
That night it was our crew’s turn to provide the entertainment. But I’m not talking about our leader, driver, and chef. I’m referring to the 11 people who poled the mokoros, set up our camp, guided us on walks, and kept us from harm. After dinner, they sang and danced traditional African songs by the fire light – into the night…
The following day we retraced our steps back to the hotel in Maun for much needed showers and a swim in the pool…