Nov. 21-23 - Okavango Delta, Botswana

Nov. 21-23, 2012 - Okavango Delta, Botswana

The group took a 2 night/3 day tour of the Okavango Delta.  We took Makoros into the delta.  A Makoro is a small canoe like boat originally made of wood.  The newer versions however are made of fiber glass.  The water is so shallow that instead of paddles there is a poler at the back of the boat that uses a long stick to push off the bottom.

Alene and I shared a Makoro and our poler, Judge, poled us through the reeds and lily pads of the delta.  With 14 of us we had a long line of boats moving through the water.  At one point we came across and open area where a group of hippos was hanging out.  We also stumbled upon a lone elephant wandering through the reeds eating what he could find.  This was actually a bit scary.  We couldnt make any load sounds to disturb or irritate the elephant else he would charge and we were quite close to the huge animal in flimsy little boat.  However, we made it through okay without any charging elephants.  After about and hour and a half of poling through the reeds along hippo paths, or hippo highways as Judge called them, we arrived at our bush campsite.

When I say bush campsite I mean as remote as it comes.  We took our own tents, cutlery,  plates and cooking utensils.  We also had to carry in our drinking water and boiled delta water to cook and make tea and coffee with.  The polers also dug us a hole as our bathroom.  We were to use the "toilet" the put a small layer of dirt over our you know what to "flush".  I have dont this before on camping/hiking trips but I have not shared a hole with someone in a long long time. Let alone 20 other people.  New experiences!

Once camp was set up we had a little siesta to wait out the hottest part of the day.   During this time we went for a swim in a little swimming hole not too far from camp.   That evening we went on a walking bush safari in search of animals.   It was very warm and we didnt see any animals we hadnt already seen loads of times.  Being on ground level with them though was different.  We also got a little talking to about what to do if we come across and startle different animals.  If it's a buffalo, run and hide and put a tree between you and the buffalo. If it's a elephant, run and hide in the bush.  If its a lion, stop and back away slowly, you dont want to bring out it predatory instincts by running.

That evening our fabulous cooking team made spaghetti and we sat around the campfire talking to each other.

The next morning was a early morning walking safari.  We took the makoro over to another island, unloaded, and hiked through the bush in search for animals.  The highlight of this was seeing a black mamba snake slither across the ground.  Cool. After about 3 hours we headed back to camp for another siesta to wait the heat off.  During this time we got the chance to take a makoro out and try poling it ourselves.  This proved to be much more difficult than it looked.  I'd try to go straight and I'd end up turning into the reeds and off the path.  I'd try to turn and it would take 5 times longer than it should.  Alene laughed at me and dodged reeds the whole time she rode around with me.
This evening we went out on a evening sunset makoro ride with our real polers.  We went out to the hippo pond again and watched them peek their heads out of the water.  After that it was just boating around an watching the sun set across the delta and below the reeds and lilies.  Beautiful.

Afterwards we had a dinner of chili around the campfire again.  The polers that evening though had a singing and dancing show for us.  They sang several songs and danced to a few as well.  I love seeing a little bit of the local culture and I am very glad they showed us theirs. It was quite entertaining.  They did one song where then some of them began dancing around and hopping around the campfire like frogs. Hilarious.  They even got some of the campers up there jumping around.  Another song some of the men stuffed their shirts and danced around like pregnant women.  A good evening.

I skipped the next morning bush walk and slept in.  We poled back to the mainland and the tour company had Coke's waiting for all of us.  Soon it was back to civilization.

I washed some clothes in the sink and then immediately jumped into the swimming pool.

At 3pm, 3 of us on the trip went on an optional scenic flight over the delta. This was an $85 dollar expense but well worth it.  We took a little four seater plane up.  They let me have the front seat.  We got to see a birds eye view of hippos, zebras, elephants, buffalo, antelope, giraffes, wildebeests, and a fish eagle soared right by our plane! I captured some great shots of the delta.  The pilot explained that most of the land we saw below us would be covered with water as soon as rainy season arrived. I definitely have to visit Victoria Falls and the Delta again during a rainy season.

That night our group opted for a buffet dinner instead of cooking.  It was nice to take the night off from cooking and cleaning.

After dinner and a few games of pool with the group 4 of us decided to check out a local night club.  This actually ended up being a lot of fun.  We arrived around 11 and almost no one was there.  By the time we left at 3 the place was packed.  Dont worry family, I made it back safely without incident.  :-)

What I have learned:
 Pooping in a hole is very...interesting, but ya gotta doo what ya gotta doo.
The delta is over 18,000 square kilometers.
I'm going to have to come back during rainy season to get the full effect of Africa.