Hello friends! Are you ready to venture into the heart of the Okavango Delta? I hope so because that is where we are headed next on this journey through Africa. Actually, I’m not sure if you’re ready for the Delta yet so to get you warmed up, let’s take an aerial view of the world’s largest (16,000 sq. km) inland delta.
I think the wildlife below, which looks like tiny blobs in the water, might be buffalo.
Yeah, I agree that the shot above left a little something to desire, but it’s the only shot that even remotely resembles wildlife from my flight over the Delta so that is why I felt compelled to include it in this post.
Pretty, huh? How about a closer look? We started our journey with a 50 minute ride on a speedboat, passing some spectacular scenery along the way.
Meet our captain, Daniel.
We sped along to the shore where we met up with our hosts from the Delta who would be navigating our mokoros, dug out canoes, to the rugged, bush campsite that would serve as our home for the next 3 days.
And away we go…
As you can see, the mokoro is propelled forward by the use of a long pole so the person navigating the mokoro is called a…
Anyone…anyone?
Bueller…Bueller?
Yes, a poler!
The polers grew up here so they are extremely familiar with the labyrinthine waterways of the Delta.
The ride to camp took between an hour and a half to two hours and the views took your breath away.
Our poler was named Richard and he had an extremely keen eye, spotting a crocodile within minutes.
Richard was almost apologetic that it was such a small croc, which a) it didn’t seem that small to me…check out this tail.
And b) I’m perfectly fine seeing a small croc while I’m in this tiny dugout canoe, which was so low to the water that I was practically eye level with the fish. No worries, Richard, really.
Once Richard would spot something, we would take all necessary steps to get up close and personal with it, which usually meant we that we’d shoot our mokoro head first into the reeds. It looked a little something like this.
Fabian, my mokoro mate, and I would immediately take cover by putting our head between our legs in an attempt to protect ourselves from the reeds, which would lash against us as we plunged into the reeds to get a better look. The temporary discomfort was worth it though because we got to see cool things like these adorable, little frogs.
Don’t ask me how he was able to spot something this tiny and well camouflaged, but he was a hawk, identifying all kinds of tiny inhabitants of the Delta.
As you can see, he was loving every second of it, hamming it up for the camera and making sure we had a great time.
In addition to having a great eye, Richard was also very knowledgeable about the medicinal uses of many plants found in the Delta like this flower that, when squeezed, releases water that is perfect for cleaning one’s eyes. Later, Visine.
After a very enjoyable ride through the Delta we arrived at our camp.
The camp was extremely basic with no toilets or showers, but it was super luxurious to arrive and have our tents already assembled for us. Simple pleasures, right? Maretha and Raymond had already warned us that the Delta was unbearably hot and humid, advising us that our number one priority should be to find refuge from the beating sun and to avoid any kind of physical exertion unless absolutely necessary during most of the daylight hours. Awesome.
I heeded their advice and immediately threw myself on one of our mattresses in the shade, only moving when the sun encroached on my shady spot or to use the toilet. This is the “door” to our “bathroom.”
If the shovel and toilet paper were against the tree, the “door" to the “bathroom” was open. To “shut the door” we’d take the shovel up to our “toilet,” which was a hole in the ground located a few meters away. After doing business, we’d “flush the toilet” by putting a little dirt on top and then “open the bathroom door” by returning the shovel to it’s place against the tree. Then we’d sanitize our hands and immediately throw ourselves back into a shady spot. Around 4:00 PM it was time to board our mokoros again and venture out into the Delta for a short nature walk and sunset.
Check out the massive termite mound. These are all over Africa.
When we returned to camp Maretha had dinner waiting for us. Woo hoo! It’s amazing how gourmet the meal was considering this was our kitchen.
You go, Maretha. Thanks for another mouthwatering meal. After dinner we sat around the campfire, but the bugs were ferocious, biting us through our clothes. After receiving my 384th mosquito bite I couldn’t take it anymore and dove into my tent. Thankfully Birgit had some highly toxic spray, which we used to coat our tent and successfully keep the bloodsuckers at bay. Of course you can imagine the feeding frenzy that ensued when I had to get up in the middle of the night to use the toilet, but what can you do?
The next morning we got up at the crack enjoy the sunrise and take a nature walk before the blazing heat took over.
It is so peaceful riding in the mokoros in the early morning, watching dragonflies, illuminated by the sun’s first rays, dance on the surface of the crystal, clear water. The Delta really has a magical feel to it when you are gliding through the tall reeds and coming to spectacular clearings filled with lily pads and colorful flowers.
Richard got us safely to shore and joined us on our nature walk.
This is one of the first things that we saw along the way. Yikes!!!
Our head guide told us about the various wildlife we may see during our walk and advised us what to do in the event of a face off with some of these animals. Do not run in a straight line if you are chased by an elephant or a hippo. Instead run in a zig zag. If you are confronted with a lion who seems like it could embrace eating you for lunch do not run or turn your back. Instead you should stare it directly in the eyes to assert your dominance. Ok, got it. Let’s hope that these valuable tips won’t need to be put into action during this walk.
You can’t seem them, but you could definitely hear the hippos grunting just beneath the surface of the water. Every so often their nostrils would peek through the surface of the water to get some air, but that was about it.
For you hippo lovers out there, don’t despair because we’ll have plenty of hippo action coming up in future posts.
These warthogs were so cute, racing through the field like their lives depended on it and then abruptly stopping to stare at the strange people staring at them. They always do this and it never ceases to crack me up. What little freaks.
Now it was time to head back to camp. I was following closely behind our guide to get some more insight into some of his many experiences in the Delta, especially the super scary, life threatening ones.
To be honest, our walk through the Delta, while abundant with stunning natural scenery, yielded little wildlife sightings. I realize that most animals prefer to be out early in the morning and around dusk to avoid the scorching temperatures, but I also couldn’t help but notice that we were walking through their habitat without any weapons or instruments to protect ourselves. From a liability standpoint, I thought there must not be a huge risk of being attacked by a vicious predator if our guides didn’t even take the precaution to at least have a big stick or something to attempt to fend off the attacking animal, but Maretha had shared a story of coming face to face with a lion in her first few months as a tour leader right here in the Delta so I guess it was possible. In this instance the lioness was so close and so enraged by Maretha and her clients’ presence that when she roared Maretha could feel the warm breath on her face. Um, are you kidding me? I really don’t know what I would do in that situation, but I feel pretty confident that there would be a massive racing stripe in my pants Having a lion practically spit in your face while roaring at the top of her lungs is no joke.
Of course I asked our guide if he had ever come face to face with a lion while taking groups through the Delta and he admitted that while rare, it had happened 3 times. One time the standoff lasted for a few seconds while the other 2 were more prolonged in excess of 5 minutes. Five minutes may not sound like a long time, but it must have felt eternal with an irate lioness staring you down with bloodlust in her eyes and expressing her extreme displeasure with you by repeated roars in your face. I asked him what he did in these situations and he reinforced in a calm and stable voice to stay in one place, under no circumstances run or turn away, to stare the vicious cat in the eyes, and repeat unless or until she kills you or decides to leave. After sharing my horror, I pressed him to learn more about his clients’ reactions during and after the encounter. Not surprisingly many of the clients actually wet their pants. Yeah, no kidding! I think I’d probably lose control of my bladder, bowels, and belly. Imagine that scene from the Exorcist where the possessed child starts yacking up green stuff and that’s pretty much the image I have in my mind of my response to seeing a lion face to face. Speaking of the Exorcist, did you know the Exorcist stairs from the movie are in DC? On my last weekend in DC before heading to Bangkok to start my journey I did an Exorcist photo shoot with my friend, Paul. It was hysterical and attracted cheers, laughter, and high fives from passersby. While I recognize that this has absolutely nothing to do with my trip through Africa, I feel compelled to share some of these pics with you just because I think they are awesome.
Sorry for the random segue, but I’m ready to reign it in again and continue our adventure in the Delta. This is the walk where I was asking our guide about his standoffs with lions.
As I mentioned, it was wildlife light and while this lil’ guy isn’t exactly exotic, he’s pretty darn cute.
Time to get back in the mokoro and head back to camp. I was excited to see what Maretha had up her sleeve. When we left this AM she was planning something that involved oranges and chocolate. She had already baked a birthday cake for us on the campfire back in Namibia so I had a sneaking suspicion that another cake was on the way. Fingers crossed. I heart cake, especially chocolate cake.
When we got back to camp we were all dripping with sweat so we immediately found some shade and threw ourselves onto the ground where we remained until it was time to head back out into the water for another spectacular sunset. Actually, that’s not true, I did get up for about 10 minutes to peruse and purchase these gorgeous bracelets that the women had made from the Delta grasses. You know I love jewelry and these bracelets are unlike anything in my current collection. Yay!
The polers were all sassy this afternoon, adorning themselves and us with decorations from the Delta.
Here are Richard and Fabian from my mokoro.
Yep, I totally got hooked up with a lily pad hat. Lovely!
And of course the moment I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for…sunset!!!
When we returned to the camp after sunset Maretha had another delicious meal waiting for us as well as a chocolate cake that was cooked inside the orange peel. It was finger licking good and I mean that literally. I wasn’t letting a single ounce of that chocolate get away.
After doing the dishes, we were treated to some singing and dancing from the polers. Their voices were so good. It was almost like we were listening to a CD. They were also busting out some serious dance moves for us. Of course we entertained them with a little ditty Maretha taught us called the Amarula song, which was pretty easy because it only had one lyric that we sang over and over again. I know that sounds kind of lame, but we pepped it up a bit with some dancing and then a kind of jacked up rendition of the Toyota Crazy Car/Cressida song. We were singing and laughing for most of the evening and it was such a wonderful way to end our time in the Delta.
The next morning we were up early to tear down the tents and head back to camp.
I cannot say enough positive things about my time in the Delta. It is one of the most beautiful places I have visited both in scenery and the wonderful people I met. Here’s a pic of our fabulous polers. A huge thank you to them all for their warm hospitality.
Once we reached the shore where we were to transfer from the mokoro to the speedboat there was a bit of a delay so we ended up sitting around for about an hour watching some storm clouds roll in and eventually open up in a torrential downpour. The good news is that our captain didn’t play around so what took us 50 minutes the first time, took only 23 minutes in the rain.
When we arrived back at camp we had to cart all of our gear (tents, food, water, and other random supplies) from the jetty to the campsite in the pouring rain, but we were already wet so it didn’t really matter. We were greeted by a smiling Raymond who hooked it up big time with the Mexican fiesta he prepared for our lunch. In case I haven’t mentioned it before, I’m a Mexican food fanatic so I was all about this special treat. He even warmed up our tortillas over the fire. Three cheers for Raymond and Maretha! You guys are the best!
After stuffing our faces, we packed up the rest of the things in the truck and headed to the border between Botswana and Zambia. Stay tuned for some final stories from Botswana as well as our entry into Zambia. The adrenaline junky Tiff came out in full force again in Zambia so get fired up for some more death defying African adventures.
Thanks for reading and I’ll be in touch soon!
