The Okavango Delta, Maun and not being able to walk

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We had a really long drive day after our night in Thebe Safari Camp, 12 hours in all. I woke up with my knee still being very sore and painful to put any weight on for too long and my infected mossie bite looking very badly infected again. My infection is on my foot on my other leg. My foot is now very red and has swollen to twice its usual size. The pressure I can feel in it is just amazing, and painful. It feels like it could explode. So now I can hardly walk at all and I can't put weight comfortably on either leg - this is getting beyond a joke now.

I spent most of the day in the truck lying across three seats with my legs and feet up. Then after lunch I went up front into the cab of the truck with Pat the driver and Bear my tent buddy where I lay across the back of the cab with my legs and feet up. It was the first time I had been up front in the cab (people take turns) and it was great. You get a whole different perspective e.g. which animals are skittish and run out in front of the truck and which ones you don't have to worry about at all. We put on some old classic rock songs and sung the hours away - good fun! Throughout the day we stopped five times for foot and mouth disinfecting and meat checks. We were even stopped once so that they could check all of our passports which was something that hasn't happened outside of the borders yet.

Along the road it was mainly just the landscape to watch go by. We were driving through a very large, sparsely populated area of Botswana. You could already see we were getting into more developed countries, just by the road quality alone. We did see some women in traditional dress which includes a huge floor length skirt in a bold print of some description which could possibly have some sort of structure under it to make it go out (I thought it would be rude to ask whether this was the case though). The blouses match their skirts and then they have a kind of quilted effect short jacket over the top, and a funny hat on their head. I can only imagine how hot they must be in this get up!

When we reached the campsite we had a talk about the Okavango Delta trip and the scenic flight over the delta. Originally I had planned to do both, but listening to the talk it became obvious that if I went on the Delta trip, essentially I would be paying $140 to do 3 hours of the Makoro trip and then sit in a bush camp the rest of the time whilst others went on game walks which I couldn't do due to the not being able to walk situation. I was really upset about it as it was something I had been looking forward to the whole trip, but I knew it was pointless and I should just spend the few days trying to rest and get better. About 8 of us decided not to go in the end so at least I had company! That night I was about to go to bed when my infected foot basically exploded (there is no other way I can think to describe it). I went to the bar to try and sort it out as this was the only place with some proper light and I didn't think I could sort it out with just my head torch in my tent. Luckily for me the two nurses on the trip were still up having a drink so they had a look at it for me. The look on their face said it all, but they still helpfully pointed out that this was now a lot worse than it had ever been, even a few weeks ago and that it needed sorting out properly. By this they meant they had to dig out all the infection in my foot, then pack it and dress it before sending me off to a pharmacist tomorrow to get some antibiotics. They set about picking it all out my foot whilst I shouted, swore and cried a bit (it was very very painful). What I was left with at the end was a crater in my foot where my bite originally used to be. It was about the size and shape of a 5p coin and about a quarter of an inch deep. They were off to the Delta the next day so they wrote me a shopping list to take to the pharmacy and also gave me instructions of how to look after it for the next few days.

The next day Pat took me into Maun which is the nearest town and I went to see the pharmacist. As I am allergic to Penicillin this ruled out many antibiotics, the malaria medication I was taking ruled out some others, to leave me with a antibiotic notorious for making people nauseous and sick. Great! Getting back to camp I changed my dressing myself, cleaning and packing the crater in my foot whilst drinking a beer to numb the pain. I took my antibiotics and set about spending the day with my feet up. I felt really nauseous all day (so that's what it feels like - I've always wondered) and after having dinner, went off to bed for an early night. I woke up about two in the morning and was really sick, back to bed and then up to be sick again, and again.

My knee felt a little better the next day (all that resting is finally having some effect). My foot was slightly less swollen so despite feeling awful on them the antibiotics and my ritual cleaning and dressing were obviously beginning to work. Another day of relaxing by the pool with my feet up, feeling nauseous and actually being sick a few times and another day was over.

Today I was up early again as I was feeling too nauseous to lie down in my incredibly hot tent. I was once again immediately sick after breakfast. The only place I could then find that was cool enough to try and get some sleep was lying across 4 seats in the back of the truck. After a few hours of resting here but not managing to get any sleep everyone arrived back from their trip to the Delta. They all had a really good time and although I was jealous I think I still made the right decision not to go as my knee is feeling a lot better, and I have obviously started my antibiotics to try and get my foot sorted out.

Not too long after they arrived back the skies opened up and we had to have lunch in the pouring rain. Its times like these that camping becomes less fun! After the rain eased off it was time to go for the scenic flight over the Okavango Delta. I was really excited about this as it was going to be a small 5 seater plane and we would be flying quite low over the Delta so at least I would get to see the Delta and its animals from the air!

I got in a plane with Bear, Will, Craig and Tom. Like the absolute gentlemen they are, when they realised how much I love flying they let me sit up front with the pilot! The flights itself was great. It was cool to be up front and we saw quite a few animals but just the view of the Delta from the air was well worth it. It was amazing to see that what looked like green grass below was actually the delta water covered in green reeds. You could also see hundreds of lines/tracks made by the makoros (dug out canoes) as people a poled through the waters. The weather was still fairly bad throughout the flight and we had amazing views of storms not too far away from us, lightning and all. The turbulence created by the bad weather, coupled with the heat that was generated in the plane after about 30 minutes did make me feel really sick and there were a few times I really had to stop myself from being sick in the plane. Therefore, even though the flight was great, I was glad when it came to an end after 45 minutes.

When we got to camp I headed straight for a lie down in the tent. It was 5:30pm and the next thing I knew I was being woken up at 9:30pm for dinner. I wouldn't have bothered usually but I had to take my medication with food and I couldn't miss taking them. After eating quickly I headed straight back to bed. My foot is definitely getting better, it's still horrible, still a nasty little crater, but also on the mend. I am also getting better at not nearly passing out everytime I have to redress it which is luckily only once a day. It is not as painful though anymore thanks to the painkillers I am taking. One of the nurses is also giving me some anti-sickness tablets tomorrow to hopefully help with that side of things. Now I will have a cocktail of 8 pills every morning and 5 at every other meal! T.I.A.

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