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Published: September 27th 2009
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Sept 21-26
Arrived in Maun and booked a last minute trip to the Delta, for the next day. The Okavango Delta is the world largest inland delta, and one of the few delta’s in the world that does not drain into the ocean, instead all the water from the Kavango river floods a huge area of Botswana and slowly drains into the Kalahari sand. We got a great last minute deal to one of the best camps in the delta called the Kwara camp for three nights, very excited as we will have a bed and its all inclusive so free beers and no cooking on the camp fire!!!
Maun airport is the smallest airport I have ever been to, we arrived and were met by the pilot who took us through security (if you can call it that, I thought the point of the scanners for your bags was that someone watched them go through to check what was in them, well apparently not!) and then straight out to the run way and got in the smallest plane I have ever seen it only sat 5 people and was smaller than the landrover! The flight into the
delta was very scenic and the camp is set on an island in the far north of the delta and is famous for having a large concentration of cats. The flight to the camp took about 40 mins.
We landed on a tiny dirt airstrip and were met by our guide and tracker and taken to the camp. The camp is very exclusive with a max of 16 visitors although because of the economy at the min it was very quiet only 9 guests in total. Because of the location of the camp it is able to offer boat, canoe or game drives and your day was split into two activities. You were woken up early at 5:30 had a cuppa then out on your first activity at 6am, this usually lasted until around 11:30 then you had your late breakfast then were free to have a sleep or lounge around until 4pm when you had high tea then went out for your second activity which usually lasted until around 9pm then it was dinner and a few beers then bed, a very relaxing way of doing things. Most people went to bed in the afternoon but Louise and
I just read books and drunk very refreshing cider on ice whilst watching the baboons, hippos and the resident elephant in the camp. The baboons were hilarious trying to steal things, fighting, drinking from the swimming pool which one of them preceded to fall in! The elephant and hippos were great to see and hear by day but at night despite having the luxury of a bed there was no sleep as all you heard was the elephant eating, the hippos splashing and grunting and the hyeanas howling you felt like they were going to walk into the room at any time. I am not looking forward to hearing that when we are in the roof tent!
On our first day we decided to do 2 game drives and were rewarded with some incredible sighting of lions, the guide and tracker picked up their tracks and we just followed them in the vehicle, riding over trees and through bushes! We found them after about 30 minutes two females and a cub who was about 8 months old. We then saw two male lions sleeping, we went back to where they were later and saw them walking along the track,
it was pitch black so we could only see them by spotlight which was quite eerie! On the night game drives the tracker shone the spotlight and you saw game by their eyes shining.
The next day we did a game drive in the morning and a sunset boat cruise along the delta. The morning game drive was awesome. We saw the lions again and then as we were driving back to camp the guide noticed some vultures and eagles circling in the distance which often can indicate a kill which means cats so we headed over to investigate. There had been a kill two leopards had taken down a big male antelope. We saw a leopard protecting her meat from the vultures who were waiting to swoop in, as soon as we arrived the male leopard left, but the female did not care at all she just carried on. We then heard hyeanas, they were 50 metres away dragging the carcass of the antelope into long grass to hide it. We stayed and watched the leopard for about 30 minutes we were only a few feet away and at times she came right up to the car.
The next day was two more game drives, we saw lots of game including honey badgers and a serval cat which are both pretty rare sightings. We saw more lions two couples who were mating, it felt a bit strange sitting and waiting for two lions to get it on! All in all it was a fab trip.
We now have a few days in Maun as our first bookings for the game parks are October 1st. The landy is going in for a few repairs, other than that we are just getting prepared as after here we have a week in the bush travelling through the game parks of Moremi, Savute and Chobe before we cross into Zambia and hit Victoria falls. We have heard that the parks are quite wet and boggy so Adam has been getting all of the recovery equipment ready, lets hope we don’t have to use it.
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Emma McClement
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Oh, look at the stinky monkey
I do not care for primates mostly. One pooed and weed down my back and they carry disease. I love the cats and the elephants though. So glad that you are having a great time. I would not have got on that plane without a few valium so you are very brave. I hear you about the flies. When we were in the outback i actually cried because of the flies. i was carrying something so i couldn't swish them away and they were all over my face and in my ears and i hated it. Having a bank holiday today but cant type much cos i have chronic pains in my hands and fingers and wrists. Where are you off to next? i have preggy brain and no memory! Oh, yeah, you said in your facebook about the not knowing left and right. God, i am like a sieve! Anyway, much love and big kisses, Em, Ian and Winston (and Mia).