Kasane to the Okavango Delta

---

Kasane to the Okavango Delta

This was a 450 km drive to Sepupa, Botswana, followed by a 1.5 hour boat trip to Seronga, followed by a one hour truck drive on bumpy, dusty, dirt roads, followed by 20 minute mokoro (dugout canoe) trip to our bush camp in the cool of the evening. It was a huge day starting before dawn and ending after dark. 

It also included two border crossings where we had to fill in forms to leave Botswana and more forms to enter Namibia. And then from Namibia back into Botswana. The passport pages are filling up.

The weather in our truck is a steady at 33 C ( in the shade) so we suck on bottled water ( which was hot, by the way) and watch as we pass by local rural folk and little villages.  Children with no hats in the hot sun and many with no shirt or shoes. Some adults with woolen toques, lots of women carrying 15 kg bags of  maize on their heads.

The Okavango river flows through a swamp of papryus and we sped along this river in aluminum flat bottom boats with Japanese outboard motors. Finally near sunset we arrived at our meeting place with local guides. They had been waiting all day for us  - a mix up in our tour planning. A 20 minute mokoro boat trip got us to our bush camp in the middle of the delta surrounded by hippo pools, fireflies, frogs, camp fire and nylon tents that the polers had put up for us. The 20 mokoro polers entertained us with songs, dances and stories and kept us laughing at their interpretation of traditional tales. Our poler, Rubberman, was the funniest, dressed up like a pregnant woman about to have her baby, and bouncing his fake enlarged bum like an African woman dancing.

This night of camping was the best for us so far, very peaceful with background sound of wildlife. No other overlanders singing at the bar after midnight. Just the night sounds and incredible clear sky with all the stars shining. We stood at the water's edge in the dark away from camp for some time just listening to the sounds and enjoying the sight of the milky way.

Tomorrow we are up at 5 AM for a one hour mokoro trip through the papyrus swamp followed by a two hour walk into the delta. Hope we see some wildlife. Any thoughts that Kayla might have had about sleeping late in the mornings on this trip are but a faint distant memory.

 

---