Okavango Day 2

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Okavango - day 2

We are happy to start our days before sunrise, in order to enjoy the delta before the heat of the day, as it is very hot. At one point, Richard's little pack thermometer was near the top at a whopping 45 c (115 f) in the sun! And at this point we were on a very slow motor boat on the way to our houseboat, so we had an hour's ride in that heat with no protection from the sun. Whew!

Back to early morning. After a lovely mokoro ride through papyrus and reeds, we arrived at Gau island, where our guides took us on a 2-hour walk. Our leader was very careful to say we might not see any game at all. Ha! There were elephants all over the place, so we had to be careful to stay downwind while watching them. We were told that breeding herds are especially aggressive, and guess what we came upon first - a breeding herd! What to do if they discover you and charge? Run like hell in a zig zag pattern. Fortunately our guides kept us downwind, so we enjoyed a peaceful elephant watch and photos each time we spotted some. They look so huge, and we felt very small on the ground. Very exciting!

Back to camp for a good breakfast, then into the mokoros for the short ride back to our pickup point, then a rough truck ride back to Seronga. Most of our group opted for a village walk, but we were too exhausted by the heat and island walk, so gave it a miss, and as an alternative, we got to load everyone's gear into the power boats for the ride to the houseboat that would be our home on this night.

Which brings us back to the hot, hot, hot, slow, slow, slow boat ride in the sun. Where Richard's thermometer almost hit the top.

However, in spite of our boat being an 'African boat' (TIA - this is Africa) with a few stops and starts, we made it to the houseboat, moved into our rooms, showered, then settled in to wait for the rest of the group to arrive, in the faster boat, from their village walk.

Evening on the houseboat, with a fabulous dinner made by our cook Benson, and raiding the coolers for whatever cold drinks we could get our hands on, we retired to our bed (yes, a real bed), serenaded by various Okavango Delta frogs. 

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