Houseboat on the panhandle of the Otavanga

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Survived 1000km round trip to the panhandle of the Okavango Delta. We saw elephants and a wild ostrich pair on the way up there. The panhandle is the neck of the Okavango and from there it stretches out into the web that is the delta. Our accommodation was on a houseboat for the first three nights which we shared with four middle aged Americans. We moored upstream in the middle of the river with reeds 3m high all round; hippo grass and papyrus. We were taken upstream in a small boat about 4pm for a few hours. We saw hippos in small families with just snouts ears and eyes above water. There were thousands of birds. We feasted on the visual feast of bee eaters, kingfishers and water eagles. The water is so clear and clean you can see fish. There were water lilies, purple or white in the lagoons. When trees rose in clumps along the banks we could hear the monkeys scrambling higher into the canopies.We passed the President's weekender on the bank with the soldiers sitting in camouflage gear in their speedboat. Eventually as the sun set we reached the Namibian border. There is a ferry crossing there and the poor passengers felt like the paparazzi had arrived as we could not resist clicking the cameras. Then the sun melted and the African sunset gave as this orange crimson and purple sunset. A perfect evening. Back at the houseboat the hippos were calling and snorting all around in the reeds. Some were very close. The bugs appeared in their millions as the lights went on in the houseboat. Each night we were served fantastic meals by the staff on the boat. All this was a gift to us from one of the organizers in the MAWS charity.
I went outside later that night to see the constellations in the night sky. Since we were essentially in a marsh in the middle of nowhere with no lights or air pollution the stars sparkled like you would not believe from one horizon to the other with the milky way a bright cloud lighting the reed beds.
The hippos snorted and rustled in the reeds most of the night. James and I shared a comfortable cabin with ensuite and being used to each others habits at this stage we slept like hippos. The dawn on the river was so peaceful with birds going about their business everywhere we looked. Unfortunately we had to go to work in a local village that is if the chief would give his permission. More about that later.....

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