Gweta 22 and 23 August, Okovango Delta & Maun 24 - 26 August

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Gweta 22 and 23 August, Okovango Delta & Maun 24 - 26 August

We arrived in Gweta in the afternoon after driving over good roads. Even the roads are improving!!



Gweta is a small village in Botswana. It lies about 205 kilometres away from Maun and about 100 kilometres from Nata.





Generally considered the gateway to the Makgadikgadi Pans Gweta derived its name from the sound of croaking bullfrogs which bury themselves in the sand until the rainy season arrives and they emerge to mate.





The huge expanse of the Makgadikgadi Pans is bigger than Switzerland. Once a large river-fed lake, the Makgadikgadi Pans now lie saline and empty. The pans are littered with stone tools and artefacts dated from between 2,000 to 500,000 years old! During the wet season 35-75,000 zebra and wildebeest migrate into the area with regular sightings of lion, cheetah and other predators who follow in their wake. The zebra and wildebeest migration across the pans is southern Africa’s last surviving zebra and wildebeest migration and the second largest in the world. Hundreds of thousands of flamingo also appear to feed as long as the water lasts. The pans are also a permanent haven for desert species such as the meerkat and the elusive brown hyaena, the third rarest carnivore in the world.





In the area around Gweta are national monuments in the form of baobabs, which are not actually trees but the largest succulents in the world. Greens Baobab, 27 km south of Gweta was inscribed by the 19th-century hunters and traders Joseph Green and Hendrik Matthys van Zyl as well as other ruthless characters.



The campsite had four showers and toilets built into a large and stylish thatched rondavel – complete with lights set into the walls and clothes-hooks made from branches. The camp's focus is a funky dining and bar area, dominated by a large, curved bar and lit by two chandeliers made from local beer bottles. This had tables and alcoves and a fine collection of images and interesting things on its walls.






There are a variety of optional activities that could be organised out of a base at Planet Baobab, including the following. Village Tour was available which lasted about two hours and included a visit to the local primary school, Gweta's kgotla (traditional court), and a stop at the traditional healer.






A local guide from the area was available, and there was always a chance to stop and sample some of the local sorghum beer. (It's an acquired taste!). Bushwalk and fireside chat which is a short guided walk for about two hours through the surrounding bush, concentrating on the environment, the traditional uses of plants and animals, the history of the area and listening to some local stories was also available.





Also, a traditional meal at the cattlepost was arranged in the evening with a local family: typically sorghum, mealie meal, seswaa (beef stew), wild spinach, mopane worms in season for the more adventurous, wild beans and perhaps creamy baobab fruit milkshake.



Maun, Botswana, 24 August

We arrived in Maun at about 10.00 am and looked around the town, going to Wimpys’ for a nice coffee with 6 members of the group. We also bought some ice for our communal ice box. We then went back to the jetty at the resort where we were coming back to stay for 1 night after our 2 nights in the Okavango Delta. We then packed our tents, bedding and luggage into 3 speed boats.

Maun is the fifth largest town in Botswana. It had a population of about 60,000. It is an eclectic mix of modern buildings and native huts. Maun is the "tourism capital" of Botswana and the administrative centre of Ngamiland district. It is also the headquarters of numerous safari and air-charter operations who run trips into the Okavango Delta.

Although officially still a village, Maun has developed rapidly from a rural frontier town and has spread along the Thamalakane River. It now has shopping centres, hotels and lodges as well as car hire, although it retains a rural atmosphere and local tribesmen continue to bring their cattle to Maun to sell. The community is distributed along the wide banks of the Thamalakane River where red lechwe can still be seen grazing next to local donkeys, goats and cattle.

Since Maun's founding in 1915 as the tribal capital of the Batawana people, it has had a reputation as a hard-living 'Wild West' town helping the local cattle ranching and hunting operations. However, with the growth of the tourism industry and the completion of the tar road from Nata in the early 1990s.

Maun is today a thriving tourist town, infamous for its infestation of donkeys and to a lesser extent, goats. These animals can be seen standing around town as the local farmers arrive in the innumerable taxis to sell their wares on the curbside.

With the influx of tourism dollars, the typical traditional rondavels have been replaced by square, cinderblock homes roofed with tin and occasionally tiles.

Maun is also becoming a regional trans-shipment hub for materials and tradespeople who service both the local camps and safari centres and the burgeoning mineral exploration camps in north-western Botswana. There are a wide variety of services in stores as well as many local entrepreneurs with welding ventures operated from the back of a cart.

Maun Education Park is easy walking distance from downtown and well worth 2 to 3 hours either early morning or late afternoon. It is the hidden jewel of Maun - with over 10 giraffes, wildebeest, kudu, impala, zebras, lechwe, warthogs and great birding.

Nhabe Museum has regular exhibitions and friendly staff to answer your questions or give advice. There is an ancient bridge that is supported by living trees in Matlapaneng, on your way to Moremi Game Reserve.

After lunch we left for our Delta adventure.



Okavango Delta

The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Swamp), in Botswana, is a large inland delta, formed where the Okavango River reaches a tectonic trough in the central part of the endorheic basin of the Kalahari. All the water reaching the Delta is ultimately evaporated and transpired, and does not flow into the sea. Each year approximately 11 cubic kilometres of water spread over the 6,000-15,000 km² area. Some flood-waters drain into Lake Ngami. The Moremi Game Reserve, a National Park that spreads across the eastern side of the Delta, was the place we arrived at after a 1 ½ hour speed boat trip.

We landed at a village where we were met by locals called Polers. This was the name given to the locals who used poles of wood to propel canoes called mokoros. We transferred all our stuff across 16 mokoros and there were 2 of us to each mokoros. Our Poler’s name was Sam. He was about 210 cm tall and was the brother of the Chief of the village. They vote their Chief into power.

We floated along narrow paths between reeds for 1 ½ hours. It was beautifully peaceful, with no boat motors. We floated past water lilies; saw 100s of birds, massive ant-hills. The 1^st part of our journey we saw many domestic animals (cattle, goats). We then saw a fence where no domestic animals were allowed so we then started to see elephants and gazelles. We learned later that because we were in the dry season the hippo population was low.

We arrived at our camp site which had lots of big trees with bark striped by elephants. The results of this eating was that they actually eventually kill these trees. We set up our tents and were then taken for an hour’s walk in the bush by Sam our Poler. We saw aardvark holes everywhere, an elusive, nocturnal little animal. We saw lots of elephant dung which is massive!!! We then spotted several elephant which were quite close. We got some great shots of elephants with the beautiful African sunset in the back ground.

Despite no facilities at all (as we bought all our needs with us) this was a magical place. Beautiful tree, sunset and sun rises, plenty of water, balmy temperatures (although very hot in the middle of the day) and great company.

The second night of this experience, we were entertained by the Polers with their beautiful singing. This was around the campfire. The Polers kept the fire going all the time.

At night we were advised that if we wanted to go to the toilet during the night there had to be 2 of us as we were in wild animal territory. During each day, the polers took us to an area where we could have a swim. We hoped that there were no hippos lurking around!! The swim was a cool relief and our only source of washing.

During the day, some of us tried poling the mokoros. It was fantastic fun. The biggest skill was to steer them. That was the fun. It was amazing that none of us fell out.

This area was once part of Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that mostly dried up by the early Holocene. Although the Okavango Delta is widely believed to be the world largest inland delta, it is, in fact not. In Africa alone there are two larger similar geological features - the Sudd on Nile in Sudan, and the Inner Niger Delta in Mali.

The Delta's profuse greenery is not the result of a tropical climate, rather it is an oasis in an arid country. The average annual rainfall is 450mm (approximately one third that of its Angolan catchment area) and most of it falls between December and March in the form of heavy afternoon thunderstorms.

December to February are hot wet months with daytime temperatures as high as 40°C, warm nights, and humidity levels fluctuating between 50 and 80%. From March to May the temperature becomes far more comfortable with a maximum of 30°C during the day and mild to cool nights. The rains quickly dry up leading into the dry, cold winter months of June to August. Daytime temperatures at this time of year are mild to warm but the temperature begin to fall after sunset. Nights can be surprisingly cold in the Delta with temperatures barely above freezing.

September to November sees the heat and atmospheric pressure build up once more as the dry season slides into the rainy season. October is the most challenging month for visitors - daytime temperatures often push past 40°C and the dryness is only occasionally broken by a sudden cloudburst.

Salt islands

The agglomeration of salt around plant roots means that many of the thousands of islands have barren white patches in their centre, which have become too salty to support plants, aside from the odd salt resistant palm tree. Trees and grasses grow in sand near the edges of the islands that has yet to become too salty. We saw this clearly from the Delta flight we did.

Approximately 70%!o(MISSING)f the islands began as termite mounds, where a tree then takes root on the mound of earth.

Chief’s Island

Chief’s Island, the largest island in the delta, was formed by a fault line which uplifted an area over 70 km long and 15 km wide. Historically it was reserved as an exclusive hunting area for the chief. It now provides the core area for much of the resident wildlife when the waters rise.

Wildlife

The Delta is known for its wildlife. Species include African Bush Elephant, African Buffalo, Hippo, Lechwe, Topi, Blue Wilderbeest, Giraffe, Nile Crocodile, Lion, Cheetah, Lepard, Brown Hyena, Spotted Hyena, Kudu, Black and White Rhino, Zebras, Sable Antelope, Warthog and Chacma Baboon. Notably the endangered African Wild Dog still survives within the Okavango Delta, exhibiting one of the richest pack densities in Africa, but we didn’t see any in the Delta. The delta also includes over 400 species of birds, including African Fish Eagle, Crested Crane, Lilac-breasted Roller, Hammerkop, Ostrich, and Sacred Ibis.

The majority of the estimated 200,000 large mammals in and around the delta are not year-round residents. They leave with the summer rains to find renewed fields of grass to graze on and trees to browse, then make their way back as winter approaches. Large herds of buffalo and elephant total about 30,000 beasts.

While at the Delta, Sam took us for a 4 hour walk where we saw lots of elephants, wildebeests, zebras, buffalo and many birds. We certainly saw where the water level had been in the wet season. There were a lot of dry areas and we only had to take our boots off once to walk through water. It was hot but very pleasant being out in the wild.

In the afternoon of the 2^nd day, the Polers took us on their mokoros wo a massive water-lilly-covered water body to see the sunset. After ½ hour ride in the mokoros, we stopped and watched the sun. It was magnificent!! I asked Sam if one of the mokoros could go further into the water towards the sun so that they could be in the reflection of the sun on the water. He first said “Oh no, there are hippos out there”. Eventually a couple of them did this, which made an amazing photo with an amazing African sunset. Increedible!!

After 2 night our bush, we got back into all the Mokoras at sunrise to go back to Maun. Again, the journey was beautiful. We arrived back at the resort at 10.00am

Okavango scenic flights

The Okavango delta is both a permanent and seasonal home to a wide variety of wildlife which is now a popular tourist attraction. We continue to be very very lucky. We did a 45 minute flight in a 8 seater plane over the Delta. It was amazing. Time and time again I have to pinch myself with the incredible experiences we are having and have had over the years. We are so fortunate and lucky. This thought alone, is very emotional for me.

There are several small operators on or near the Maun airport. They provide a combination of transfers of tourists between Maun and safari camps in the Okavango, plus sightseeing flights, plus charter flights to other points. They mostly fly small, piston-engine propeller planes carrying three to 10 passengers.

After the flight, we went back to the River Safari Lodge where we upgraded to an on suite chalet. After being in the Delta for 2 ½ days, we were all pretty dirty so we had a shower as soon as we arrived in the afternoon as well as another shower in the morning. Magic. We also did our washing which dried in 2 hours because the weather was so hot and dry. It is so good when we were clean and organised again.

Tom and I both had an excellent sleep. The night before, 4 of the group came back to our room for a chat and a few drinks – we went to bed at 11.00pm. The next morning we had a hot breakfast in the restaurant. There was a mix-up with the payment of the breakfast. We were all unsure if the breakfast was included in the upgrade (which only cost an extra $38). We ended up paying 70 Pula ($9.00) each for breakfast.

We left Maun at 8.00am.

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