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Published: December 2nd 2006
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Having bid a fond farewell to everyone who left the truck at Vic Falls we crossed the border into Botswana and spent the night in Kasane. Unfortunately, the campsite was a bit dismal and halfway through the evening some lightning hit an electricity line bringing all the power down. This coupled with the fact that the Mzungu's thought they had Malaria after Shane's very loud 'power chuck' did not make for a good night. The next day we were up at 5 for a (very cold) sunrise game drive through Chobe National Park. The park was beautiful and we warmed up as soon as the sun came up. Chobe is defined as one of the highlights on the itinerary, which it definitely is, but sadly as it had rained so much, the game viewing wasn't at it's best as it was too green to spot anything. The best specatacle of the morning was a large gathering of Baboons going about their daily business - fighting in the trees, grooming and generally monkeying around. One youngster made the unfortunate mistake of getting his legs stuck on his Dad's head when trying to leapfrog him, resulting in him being hung upside down, legs
akimbo, over Pop's shoulders. The rest of the day was spent playing volleyball in the pool and sunbathing until our 15 minutes of fame appeared in the form of a BBC film crew making a documentary about 8 US Mums who had never travelled before. The option of having our faces blurred out or signing a waiver in exchange for free beer was a difficult choice to make - we'll be appearing on a screen near you soon!
Next day we travelled to Maun in preparation for the Okavango Delta. Here we spent 3 days being poled in Mokoros (traditional dug out canoes) down tributaries, camping on a deserted mound of sand and doing game walks in head high (to Jo Whit) grass - it was a very remote experience. The excursions in the Mokoros were fantastic, the tributaries were full of lilys and lily pads, lined by long wet grass, the sunsets were spectacular and the sunbathing opportunities were pretty pukka!
The game walks were intially unnerving as we weren't sure what we would come across - the park possesses the big 5 - but after spotting a baby Cobra within the first 5 minutes we soon got into
On the game walk
Setting out for an evening stroll the swing of things. At various points we had to remove our shoes and roll our trousers up to wade through boggy marshes that had formed from the excessive rainfall. During the 2 walks that we did we came across the most dangerous of the big 5 (the Hippo)wallowing in a watering hole - hearing them snort way before we saw them sent shivers down the spine. Other spots included the rare Saddle Billed Stork, Zebra, Giraffe, Elephant and various turds that were 3,4 and 5 days old according to our tracker, who seemed to be an absolute knowledge on these things.
When the game walking and sunbathing became too much the only other option was to learn how to pole the Mokoro(definitely not as easy as the guys make it seem as we continously ended up in the reeds), bath, wash our socks in the river, catch Minnows in our hands and try to avoid heaving at Mzungu's algae bogies that regularly adorned his face whenever in the water. Swimming in the crystal clear river of the delta was very refreshing and a real novelty. The sunset Mokoro cruise led to Jo Whit getting her new nickname 'Drugs', as
Truly beautiful
Sunset over the Delta Nelson, her poler, was for some reason unable to pronounce her name. Unfortunately, this seems to have stuck!
Just after dark we arrived back at camp for dinner and spent the evening sitting around the fire learning lateral thinking games in the dirt with our guides.
Early morning saw us cruising back to the mainland to slightly more civilised surroundings, and the afternoon taking a scenic flight over the delta in a 6 seater Cesna. Our pilot was a very tall 12 year old who was extremely relaxed throughout the whole flight - lounging as if on a sofa during take off and landings and losing concentration whenever he spotted something on the ground. Saying this he was really competent - praise the Lord! As a storm was brewing there was a lot of turbulence, sending Jo W, Sarah and Becs very green. Flying at 5000 ft was low enough to spot Elephants, Antelopes, Giraffes and Warthogs on the plains but high enough to make out the curve of the river throughout the Delta.
The time spent in the Delta certainly was 'back to nature' and was a truly remarkable and unforgettable experience.
Cheers Botswana
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