Leaving Okavanga, Flight

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There was time for one final game drive starting at 6am. We saw the now familiar giraffe and zebra. There were huge herds of impala. The most alarming moment was when someone noted to the guide that one of the elephants had only one tusk. Our guide, called Master, said ‘I don’t like that one - he is mad - he might chase us all the way back to camp’. We were told to silently and quickly to cross a piece of open ground to reach the safety of some cover - which of course we did. The day was clear and hot early on. Sadly it was time to leave the camp in the delta. We loaded the boats and were poled for an hour back to the point where we could pick up the open trucks. We had a big group photo with the polers and guides before setting out on our 2 and a half hour ride back to the camp and our main truck Some of the polers hitched a lift as far as their village and we shared some beers with them. There had been no water at camp for washing other than our hands so we were a stinky bunch exacerbated by the extreme heat. It was wonderful to get a shower back at main camp near Maun. There was little time to prepare for the next adventure - the scenic flight over the Delta. The plan was for the truck to drop us off in town for half and hours shopping and them to pick as up to ferry us to Maun airport for the flight. However the truck broke down again at a busy junction and as there was a pool of oil under the engine. Kat phoned for assistance from a mate on the Lomuka truck which has been following approximately the same route as us (The tour leaders all know each other and the African conditions mean that they set aside business competition to help each other out). So it was a Komuka truck that ferried us to the airport. We separated into small groups. Each light aircraft takes pilot plus five passengers - so each person gets a window seat. The pilot who was English gave us a briefing and then we taxied out for the takeoff. It was very exciting as neither Jen or I had flown in a light aircraft before. The plane bumps around much more than a big jet. The delta is spectacular from the air. It is vast, green and incredibly waterlogged. Flying at 500 feet the animals are small but easily identifiable - although tricky to photograph. We saw giraffe, zebra, eland and in the water crocodiles and hippos. There was a large herd of about 60 elephants and many more wildebeest which had just crossed a river. It was a wonderful flight and over far too soon ( about 50 minutes). The pilot noted that the journey to our bush camp which had taken us 2 and a half hours in the truck and a further hour in the maruko’s would have taken 5 minutes in the plane. On our return to the airport the truck had been fixed. The problem had something to do with the casing attachment the oil filter and Mwangi had managed to get a spare part fitted really quickly. (I had anticipated being stuck in Maun for days). As a treat a buffet was provided at the camp site instead of having to prepare food and wash up. We had a drinking session to say goodbye to Ken (the police armourer from London) and the three Dutch people (Niklas, Linda and Patricia) who are leaving the truck in Maun. We still managed to get to bed by 10 after a very full day - ready for an early start in the morning.

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Photos

Elephant
This is the closest we got to an elephant on foot

Giraffe carcasse
Scratch marks on the skin indicated that this giraffe met a violent end

Tour head man
This disabled man with his kids seemed to be the village chief.

Back on the small truck
We gave some of the polers a lift back

Jen ready to board with Ken
This was our first ever light aeroplane flight so we were quite excited. We spent about 50 minutes over the Delta