The Okavango Delta

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Leaving Ghanzi and the Kalahari Bushmen, we headed further north into Botwana to the town of Maun - the gateway to the famous Okavango Delta. The world's largest inland delta is a swampy, low lying area covering a large section of Botswana. Fed by a number of rivers in Namibia, Angola and Botswana and disconnected from the ocean, the delta dumps 11 cubic km of water onto the Kalahari Desert every year irrigating 15,000 square kilometres.

After a night at Sitatunga campsite near Maun, we boarded an open-sided truck to drive through local villages and bushland before arriving at the edge of the swamp that would serve as our departure point. Separating into groups of two, we were "selected" by a poler, James, and then packed our tents, sleeping mats, bags and water supply into the long, narrow, seemingly unstable Mokoro (traditional dugout canoe) that would ferry us to the "bush camp" deep in the delta.

A few nervous minutes later (we expected to be tipped into the water, but the mokoros are amazingly stable), James expertly navigated us towards the island where we would spend the night. Lying back in the canoe and watching the world slip silently by was a great way to spend the next 90 minutes. The shallow, reed passageways are covered in beautiful water lillies that serve as excellent decoration.

Once we had arrived at camp (basically a semi-clear patch of ground, no facilities except for a shovel and matches) and set-up our tents, we had several hours to pass before the heat of the day had subsided and we could head out for our first game walk.

The Delta is renowned as home to thousands of birds, elephants, lions, rhino, buffalo, crocodiles and zebra so I was very excited at the prospect of walking around in the open with a chance to see some or all of this wildlife. After a brief talk by our guide about what to do if you encounter X animal (eg. rhinos have bad peripheral vision so you're supposed to stand still and step aside at the last minute if they charge - yeah right...), we set off for the two hour walk. Four hours later, we arrived back at the camp in the dark, hot and sweaty, but still happy as we had seen zebra, wildebeest, antelope and the highlight - three elephants as close as 150 metres!! Initially we had spotted these magnificent beasts from about a kilometre away (the guides have amazing eyesight) and as we slowly approached them we had to ensure that we stayed downwind (ie. with the wind in our face) as elephants have poor eyesight, but excellent smell and hearing. Once we had gotten as close as we dared, we were able to quietly observe the huge creatures in a unique way - no fences, no vehicle - just open space separated us from these wild, huge animals - it was excellent!!

Arriving back at camp, we were concerned to see that storm clouds had gathered and lightning was flashing from several points across the horizon (this was particularly bad for Janice and I as we had forgotten our rainsheet). Luckily, the storm skirted the area and we were treated to a light show without the hassle of getting soaked. A few hours later the clouds cleared and a brilliant starfield was revealed - you really can't beat a view of the night sky in an area devoid of civilization and polluted by lights. The next morning I got up early for another game walk, but unfortunately the highlight this time was finding the carcass of a dead buffalo that had apparently been killed the previous day (Janice wisely chose to stay in bed).

After repacking the mokoro and saying some silent prayers for the rain to hold off, we headed back into the reeds - our luck held and we got back to camp without getting wet. That evening we upgraded to a small chalet to try and catch up on sleep - unfortunately Janice had an issue with the resident mosquitoes and kept us both awake most of the night - it was very disappointing as it was the most comfortable bed I'd had since leaving California!!

Then it was back on Pangani (the overland truck) for the 700 kilometre journey to Kasane on the banks of the Chobe river where we would explore Chobe National Park and celebrate the end of 2007!

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Photos

Dead Buffalo
This Buffalo had apparently been killed the day before and had already been stripped of all of it's internal organs, tongue etc.