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Published: October 11th 2009
I had been in Africa just under a month now and while I had seen so many incredible animals, met so many incredible locals, I still wouldn't say that I had "fallen in love with Africa" yet. Maybe it was the hustle and bustle of long days on the tour bus or simply because I'd been too worried about taking good photos that I forgot to enjoy it but I was still willing to give Africa a chance.
The Delta was a favourite of my travel agent who spoke highly of Botswana when I was booking; and luckily I had been here long enough that no electricity and no plumbing didn't bother me any more (if my first stop was the Delta I don't think I would have enjoyed it). But, when we were standing in Maun town being told what was ahead of us throughout the next few days, I have to admit - I was sceptical.
I had joined a new group who had only just arrived in Africa so the prospect of seeing giraffes, hippos, elephants and zebra excited them. For me, I had seen hundreds of zebra, giraffe, hippo and elephant and had developed a
cat passion and was only interested in the carnivores these days and when we were told the chances of seeing a carnivore was much lower given that we were on foot - I wasn't sure. Even so, I decided to join the group on the 1.5 hour drive from Maun to the gateway to the Delta. On our drive we were had to go through several river crossings and the road was bumpy - my favourite part of Africa is the bumpy roads - as a city girl from birth; the bumpy roads were always a sign of the adventures to come!
We stumbled across some giraffes on the way leading in a photo frenzy for the rest of the group - and I once again realised that the next 3 days are not going to be much fun - stopping for every single thing we stumble across; I wasn't going to get the amazing photo of leopards I dreamed of. I found myself feeling critical of the group as they asked all the questions about giraffes that I already knew the answers to.
When we finally reached the end of our driving journey and met our polers
(and saw the makoros which were to be taking us into the Delta). We had heard that the makoros are increasingly being made of fibreglass since the impact on the environment of creating them from Sausage Trees is huge. We got there to discover that all our boats were made from the natural wood meaning leaks! However, I was excited to experience things the traditional way - and the poler and boat we chose seemed sturdy.
Our polers name was Heaven and he was extremely humble, kind and helpful. He immediately started to tell us all about his life back in the village with his girlfriend and TV and DVD player. He had an incredible knowledge of the Delta and really did take us 'off the beaten track' as he took us through the scenic route of the swamp that the rest of our group didn't get to experience. The swamp was beautiful, with beautiful water lilies, which Heaven picked for me. After two hours of chatting and navigating through the swamp Heaven said we were nearly there.
As we turned a corner we were welcomed by a huge pod of hippos - with their barks and grunts
they were making sure we knew this was their home - I had been in Africa long enough to know that just because they weren't technically a member of the "Big Five" they were the most dangerous animal in Africa and not to be taken lightly. Just a few hundred metres from the hippos, Heaven parked the makoro. The group immediately protested "we aren't camping here are we?", we were assured that once we had lit the fire it was perfectly safe and the hippos would find somewhere else to feast tonight!
We had our first nature walk that afternoon where we discovered the plants, droppings and bugs of this ecosystem. When we suddenly walked around a corner to discover an elephant. Now, if you're looking for the very best photos of the wildlife - the Delta probably isn't the best place... Obviously, these animals are wild and dangerous and you do need to keep your distance and safety comes before getting the right angle so a lot of the animals you do see; you are watching them from behind. However, if you simply just love animals and want to learn all about them, sit quietly and still; just
watching them going about their routine with a minimal amount of disruption - then the Delta is your fantasy, because there's definitely simply more special to this experience that that of a vehicle.
We had seen several elephants when we suddenly noticed something in the bushes; "quiet" we were told as we approached, Heaven had noticed a hyena but still remained quiet so as to not get our hopes up. He started to call it to come closer which it eventually did. The interaction was magical; to see the hyena come closer and closer to us thinking we were his friends was probably my favourite moment in Africa so far - I wasn't just a witness to their activities any more - I was a part of it (without being a negative influence like the time the noise coming from our vehicle had disturbed the lion hunt in the Serengeti). I figured this was as close as I'd get to a cat here and counted my blessings since only 6 of our group of twenty actually managed to see this. We went back to camp that night extremely pleased with our afternoon and I started to understand what Africa
was all about.
The next morning we had another nature walk - this time for 4 hours. Again, it revolved a lot around poo, tracks and plants. We also came across a giraffe skeleton, crocs, birds, baboons, giraffes, impalas, zebras, hyena burrows, plants and an elephant mud pool. Later that day we also ventured to a croc and hippo free area of the Delta and enjoyed a swim - much welcome after a few days without showering!
In the evening we went for a sunset cruise in the makoro where I managed to get some incredible sunset photos. On our way back we got a little bit too close to a hippo as he chased us all the way back to camp! However, Heaven's relaxed nature allowed us to simply laugh; as the other poler's panic led to the rest of our group being equally as panicked. We reached our camp and I even had the opportunity to attempt to 'pole' the makoro - BOY it's hard!! Heaven had to keep steering us back into the right direction although he said I was good since he had had many tourists capsize them into the water :P
That
night (our last night in the Delta) we were given as a special treat as the polers performed some beautiful songs in Tswana for us - the songs were beautiful and gave us the opportunity to understand a little more about the polers whose company we had enjoyed the past two days! I also heard the hippos in the bushes just behind my tent - that's a motivation to stay in your tent if there never was one!
The next morning we left the Delta, very sad to leave Heaven and the probably the most untouched place in Africa - and from this point on; I was 'touched' by Africa.
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