Into the Wild
I’ve recently returned from 2 trips, One to Malawi in October and Mozambique in November. Before leaving I hadn’t managed to get around to finishing all the editing and posts from the Botswana trip in August. And so I’ve been quiet for quite some time now.
When last I left off we had been through Mpumalanga and were heading towards Maun in Botswana for the Okavango delta, one of the 125 UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Maun is a bustling town in the day time with loads of tourists going about their business, shopping, eating and organizing game drives and flights to get a birds-eye view of the Delta.
Without breaking the bank, the best way to get a feel for the Delta is to go into it with a guide and maybe even camp a night or two among the wildlife.
The Okavango Delta is an inland delta spanning 15,000 km2 which floods with 11 cubic kilometers of water each year. The area is dotted with islands and much like all of the North of Botswana, the wildlife roam freely. When you leave Maun and enter into the Delta you really feel like you have entered into nature. More so than any other national park I have been to and even more so because this time instead of being safe in the car, you are there by boat, on foot and fully exposed to the elephants - and other elements too.
We had a guide transport us, by Makoro. The locals used to make these boats by carving out tree stumps. These days the newer ones are made from fiberglass. They operate it using a long pole and are called “Polers”, traveling only in the shallows to allow the pole to reach the ground and propel them forward. To balance the boat is an art and trying to get it to go straight is another. I found this out when I gave it a go myself.
There are farms along the Okavango River banks so a portion of it is fenced and there is a gate which keeps the wild animals and domestic animals apart. This doesn’t always work as we saw a cow which had been mauled by a lion while it was on the wrong side of the fence. The minute we passed through the ‘Wildlife gate’ we spotted a raft of hippos swimming in the pool which we would have to cross. Keeping to the reeds we managed to pass by them with about 50 meters between us. Big ups to our Poler, Stewie. He did a great job keeping the boat from capsizing while we may or may not have been shaking nervously and wetting our pants. Luckily Hippos tend to be less active in the day and just laze around in the deep water. The Delta fishermen have a great deal of respect and fear for the Hippos, as their lives intermingle they do tend to run into mishaps quite often with the humans usually ending up second best. Stewie had some great stories about this.
(I had to look up the collective noun for Hippos (Raft of Hippos) and I found it quite interesting after having taken this photo recently in the Kruger. A dole of Terrapins riding a Hippo like a raft) :)
While on the island you really are left to your own devices. There are no man-made structures at all and at night it is really not possible to get back to town in the event of an emergency. So what do you do? You dig out your toilet spot and set up your tent, away from that awesome low hanging tree which will give you glorious morning shade, snakes and various visitors of the arachnid family.
We got a fire going with some local skills from Stewie, by placing the ends of the wood in the flames, we had embers burning all through the day and night which was handy for boiling water or making toast throughout the day. I’d trust this dude over Bear Grylls any day, his knowledge of the area is amazing.
The following day we took the Makoro over to one of the bigger islands and went for a hike. A few minutes in we came across this huge bull elephant grazing on the Mopane trees. Unfortunately for us we happened to be upwind of this giant fellow and we must have smelt quite bad because he didn’t seem to agree with us being there. He immediately started to flap his ears as a warning and began to advance in our direction.
Managing to duck behind some trees we got ourselves downwind of him and we were safe, Elephants don’t have the best eyesight and rely heavily on their other senses. I then proceeded to take out my camera and snap a few shots. The pictures were not all that great but the moment will stick with me forever and is one of the many reasons the Okavango Delta ranks on my top 3 places to visit in Africa.
Leaving the Delta and Maun was a tough one but the beautiful places which lay ahead as our adventure continued on towards the Chobe River and Victoria Falls, made it much easier.
