Day Three - Okavango Delta, Botswana

This morning, we woke up at 5:45, just before dawn, to depart Maun and enter the Okavango Delta. The delta was about an hour drive from Maun, and from a small village of bushmen we departed land into the delta for our two-night excursion. 

Locals preparing our Mokoros

And we're off

We were greeted by several of the local villagers, who would lead us and take care of us while in the bush. These leaders and "polers' (the term for the steerers of Mokoros whcih are locally made hollowed out trees, similar to canoes, but steered more like gondolas in venice). The Okavango delta is the largest inland delta in the world. It is as undisturbed and wild as almost any area you can find these days. No electricity, no buildings, just the natural delta with small islands and waterways through the grasses. The delta is roughly the size of Holland, it is huge. The way we traveled into the delta was by Mokoro. Mokoros are hollowed out wooden canoes, controlled by a long pole, much like a gondola. The “polers” were men and women, from the nearby village who spent there lives here and consequently knew the waterways and area quite well. 

Sparks on the Left and Warrior on the Right

The Delta was true bush camping. We mokoroed for about an hour and a half to the island, where we would be camping. The serenity of the views all around us were remarkable. We were warned about the existence of Hippos, Crocodiles and Snakes in the water all around us on our way out to the island, and many of the girls were a little nervous that the mokoros might capsize. Soon enough, we had reached land and were ready for 48 hours of undisturbed immersion into the depths of the delta. We immediately set up camp, pitched tents, made a fire to cook and prepared a simple lunch. All of the local villagers told us that we had to lay low in the middle of the day because of how intense the heat ifs out of the shade. The time from about 11:00 to 15:00 had to be spent either sitting in the shade, reading, writing, chatting or swimming. Too much time in the sun and we would risk heatstroke or dehydration.  

Sparks showing us what elephant droppings looks like on the game walk

So, I decided I would follow their advice and after I had eaten lunch, laid down for a bit in anticipation of the afternoon walk we would soon embark upon. Once we had an adequate afternoon siesta, we left for our game/nature walk. In the late afternoon we left for our game walk around our part of the island. It was beautiful, but we didn’t see any live animals, only the remnants of prior kills.

Sun setting at the end of our walk

View from our campsite just after the sun has fallen

We returned to the camp site just after sunset. The fire was already going and dinner was in the process of being prepared. Moyo was cooking Chicken Curry, which looked delicious and we sat back and just appreciated the natural views all around us as we awaited darkness. Soon the last ray of light has shined through the rain trees in the distance and it was nighttime and time for some Curry.

Mokoros at dusk

Dinner

We stayed up for a while after dinner, interacted and learned a bit about the local's lives in the village in Botswana. But the days started early here and ended early here. ANd by about 10:30 it was time to retire, and energize for another day out in the hot sun.