23rd September 2009

Today we travelled in a south westerly direction to the southern reaches of the Okavango Delta and our destination, Maun. It is from here that we set off to explore the Okavango Delta. The Delta is a huge expanse of water, which has travelled from the Angolan highlands, spreading out to form the largest inland delta in the world. Studded swith exotic islands, the Delta is renowned for its incredible variety of bird life and animals and is unique to Southern Africa.

24th September 2009

Up early to travel to Mokoro Poler's Station for a 3 day, 2 night excursion into the Delta. We travelled a few hours in a truck cross country until we reached the waters edge where we boarded our Mokoro which is a traditional dug out canoe which is manoeuvred through the waterways by local guides who "pole" them through the reeds. After our guide, Justice, found us a place to camp, we set off on an afternoon game walk, allowing us to experience the Delta wilderness. There were three elephants just behind our dugout loo and I got the surprise of my life when I looked up and saw them.

25th September 2009

Up at 5am and went for a 4.5 hour walk. We found herds of zebras, giraffes, elephants, wildebeestes, antelopes. We saw a puff adder, Justice told us, "one bite you dead". There were impalas, steenboks and letchwes.

After lunch we went out in the mokoros searching for hippos. Some of our group tried "poling" in a mokoro.

We had dinner and the africans entertained us. We danced around the fire and sang the night away.

26th September 2009

Up at 5am, pulled our tents down and had another walk before breakfast.

There was a herd of zebra behind our campsite. We were able to get up close. There were also a lot of giraffes around.

We headed back to Maun freshened up and went on a scenic flight over the Delta. We could see the massive herds of animals, canals, swamps, islands and lakes.