January 29 & 30, Day 4 & 5 - The Okavango Delta

This delta is the largest inland delta in the world. There are a labyrinth of lagoons, lakes and hidden channels covering 17,000 sq km. It originates in Angola and a number of tributaries join to form the Cubango River which flows through Namibia becoming the Kavango River and finally entering Botswana where it becomes the Okavango. Millions of years ago this river used to flow into an inland lake however; tectonic activity and faulting interrupted the flow of the river causing it to back up to form the Okavango Delta. We are here at the beginning of rainy season so there is lots of rain but the water is not high - that comes in a few months when the flows from the other rivers come into play. So there is lots of land and the animals thus tend to spread out in the park.

Six of us (Evelyn, Annemare & Brendan, Pascal and Randy) have the accommodated tour so we split from the camping group. At 10:30, we take a 30 minute plane ride to the Oddballs camp about 50km from civilization with pilot Keith again. Greeted by a bunch of baboons who sometimes like 'playing' with the plane. Keith told us once the 'king' baboon was sitting on the middle of the plane making loud noises while 2 baboons, one each end of the wings, pushed and pulled them up and down like a see saw - baboons are crazy and smart!. We are introduced to the camp. The tents are the rooms and off to the side are bamboo curtains with a bathroom, complete with a toilet and 'bucket' shower….so cool. The view is peaceful and there are lots of Hippo's in the channel in view on the camp. After a tea, we go on a short walk, first taking the wooden canoe like boats called mokoro's. The guides 'pole' us over to an island through the rushes and grass islands to the shore. As we walk, we see lots of Impala, Pumba's and some Water Buffalo - not very plentiful as they are spread out as mentioned. But the scenery, termite hills and geography is interesting. A lovely hot breakfast awaited us when we came back and then it was relax time til lunch. Basically everyone slept and then were awoken for lunch, spaghetti bolognaise - so good. Then for our afternoon walk. This was 3 hours with our 3 guides. The head guide, Kagiso, is 6'8" and can see for miles. He spotted quite a few animals but it was nothing like the Nrongoro crater or Serengeti for numbers, however it's a nice long walk after a relaxing afternoon. Back at the campsite, we can take a 'bucket' shower with water from the Delta which is brownish in color but very soft water. Water is hot - nice! Then a glass of wine before dinner of lamb, rice fresh vegetables and apple crumble for dessert. Our pilot, Keith, had to stay with us til the next day so we enjoyed sitting around the fire listening to his rugby and pilot stories - very fun!

Day 5 - January 30, 2014. Up early for our morning walk. It was cloudy and I slept in a bit - whoops. I did not take my $300 Gortex jacket - no because half way through our 7km 'no animal' nature walk, it started to rain, then poured and we all were soaked and full of grass seed when we finished. Poor Evelyn had an allergic reaction in the form of welts all over her. I went to the first aid kit and took some allergy pills and crème. I made her take 2 and put crème everywhere - poor kid, she was so itchy! After our hot breakfast, most everyone slept, snored (ha,ha) and I caught up on this, FINALLY. We had our lunch again at 2:30pm, exquisite pizza and salads then off to the village where the guides are from. First a 20 minute walk, then boats to the village. Interesting as the country has a lot of money from Diamonds and other metals so the sense of desperation is not there. There are mud/elephant dung huts, reinforced with pop cans (they last 20++ years!) with thatched roofs with a satellite next to it - weird. The women laid out the things they make on a sheet and stood back while we looked at it. If we chose their item, they came up to us to negotiate - it wasn't cheap - the whole country is not cheap but it's the price paid for good roads, paid school and so on.

On the way back, we stopped at a place on the delta waterways where there are no hippos or crocs because of the speed boats going back and forth to Maun. Everyone swam in the warm, fast running water - you could swim hard and stay in the same spot up current! Afterwards, we 'poled' back to the camp for a nice hot shower and washed hair, which is so soft now! While drinking a glass of wine before dinner, we watched a baby hippo and her Mother play in the channel in front of us. The other male hippos were challenging each other farther out - nature at work. Hippos are considered the most dangerous animal to humans in Africa. They are territorial herbivores and will kill (but not eat) anything that encroaches on their territory. They kill the most people of anything in Africa - snakes, lightening, accidents. We could also hear some lions roaring in the background. Dinner was tomato soup, chicken and potatoes with chocolate mousse for dessert; this is not 'roughing it'!. We sat by the fire for a while but I was tired so went to bed. Slept heavenly well.