Five of our group decided it was only right that we go into the Delta, considering we were here. So Mike, Julie, Tegan, Claire and I all set off at 8am this morning for a 2-night adventure. We booked a self-catering trip (which is the norm) so we got picked up this morning and had our tents, cooking equipment, utensils, food, clothes and enthusiasm. To be honest, we all admitted that it was nice to be having a break from the big group for a few days.

We got dropped at the Poling station. Our possessions got loaded into 4 Mekoro's and we met John, Oracle, K and Luke, our hosts for the coming 3 days, and most importantly our polers. A local village runs the Poling business and there are not meant to be more than 30 Mekoro in the Delta at any one time, which is 60 people. In busy season they have boats for up to 80 people. John was in his 50s and the boss of our group and the other 3 were in their mid 20s. They had tents that were sewn together and not overly waterproof based on the garbage bags they used to line the top of them with. Their clothes were a mixture of ripped and threadbare and then absolutely ok. But most importantly they were all absolutely lovely and not in the slightest sleazy, although they did ask ages and martial status'.

A Mekoro is a flat bottom canoe which a poler stands at the back of and uses a pole to propel the boat forwards, backwards and to turn (quite a lot like punting). It is quite a skill and one that we got to try and appreciate their hardwork. As we were 5, we had one boat just for supplies and then I had my own Mekoro - felt rather special. We set off to our campsite. Initially it was very relaxing as we coasted along the waterways between the reeds. We then heard snorting grunting type sound, it was at that point we enquired what the noise was. Hippos was the very calm response. Mmm, hippos you say, well as my Mekoro boat had sides of about 40cm high and I was sitting with my butt flat on the waters surface you can imagine that I felt a little vulnerable and this was before I had seen the Hippos. We then came around a bend and there they were, heads out of the water and grunting in our direction. Comments from the 5 of us included: they don't look happy. We are not going in that pool are we? Can we please reverse? Why are you moving forward? Why are you laughing? The Polers were giggling like girls as we were freaking out. They then explained that we had to sit still and show the Hippo respect, they would come closer and inspect us and when they realised we were no threat would respect us and let us pass through the left hand side of the pool. RESPECT, we are working on a respect system with Hippos in Botswana, WTF!! I sincerely hope they stick to the rules. After at least 5 minutes of gaining each others respect we then quickly poled through to the channel we were following. After the Hippo pool our Mekoro ride suddenly became more like a self-defence class. The reeds were not cut quite as nicely as the first channels and so started a constant battering of reeds in our faces. I found that putting your hands in front of your face with elbows also slightly out to the sides assisted in getting the reeds around you and not in your face, and also to sweep the spiders around you. Relaxation too suddenly turned into fighting for survival.

After 1.5 hours we got to our campsite at 11am for the coming 2 nights. Our campsite was under a massive old Sausage tree which provided lots of shelter. A fire was started and tea was on order. Our polers even put up our tents. I could definitely get used to this type of luxury. Oracle then laid down the camp rules:

- No wandering off, you will get lost, just ask and one of the polers will accompany you.

- The toilet has been dug, if the trowel is not by the tree, it is occupied.

- During the night do number 1's by your tent, but first listen for animals and if you hear sounds, hold it!

- No going to the water at night, Hippos are here and you could die.

So with all that in mind, let's have a long siesta until our 5pm game walk.

At 5pm we set off on a game walk with John. We went on the island we were on. We walked for about 1.5 hours and unfortunately did not see anything more than birds, lizards and flies. But the scenery was lovely, we were the only ones there and we all had a sense that we were walking in a wilderness that has elephants, lions and leopards to name the more dangerous ones. John seemed unconcerned as we ambled along. It was interesting how our previous white guides have carried guns whilst John had neither a gun nor knife - guess he is a good runner! Our safety brief before we left was 'hold your ground' if we came across any game, except buffalo which we should run for the trees. I am still unsure whether we were meant to climb the trees or if just being near them was enough. Guess it was lucky we didn't run into any buffalo.

We had a fire at camp 24-7, the wood was iron wood and it was slow burning. It even stayed hot after rain showers we experienced on our first afternoon. I later learnt that the main job of the fire was to alert game that we were there and so they would know not to come. I sure prayed that they understood fire language and kept at least a 5m radius.

We rose on our first morning at 5.30am to freshly brewed tea and set off at 6am for another game walk. This morning we went to another island so got in our Mekoro's and had a short battle with the reeds to our destination. I was at the front of one Mekoro and served as the spider web cutter for the journey. I am just glad that they are very small spiders - well at least the ones that I saw. We walked for a lot longer this morning, but still nothing. Unfortunately the game in the Delta is highly mobile and as it had been raining they are more prone to hiding. We saw loads of tracks and John was very good at telling us all about the trees that we were seeing. The islands are full of Ardvark holes, but alas we were not destined to sight one. We did see a snake in a tree we walked right past. We were thankful that K was leading at that point and was unbeknownst to us had been checking all trees. To be fair, these guys have 30/20 vision when it comes to game and I am quite sure that I would have missed it even if I had been looking. When we got back to camp at 10am we learnt that the zebra had come to the camp soon after we left so we decided brekky could wait and we headed off to find some zebra. Julie, Claire and Tegan had already changed into their shorts and flip flops so came as were as we thought we were just going through the trees to the savannah. The zebra are quick little blighters and had moved to the other side of the savannah. Mike said 'can we get closer or is it too far'. John said, not far, but there is a river, can we cross? Mike's overly eager response 'of course we can'. So we set off. As we crossed the river and were thigh high in water, the girls carrying their flip flops so going bare foot we all finally thought to ask - any crocs in these waters? John, maybe, but probably not here, more likely to be water snakes… that certainly got us moving quite a bit faster. We stalked the Zebra and got within about 15 metres of them, which was very cool. They had different patterns to the ones we have seen previously as the strips on their rump went more around the rump than up and down it. John informed us that these were bush Zebra.

After arriving back at camp we had a long siesta till 5.30pm. We all wondered what we were going to do, but after lunch we had a swim, watched a movie before Tegan's laptop battery died, learnt to play Nsoro and generally just chillaxed - something that we are getting very good at. Whilst we were out walking this morning Oracle dug us a game board of a local game that they all grow up on and still play into their adult years. We had a board of 12 holes. We learnt the rules, which are just a slightly different version of the rules for the similar game that I learnt in Malawi and then Zimbabwe. I bought myself a board in Zim, however now that I know you can just dig one in the ground and use seeds or rocks, think I should have saved my cash. Oracle and K were really sweet and even let me win a game before utterly destroying me. It is all about numbers so I am looking forward to teaching dad on my return.

Went on a sunset cruise this evening which meant we went back into the reeds to some big pools to watch the sunsets. Got to give it to Africa, it has a truly beautiful sky. The clouds, the blue, the sunsets, the sunrises, they are all spectacular which when I get my photos organized I hope that you will also get to appreciate them.

Marshmallows around the campfire tonight - what a great end to a great day in the middle of nowhere.

As we were a little light on animal sightings we opted to another game walk on our last morning so set off. We saw our zebra from yesterday and then we found some fresh elephant tracks. John's suspicion of them being fresh was confirmed by the steaming piles of poo we found along the track. Elephants clearly need to eat a lot as their digestion is terrible. Their poo is basically grass as it has gone in. I had heard that locals use the dried poo for making fire and wondered why in the past, but now that I have seen it, it does make complete sense. I was a little disappointed that John didn't dip his finger in to test the warmth, guess that is just for TV drama. We set off in hot pursuit but unfortunately as we were on a short morning due to having to break camp this morning we had to turn back after an hour with no sighting. We could feel in our bones that we were closing in, but clearly these giants can walk rather quickly and when they don't want to be found, they can make things difficult. It wasn't till we turned for our sausage tree home that we realised how far we had come. Broke camp this morning and headed back to civilisation. On our way out we passed a group heading in as we had just crossed the Hippo pool. We had showed our respect so had made it across, but it was our turn to giggle with our polers about the new groups nervous laughter and requests to turn around as they attempted to show their respect and get right of passage. A bit of added excitement today as they Hippos were also having a fight, which means that they can be a lot more dangerous, but by this point we had decided that if the polers didn't look nervous, we would follow suit and act like true professionals.

The Okavango Delta was certainly not a game rich experience, but if you are in the neighbourhood it is certainly an experience that you should take the time to have.