5.30am alarm to start off our exciting adventure into the Okavenga Delta for 3 days of bush camping! It rained a lot last night so the tent was really wet and covered in sand when we packed it.

Our first stop was the town of Maun to get 5 litre bottles of water, snacks and some more alcohol! We found proper proper cheese in the supermarket :) it was an exciting find so 5 of us girls decided to buy a selection of cheeses and biscuits to have with our bottles of Pinotage wine we had bought!!!

We arrived at Island Safari which was on the bank of a river in the Okavengo Delta, where we loaded up speed boats with our personal ruck sacks, tents, polls, pots, pans, utensils, plates, food and drink!!! Oh and the proper wine glasses. We had an hour and 30mins speed boat journey to the 'buffalo fence' and the Makoro village! This is where we offloaded all the equipment and supply's into makoros, which are long wooden boats. People stand on the end and steer the makoros with long sticks, they are called polars and would be staying with us in the bush for the 3 days.

After the Buffalo Fence we were now heading into the complete wilderness. Noone else lives in the delta past this point except from animals. The Makoro ride was amazing, the water was so still and you just glide through the reeds and lily pads. The Makoro is only a few inches from the water and quite often you feel like its going to tip. By the time we left the buffalo fence it was at the heat of the day and it was HOT! We headed to the middle of nowhere, and set up camp after 2 hours gliding into the delta! It was bliss. I fell asleep for a good hour as it was so peaceful and relaxing.

It wasn't the biggest of spots for 9 tents and a bush fire so it was going to be a cosy few days! The heat was unbelievable by the time we had pitched our tents etc, it was time for a cold cider from the cool box and a swim!!! The water was quite warm but it certainly cooled us down, you just had to swim through the fish, reeds and water pads to a clearer area and prey that the hippos or crocs weren't close by. I wasn't worried about the big animals I was just watching out for the water snakes ahhh!

It is too hot to do any safaris during the day so it will be early morning game safari walks and sunset walks while we are in the delta, with complete siesta time during the day!! Therefore at 5pm we split into 4 groups with a polar each and headed to the bush.

This was my first foot safari ok so the safety talk turned out to be the most interesting but it was still all good fun. If we met a elephant we had to make sure we went at least 50metres down wind. If we met a buffalo we had to seperate run zig zag through the bush until we found a tree and climb it from behind, because if we climbed it at the front the buffalo would charge into us. A lioness with cubs we had to turn to face it and either stand still, to let the cubs come up to you or if the lioness was angry slowly walk backwards watching it at all times. Then finally if we saw a leopard we had to make no eye contact, keep our heads down and walk quickly quietly!! Our polar was called Lee and he seemed very serious, but I suppose it is a dangerous environment as all the Africa Big 5 are in this national park.

Well what did we see on my first foot safari... Hippos and little white frogs the same size as half my pinky :) It was actually fun though and felt good having a proper 2 hour walk.

It was then back to camp where Chris had cooked up dinner in a cauldron on the campfire and for a few cold ciders! I was exhausted though and headed to bed at 8pm. It was the only thing I could have done, because I was far too tired to speak to anyone and you weren't allowed to go anywhere yourself. I'm positive it was too much sun earlier in the day that floored me.

The bush toilet was a bit daunting to start with, but after you had been once there was no problem at all. Infact it was actually much more pleasant than some of the toilets we've already used in Africa.

Anyways what a fantastic place this is, Okavango Delta is breathtaking. xxx