Our journey takes us from Ghanzi towards Maun. Maun is the gateway to the Okavango Delta and this afternoon we will prepare for this excursion, packing small overnight bags. There may be an opportunity this afternoon to visit the local crocodile farm or take a scenic flight over the Okavango Delta.
Optional Activity: Crocodile Farm visit, Scenic Flight (time permitting)
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
7th January 2014
Today was a long drive with a stop to check out a huge Baobab (Boab) tree, Zenzo was trying to explain about the baobab but unfortunately the folks on Marilyn started talking so Zenzo stopped. Zenzo told me later that in his culture that when people start talking over you that means it's time to stop, fortunately for me he did go on to explain the details.
After we got to camp we had lunch and organised our gear for the two days in the Okavango Delta. In terms of clothes jocks, socks, long pants, boardies and two shirts but the most important gear was the cameras, so charging up all the batteries was key to the trip.
We then headed for our scenic flight over the Okavango Delta, because the airline (Delta Air) charges by the seat it turned out that we had a spare seat which we wanted to give to either Zenzo or Shingi. Unfortunately Zenzo gets air sick and Shingi had food shopping to do.
We all paid the extra to cover the cost of the e seat as it was about $5 US each, no problem. What happened next however was, going through the screening process we had at least $100 US stolen from Lisa's bag.
The Employees from Delta Air asked us to put our bags into a larger bag which would go through a separate security screening process, when we got to the other side Lisa's bag had been opened and the money belt had been removed, the envelopes in the money bag had been opened and a $100 US note taken from one of them. According to the employees they were the only ones that had touched the bags and that all the larger bags supplied by Delta Air were closed. The officer screening the bags showed us on her terminal that was not true.
To cut a long story short they couldn't show us the video footage and the money was gone. It would appear that the police weren't really that interested and therefore it was a lost cause. That's life, tip of the day don't trust anyone, keep your money in your sight and in your control at all times.
We jumped on the scenic flight with a slightly bitter taste in our mouths, but the scenery was amazing and worth the seven year wait to see the Okavango Delta. I saw a herd of about ten elephants, then some giraffes then the pilot circled right and I just caught a glimpse of a massive herd of elephants unfortunately they were on the opposite side of the plane to me so seeing them or anything on the right side of the plane was difficult. Taking photo's with the big lens was impossible as was filming with the video camera because of the perishing perspex window, so I decided that just watching was the best option. So from that moment on I got to enjoy the scenic ride, however I get why Zenzo didn't want to go up in the plane, as it made me feel slightly queasy.
The other animals I saw were zebra's, impalas or springboks (I'm not sure) and I also saw two big croc's, one in the water they both looked pretty big from where I was sitting. There were also loads of hippos on the land, because we were on the last flight they had come out to graze for the night. They look very shiny when they are out of the water, so they show up quite well from the air.
If I had my time again I would see if I could do a Helicopter Flight as they can hover etc, but the flight was worth the effort.
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