This morning we board the big 4x4 truck that will take us into the Delta. In high-water season it is sometimes necessary to take a boat to the poling station where we meet up with the members of a local community who will be showing us their homeland. We spend 2 nights bush camping in the wilderness and, if the water level allows, we will take a mokoro (traditional canoe) trip through the waterways. We will also be going on some nature walks in the hope of seeing some wild animals in their natural habitat.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
8th January 2014
The excitment level was high around camp as the big one had arrived, we were finally going to the Okavango Delta. The really old Mercedes 4x4 truck pulled up and we loaded everything into it including the kitchen sink, Tents, poles, tent flys, (not that I was predicting rain, I had now also become the weather forcaster) chairs, sleeping mats, esky, gas bottles, cooktop, sleeping bags, cloths and most importantly cameras. I didn't think all the gear and all 23 (Zenzo was the only one staying behind, even Danny had paid her money!!!) of us were going to fit, but alas I was wrong, it was a tight fit but it all went.
Once we got to the mokoro's we were introduced to our polers, we were then approached by the lovely Jessica (a local girl with three children) she had chosen us to take into the Delta. Jessica loaded our gear and we were off, Lisa at the front and me in the middle with Jessica providing the power from the back. It's kind of a weird feeling crusing down the Delta after all the dreaming and planning this was my big one, the part of the trip I'd been most looking forward too. (that probably why I don't understand people who come all this way and don't wan't to see the Delta) The water channel has what looks like papyrus reeds on either side, the water is a brown colour, but is still clear as for the most part you can see the white sandy bottom and lots of lilly pads and flowers.
There is an amazing amount of water, (it was hard to get an idea how big the delta
is even from the air) and it flows really fast which makes the poler's job pretty demanding but they seem to make it look easy.
Shingi covered most of himself up with a towel over the head and had a bit of a nap I think, most of the folk wore some sort of scarf over their heads like the Bedouin nomads (kind of appropriate given we're on a Nomad tour) the Brisvageans all wore their Safari hats, I was contemplating wearing mine but thought I don't want to ruin it. It seemed to me like everyone was enjoying themselves (polers included) the exception was of course Hypo (short for hypochondria - aka Danny) there was no exposed skin and she was lying flat out on the bottom of the Mokoro. The rest of us were either in the reclined position taking photos or just enjoying the day, lets face it it's not everyday we get to do this.The passengers view from the mokoro is the "worms eye" perspective, you don't get to see much other than water lilies and reeds, however the poler is standing so they have a slightly better view of the land. On one occasion the polers spotted a herd of zebras so they parked the mokoros in the reeds so we could stand up and see, lets just say some of our land faring folk weren't game enough to stand.
Upon arrival on terra firma we set about setting up camp, tents up, kitchen area and short drop loo with the occupied sign. (if you can see the shovel, then its vacant)
After lunch Christoph and Martina suggested that we get a guide for a short lunch time walk, Lisa and I were the only ones who also wanted to do a lunchtime game walk. As the walk started Kandi our guide explained the rules of engagement, "It's dangerous, hippos, buffaloes listen to my instructions, lion stare into their eyes..." I bet that is easier said than done. The thing I like about Christoph and Martina is their child like enthusiasm (I mean that in a good way) to seeing animals, it's infectious they are just so happy to be here and experiencing everything Africa has to offer. Whilst we didn't see much on the game walk it was good fun and exciting as expectations were high.
An amusing moment on the walk was when I spotted the rare "Pink umbrella elephant" in the distance. As we got closer it turned out to be a group of tourists with one carrying a pink umbrella, hence the name as we were staying with the "tree lion" "termite mound giraffe", (like I said expectations were high). We eventually met up with the "Pink Umbrella" tourists, so I asked them "how they were going and had they seen any animals", the reply was shall we say amusing.
The German lady holding the pink umbrella threw it on the ground in what I would describe as utter disgust and replied "no we have only seen zebras and have been walking for four hours!!!"
Okay then...
Her friends seemed a little more up beat and still happy to be in the Okavango Delta, the problem for them is that they were only in the Delta for one day so they were trying to pack everything in. Poor planning one would suggest, as they were also wearing jeans, open sandals etc, but the big one that the guides told us before we even got in the mokoros was not to wear bright colours as it will scare the animals away, I suspect the pink umbrella fits into that category, given I could see it for miles.
After a swim and a break in the afternoon we headed of for our scheduled afternoon walk, we were split into smaller groups for these walks, on this one Isabella, Beatrice and Matthias join Christoph, Martina, Lisa and me. We had Kandi leading the way upfront and another poler as tail end charlie. (sorry I can't remember his name) We crossed the river in our mokoros and headed off "into the wild" our first encounter was just after Kandi asked "could we smell the elephant", we couldn't but our expectations were now completely over the top.
The group dutifully followed Kandi in single file until we could all smell the elephant... or should I say the elephant carcass, it had been dead for about three months and the recent rain had helped produce a certain odour. Now I have to confess that I started to dry retch almost immediately after several attempts, the TEC (Tail End Charlie) showed me a path around which smelled less. In between dry retching I did manage to ask how the elephant died and were the tusks still attached. Thankfully it was old age and the tusk had been removed, we are not sure by who but suspect by the Park Rangers.
From there we spotted a herd of zebras and one lone wildebeest hanging with them, Kandi told us about the symbiotic relationship they share. One has good hearing one has good eye sight, (I can't remember which way round it was) also one eats the high grass the other eats the middle bit after the top has been removed. (once again, not sure which animal eats what)
The last animal we spotted was the warthog, (now known as pumba) it was a mother and three babies but they were at a fair distance, none the less Christoph and Martina were excited.
On the way back to the camp we heard a stampede in the bushes to our right, you don't realise how jumpy you can get until you hear a sound but can't see what made it. Christoph asked if we could go and investigate as the general consensus was it was buffalo, to which Kandi said NO and made a hasty retreat. It did turn out to be zebras on the move, but the guides are super paranoid about buffaloes, they would rather confront a lion than a buffalo.
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| Shingi smile and laugh |
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| Short tailed Zebra |
9th January 2014
We were given the option of a long walk or a short walk for our walk this morning, the hard core amongst us chose the long walk. Anja, Christoph, Martina, Neddy, Isabella, Beatrice,Lisa and me. We covered 11.1 klms in 5 hours, but trust me it was worth the walk in the heat.
We started off by wading through water to get to one of the main islands, we saw some zebras and the obligatory lone wildebeest hanging out with them, but the big sighting was the giraffe. Once they were spotted we were off, we wanted to get as close as possible, we kept following them until Kandi saw signs of buffalo from the night before so we took an immediate detour around where the buffalo might be resting. After the short diversion we got back on the giraffe track, when we caught up with them it was truly awesome, we counted 24 giraffes and we gave up counting the zebras.
After breakfast we basically just hung out, sleeping or swimming, I really wasn't going to give the Poling a second go. As I once said to Harry Callahan, "every man should know his limitations".
In the late afternoon we were taken for a Mokoro ride a little further up the Delta, it's a pretty good way to spend your time. Jessica made it look easy into the current again, (I felt even more stupid) we had a look at some fishing nets strung out in the water which had caught some fish. One of the polers liberated a couple of them for his dinner, according to him it was his nephews nets, we were not so sure.
Our dinner was followed by singing and dancing by our Mokoro Polers, you could see how much they really enjoyed this by their smiles and their engagement with us tourists. After there dancing and singing they "invited us" to join them in some celebratory dancing. (it was more like peer group pressure) the chant would be something like "andrew party, andrew party" until you got up and busted out some moves. Mine was a mix of break dancing and traditional Russian moves, Lisa's was somewhat less entertaining, I was hoping for the baby gazelle but I think I what we got was Elvis hip gyrations.
All in all, I loved the Okavango Delta, it's an incredible place where you can do game walks out in the wilds of Southern Africa... and if you want to test your senses, wait till you hear some strange noises as your out walking, you really know you're alive then.
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| Turquoise King Fisher |
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| Craig & Wanita |
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| Anja & Hildegard |
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| Martina & Christoph |
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