Okavango Delta

We spent the first night at The Old Bridge backpackers in Maun. The campsite has water on both sides of it and the sound of the many different frogs at night was amazing. All different pitches and tones like a piece of baroque music. That night there was a heavy thunderstorm with torrential rain most of the night and we woke to wet feet in the tent. We went into town and booked a couple of nights at a Wilderness Safari lodge in the inner delta, then returned to the campsite to dry out our stuff.

After leaving the Landy in the secure carpark at Wilderness Safaris we crossed the road to the airport for our flight into the delta. We were personally introduced to our pilot, Johannes, which I thought was a nice touch - when you're in a tiny aeroplane, it helps the nerves to know the pilot. Actually the plane wasnt as small as I thought it would be - it was a Cessna, seating about 15 and the flight was low over the ground and pretty smooth.

Water flows from the highlands in Angola and instead of taking the route to the sea, it spills across the white sands of the Kalahari desert in Botswana.
While a small area in the inner delta is always under water, the vast majority of the water recedes and creates an oasis of green which is rich with animal and birdlife. The view of the delta from the air is amazing - small white islands of palm trees pushing up out of marshland with giant herds of elephant and antelope visible from the air. We were glad our flight had to stop at another lodge on the way as it gave us about an hour in the air enjoying the scenery.

We were collected by our guide, Mike in a game viewing landrover and he pointed out game and birds as he drove us to the boat we would take to the lodge which is on an island in a part of the delta which is always surrounded with water. The small motorboat wound its way along channels created by elephant and hippos, with papyrus, bullrush and reeds towering on either side.

We were greeted by the staff singing a song of welcome in Tetswana, which reminded me of a powhiri and after a briefing by the resort manager (where he advised us that the island was unfenced so we could encounter wildlife at any stage and not to walk around after dark unaccommpanied) invited to the dining room for 'brunch'. After a delicious buffet meal we were shown our luxury en-suite tent, which was erected on a platform overlooking the water. At 3.30 we had afternoon tea with the other four guests and then Mike took us out on the boat. We saw African fish eagles, many different types of heron, egrets, kingfishers, crocodiles, hippos and elephant. We sampled the root of bullrushes which tastes a bit like a sweet radish. As the sun started to lower in the sky we pulled up on the floating grass for that quintessential part of a safari - a sundowner.

30th September is Botswana Independence day and prior to dinner the local staff performed some local songs and dances for our benefit. Dinner was Botswana style local food - eaten with the hands only if you please. Delicious, and not as hard to eat as you might think.

Early to bed as we're getting up at dawn for a game drive.