Our last stop in Botswana was the Okavango delta. This beautiful area is one of the defining landmarks of the area. Water flows down the Okavango river from Angola, and then eventually breaks out into an inland delta, forming hundreds of waterways and islands. This area floods annually, and then the water subsides as it empties into Botswanas deserts.
There are many safari camps out here, some of them being “wet camps” (on the water with water activities only), “dry camps” (on land with game drives etc), and mixed camps. We chose a wet camp to experience something totally different than what we’ve done so far. To get here, we had to take a short 35 minute flight in a tiny 11 seater plane. I’m not big on heights, and really don’t like taking these teeny planes, but it was kind of the only choice. Since the planes are so small, there are strict luggage restrictions on weight and size of what you bring. We spent a ton of time agonizing what we could pack and what we’d need to leave behind, especially since one of my camera lenses alone weighs almost 10 pounds. Surprisingly, when we arrived at the airport, it turned out we were the only two people on our flight, and we totally could have brought all our stuff. Oh well.. too late.
The flight was short, and I was pretty nervous for a good chunk of it, but the views of the delta down below were stunning. Soon enough, we were descending to land. As we were landing, I noticed that the airstrip, like everywhere else around here, was covered in elephant poo. It’s crazy to think that even the airstrips here have elephant’s wandering around. After a short drive, we hop in a boat and made our way to the lodge.
The lodge is beautiful. Everything is set on wooden catwalks above the water with phenomenal views of a huge lagoon. The next few days would be chill time. A perfect way to relax and decompress after weeks of traveling. We actually got massages almost as soon as we arrived, and we’re relaxed to the point of feeling like jello. The endless supply of cocktails, beer, and wine doesn’t hurt too. I even invented my own cocktail here which I think I’ll call the Okavango Russian, which is essentially a White Russian, but with a local sweet liquor called Amarula (made out of an African fruit) instead of Kahlua. Hanging out at the lodge, there are monkeys running around the catwalks and darting through the trees, and a constant soundtrack of chirping birds, punctuated from time to time by the deep laughs of distant hippos.
All of our activities here were water based. One day we went out for a 5 hour boat ride in the delta. The boat went through huge beautiful lagoons that would turn into narrow channels, surrounded by papyrus forests on either side. Our guide taught us about the various plants and colorful birds that we passed by. The guidebooks had said there would be other wildlife (besides birds), but unfortunately we didn’t really see any except for a few crocodiles and hippos here and there. Hippos, though cute and harmless looking, are actually super dangerous animals. They have massive canine teeth which they only use to attack other animals since they are vegetarian. They are fast swimmers and can be very territorial. One of our guides had his boat attacked by a hippo which chomped at the engine, easily crushing the plastic engine housing in its jaws. They’ve been known to bite right through a boat’s aluminum siding as well, or ram boats to capsize them. One of the hippos we saw, started thrashing around and jumped out of the water, breaching like a whale… which is apparently something they do as a show of strength and to scare away other animals. For this massive hippo, and the rest, the guide would try to get closer to them, wait until the hippo submerged, and then full throttle zip by where the hippo was as fast as possible.
One day we did a Mokoro trip. Back in the day (and these days as well, though less often), the locals here would navigate the channels of the delta in Mokoros, dugout canoes that they would push along with poles like a gondola. Our guides took us around in the Mokoros for a little bit, and we even got to try pushing them ourselves, but unfortunately they only let us do that for like 30 seconds each.
At one point, when we were in the motorboat, one of the narrow channels we were going through had somehow gotten completely overgrown with papyrus, and there was no way for us to squeeze through. Our brave guide went to the front of the boat, smashed the papyrus down as much as he could, and then gunned the boat full speed at the papyrus island, launching it over all the messy tangle of reeds. I hadn’t expected to do any off-roading in a boat. Crazy.
After several great days here, we went out for our last sundowner. Each evening, we would take a short boat ride around the lagoon, and then stop somewhere to watch the sunset while having gin tonics. And then, luckily, on our last one, we saw elephants. Lots and lots of elephants. As more elephants passed by, they just kept coming and coming, and endless line of them. Unfortunately, we had to keep very far away from them. Apparently many of the villages here are hostile to elephants, harassing them, and sometimes killing them, so the elephants here are understandably not relaxed around humans like in other places we had been. But still, even at a distance, it was amazing to watch these giant animals wandering past us. It really made our last night special.
The next morning, it was time to go. We boarded our teeny tiny airplane, which unfortunately had an extra stop this time on the way to Maun, meaning double the take offs and landings. We did get to see some elephants from the sky though! And then, it was time to say bye to Botswana. Off to Johannesburg!
