Friday February 10 – Okavango Delta
We The Tent People
Up at 5:00 am in anticipation of the weekend ahead. We were on the bus by 7:00 with a few items packed to journey out to a bush camp on the Okavango Delta. Yikes!!! Now I know why I didn't read the trip notes before January 22. I had to do some soul searching to prepare for this one. The odds for rain were against us. The question was, how much rain would fall and at what times in the day would the rain come while on this expedition. “Prepare for the worst; expect the best” is my motto.
As we approached the border to exit Namibia, Chris, our guide said, “You haven't been to Africa yet. Today you will see Africa.” It was a bit different than our regular Friday nights when we look forward to a Travellers Game followed by Ed saying, “I've got a good movie; one we've never seen before.” Hahaha! We rode about one hour, exited the Namibian border and entered Botswana. From there we drove another four hours on washboard sand and clay roads, accented with deep potholes. When the sentences stopped making sense in my book because I couldn't track the words anymore, I fell asleep. When I woke up for the third time, we were in Seronga, a village close to our destination. The problem was that due to the bumpy ride, I had slid into a position on the seat that I couldn't manoever out of at first. Our seats are not adjustable; more like school bus seats. Fortunately, falling asleep sitting up is not an unusual practice for me as many of you reading this know. However, I will say, I miss that reclining option! Hahaha.
We are in the Caprivi Strip. Most Caprivians make a living from farming and fishing. We passed many family plots of land, claimed with several mud huts and surrounded by fences made of many sticks in an upright position. Some had roofs made from a mixture of vegetation. Others had the luxury of aluminum roofs secured to the walls with large stones. I spotted one hut with a solar panel. Mullet is the seed of choice to plant and fields are plowed with a blade pulled by oxen and guided from behind with two men. These people live day by day and for some, the corner store is a days walk away.
About an hour later, we joined our transport for the journey into the Delta. After Kioko did his magic preparing us a lunch on the side of the road we were good to go. Kioka makes the best tuna salad sandwich; everything from onion to corn is included in the sandwich filler. Then we top it with cucumber, tomato, green pepper, lettuce, onion and sweet chlli sauce. MMMMM! Subs, African style. I cut mine up with a fork and knife; haven't figured out a better way to eat it yet.
We met the group of people who were the experts guiding us into the Delta. We loaded up the mokaros (small dug-out style canoes); tents, mattress pads, sleeping bags, rain gear, necessities for one night, cooking supplies, drinking water, food, and chairs. What; no paddles? Each mokaro was operated by a poler who stood at the back of the boat, guiding the mokaro through the tall reeds and pushing us along, using a long pole. The ride through the reed paths created by hippos, was about one and a half hours. Very peaceful;beautiful experience. I put aside the visual and closed my eyes to let my ears do the interpreting. There were many different varieties of very happy birds singing their songs as the Jesus Bird followed us along, hopping from lillypad to lillypad without even getting its feet wet, I'm sure.
Once at our camp, we set up our tents and Tom, our guide introduced us to the International Office, where we were welcomed to leave a message as needed. Yup, you got it; the toilet. After the tents were set up, we talked a bit and caught up in our journals while Kioko made us popcorn; Magic Kioko. At 5:30 we were in the mokaro again, on a quest to find hippos and watch the sunset. SUCCESS!! We stumbled upon a herd of about 10 hippos enjoying an evening feed and bath in the reeds. We watched them for about half an hour. I couldn't believe how gigantic they were. All we saw was the heads and sometimes a huuuuuuge toothy yawn. I can only imagine how big their bodies must have been. No shortage of food here for the hippo! We were poled back to camp moving into the sunset. Peaceful indeed. Chris, our guide likes to tease me about the animals coming to camp. Its fun and while I know he is just teasing, I'm guessing there is an element of possibility that we are squatting on the territory of some kind of creature that may not take kindly to it. There is a possibility of visitors such as baboon, elephant, warthog, hippo and ants in this wilderness camp. The fresh elephant and hippo dung is a pretty clear indication of that, anyway. Hahaha! Since they are all vegetarian, it really isn't a worry unless we get in the way of a Mommy who interprets our presence as a threat to her children. Of all those creatures, the ant has the most painful bite, so far.
Once back at camp, we had another excellent dinner prepared by Kioko and started a camp fire. The polers performed a welcome song and dance (actually three song and dances) before the wind blew in followed by the rain. BEDTIME!!!! SHELTER!!!!
Yeah! He finally found away out of my backpack.
Also, Chris, our guide; best Intrepid Guide
Tea and Popcorn After Putting Up Tents
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