Time on the Delta

past cormorants, fish eagles and storks in the trees

Animal count: springbok, black-faced impala, elephants, wildebeest, black faced impala, red haartbeest, zebra, giraffe, donkey, cows, oxen, hippo, crocodile, goat, reedbuck antelope, warthog, ostrich

My idea of a delta always included an ocean or a lake into which a river eventually emptied.  So how to explain Botswana's Okavango delta?  The country is landlocked, so no ocean.  No lake either. 18.5 billion cubic metres of water every year spread outwards from the Okavango River like an open palm. And then, it just evaporates. Literally.  The dry, arid air and the Kalahari desert just swallow up all the rivers and lagoons and streams. This makes it an incredibly important landscape for animal and bird life. 

ready to board

Krusty with all our bags and the food

this itty-bitty thing won't hurt you

whoa, but this big old thing will!

Our delta journey began on Sophie the truck, as all our journeys do.  We pulled up at the river front, met by a speedy little number which moved us (people in one boat, goods and guide in another) twisting and wheeling along a channel for an hour. 




Botswana burros on the bank "ooh eh eh!"

The banks of the river are tall with grasses,  papyrus among them.  I was glad I was not at the helm as each channel looked like the rest.  We spied crocodiles sunning themselves, some of which were enormous.  It is possible to swim in the Delta, but you need to hvae at least one guide or poler there to ensure safety.

4x4 with a flat tire - what can cause a puncture in sand???

a Botswana shop and sewing business

Eventually we pulled up and emptied into a 4x4 which slithered along sand for another hour, making stops to pick up bread and beer. 

Transport #4 is the mokoro, a sort of canoe that is operated by a poler standing at the stern. 


poling white people

romantic, as long as the boat stays upright

Two per mokoro, we gently moved through the shallow water another hour or so until we reached our island destintion.  These mokoros were fibreglass, but the traditional boats were made of hard ebony or sausage tree (so named because its fruits look like a long cured sausage hanging in any Italian deli.  Not really edible, they do serve a medicinal purpose, as one of our number discovered.  Her unexplained and pervasive hand rash was treated with a rub of this fruit, Kigelia Africana, and within a week the rash was gone! Needless to say she bought a cream made of this plant to take home). 

skipping right past doctor and pharmacy to cure

All our polers were competent, which is important.  It is very easy to tip these long narrow boats, and the waters are not all that safe, with crocodiles and hippos ready to impose their wills upon you. 

Suspicious eyes

Hippos are herbavores, but they don't like intruders, and can crack a 20 foot crocodile in half in seconds with their super strong jaws and teeth. Every once in a while a pair of eyes and ears pop up and regard us as we pass.  The water is so shallow at this point that hippos are a permanent feature, moving their enormous bulk in a slow march from feeding ground to sleeping ground.  We cross their waterway path and they regard us suspiciously until we move along.



We must sleep in tents as it is too dangerous to sleep outside with all the animal life.  We must goo to the toilet in twos when is dark, or else just pee outside the tent.  This is now not such an outrageous idea and our roadside stops have had us squatting beside a scraggy bush or a thorny hedge, or even by nothing at all when the desert lies flat on all sides and vehicle traffic is rare.  But what toilet affords such a magnificent view of elephants or baboons walking past? 

a scenic spot, at least in daylight!

if these are in place, the loo is vacant

The advice was sound, as one night we could hear scratching and grunting sounds, sometimes twigs and leaves crackling, sometimes a sort of "gruh, uh, uh" sound.  It went on for hours as we lay in our tent listening.  I wanted to open the flap to peek, but knew that if the eyes out there ever noticed the eyes in here we would end up being on the night menu. Animals pass tents as if they are rocks, but nice fleshy humans are a gift with purchase.  In the morning we were told that our highttime visitors included one elephant, a herd of hippos and three lions!  Hippos make such odd gutteral sounds that I thought my "gruh, uh, uh" was them but no, we had real live lions walk among our tents! 

That and a lazy mokoro ride at sunset were true highlights of our days there. 

We played card games and went on game walks. 

serious business in three languages

"this is a tree"

goin' on a lion hunt

I moved my sleeping mat into the bush aways and did yoga, feeling serene in a sun dappled spot, dry winter leaves falling on me occasionally.  Bush showers are refreshing and short, but I made myself slow down and take in the experience. 

fill the canvas bucket with water,
hoist it into the tree,
turn the dial at the bottom of the bucket
and voila!  a bracing bush shower

no peeking around the wall!

Seeing the delta from the air allows a completely new perspective.  Animals have cut paths through the landscape, and can be seen moving along to drink precious water in this dry, winter time.  Entire herds of elephants and wildebeest move in a no doubt familiar pattern, their bulk large dots with legs and trucks and horns. 



the Delta as seen by a cartographer

the Delta as seen by me



human trails



wildlife trails

 

the wide winter march of the wildebeest

a few elephants out for a stroll



not a "Bolt" but a "Butler"

Botswana has little of the colonial past to get past, unlike Namibia, Zimbabwe and especially South Africa.  It has been independent since 1966, and was guided by sound leaders who laid out plans for a democractic and peaceful land.  Its borders now encompass rich diamond fields as well as incredible numbers of wildlife.  In fact, I think this country holds more promise than wealthy South Africa.  Healtcare and education are high on the country's agenda. But it is largly roadless, and difficult to get around in, which makes tourism also a big ticket item.  Locals are hired as guides and drivers and polers and cooks, and high end camps for flying in and out for those with little time provide income for many all year.

a couple of African Skimmers in mid-skim

the lily pads of the Delta