July 23rd, 2024

It was still dark when we woke up. The birds had been up for quite a while, and the full moon still shone brightly into the bathroom. I took the opportunity to have a long soak in the bathtub. It will be bush showers for the next 7 days. I had to make the most of this experience. There is something about a tent that has an ensuite bathtub that makes me very happy. Brian chose to have a shower in the outdoor shower. Showering under the full moon listening to the sounds of the awakening birds is also a wonderful experience.

I had had problems accessing the lodge Wi-Fi yesterday and I had a lot of work that I was hoping to get done before we went out of contact later today. Unfortunately, the emails I was expecting had not come through, and I was in a bit of a panic because there was still lots I wanted to do. This was not a good way to start a vacation. However, there was nothing I could do about it. We knew we would be out of contact whilst we were in the Delta, I just hoped that I could have got everything done before we headed out. It was not to be.

We were driven to the airport to catch our charter plane to Shakawe. We had been given very strict instructions about the weight limits for the charter flights, and I had to minimize the number of shoes I could take with me so that we didn’t exceed the allowance. This was very stressful. However when we got to the airport they didn’t bother to weigh our bags and we were ushered though security to wait for our plane. Several of our fellow travelers are very responsible about maintaining a sufficient water intake and had filled their water bottles back at the lodge. This was a no no and their bottles were taken away from them. So not surprisingly my small can of Coke was also forbidden to fly, and very reluctantly I handed it over. Low and behold, as we approached our little plane, there were the water bottles, still full of water. However, there was no sign of my Coke. I suppose it is more likely that you will take down a plane with a can of Coke than a full water bottle.

Flying over the Delta is a magical experience. When we flew over Maun the land below us was parched and dry. The river beds were brown, not a patch of green was in sight.

Gradually a sliver of bright water appeared, snaking its way south to Maun. Then the sliver grew wider and was accompanied by patches of green. As we moved northward, we could clearly see the channels and islands of the Delta below us, the water gleaming in the bright sunlight. Suddenly the brown had disappeared completely, and we were flying over the lush Delta. What a transformation!

As we neared Shakawe we could clearly see elephants below us. They are who I have come to see. I couldn’t wait for the plane to land so we could start our journey.

We were met by our guides, Greg and Clinton and drove to Greg’s base on the river. There our bags were loaded into the 2 small boats that will be our transport for the next week. Yay, they have Biminis, so we won’t have to go through too many bottles of sunscreen on the trip.

We pushed away from the dock, and we were off! Shakawe is a small frontier town about 5 Km from the Namibian border. My cell phone which has failed to connect since we have been in Botswana suddenly sprang to life and welcomed me to Namibia. I would have preferred that it welcomed me to Botswana, but you can’t have everything. As it turned out you can’t have anything. It went back to stating there was no service, so I was still out of contact.

As we started our journey, we went past a houseboat.

That got my mind going. I have always wanted to spend a vacation on a houseboat. My dream had been that we would spend a summer on a houseboat in Kashmir. I would sit and read well written novels whilst our cooked prepared amazing delights of local cuisine. It would be perfection. But politics intervened. It’s simply not safe to do that anymore.

So, then I thought that Kerala would be an alternative. However, maybe a houseboat in Botswana will be the answer. Not as exotic, but it could be a plan.

Slowly we started making our way down the river, through the village, waving at the locals and fishermen, and saying hi to the cows. This was all very nice and urban, but I was ready for the bush.

I didn’t have to wait long, and we got our first elephant siting. There they were, not far from us on the riverbank. I know we will see more, but the first siting is always so exciting.

Going down the river isn’t like a game drive. The walls of papyrus and giant reeds on both banks obscure the land behind. We may see an elusive sitatunga, but that’s about it. However, we did see some monitor lizards and a couple of crocodiles. Two hippos saw us coming and instantly sunk out of sight. It was the bird life that we were going to focus on for this part of the journey.

We were able to see a wonderful selection of the hundreds of bird species that populate the Okavango. Small little bee eaters, large fish eagles, pied kingfishers, they were all there and we would stop the boats so we could get a good look at them.

All this bird watching made me very hungry. Luckily, we stopped at a shady little island for a delicious lunch, listening to the birds. Suddenly I heard a familiar sound of branches being broken. An elephant joined us for lunch. This is exactly the sort of thing I love. He was quite shy, and kept a safe distance from us, hiding in the bushes, but he was there.

After a while he ambled off and we packed up our things and returned to the boats. We continued our journey down the river watching the birds and in the late afternoon we arrived at our camp site.

It was in a wonderful shady area on one of the islands. We chose our tent, and crawled in trying to get things organized, which is quite a challenge in a pop-up tent. The information about our trip indicated that each tent would have its own shower and toilet. Well, this was inaccurate. There was one shower, and 2 long drop toilets, one for ladies and one for gents. However, I am sure that will work.

As soon as we had settled in it was time for our sunset cruise.  White wine and gin and tonic were loaded into the boats and off we set through the meandering river looking out for bird life and listening to the sounds of the bush all around us.

We stopped for Greg to do some fishing, and in a few minutes he had caught a medium size tiger fish. Were we having fish cakes for dinner? It turned out that the fish was not for us, but for a nearby fish eagle. We went closer to the eagle and Greg made a fish eagle like sound that attracted the magnificent bird’s attention. Greg threw the now deceased fish into the river and quick as a flash the eagle swooped down and caught the fish and flew back to its branch high above the river.

It was a breath-taking sight and I was in total awe.

Then it was time for drinks, and we sat watching the sunset from the boats. I could have sat there a while longer, but the light was fading and we needed to get back to the camp before it got too dark.

Back at the camp there was time for us to all take it in turns to have a quick shower, and then we sat around the fire, having yet more drinks before dinner.

Dinner was delicious. I don’t know how our cook put together such an amazing meal in his makeshift kitchen out in the bush.

We were serenaded by hippos during dinner. It was lovely to hear them, I just hoped they would keep their distance.

After dinner we sat around the fire getting to know each other better and talking about past safari experiences. Five of our group had done the Great Walk safari with Tropical Ice before. This involves a 100 mile walk through Tsavo national park ending up at the coast. It has always sounded like a great thing to do, but very arduous. Walking through the bush for 10 miles a day must be quite a challenge, but they all seemed to have come through it unscathed. The only couple apart from us who have not done the Great Walk are actually doing it right after this trip. Maybe it is something we should think about for the future.

It was cold once you left the glow of the fire. The weather has been super and warm during the day, but now the sun had set, the winters night was upon us. I hoped that our bedrolls would provide enough warmth to sustain me through the night.

Going to sleep that night I came to the realization that sleeping on the ground was not the challenge. It was getting undressed in a small, confined space, and trying to get everything organized for the morning. Seven days of this is not going to be easy, but hearing the African night right outside our tent makes it all worthwhile.