Sunday, April 20, 2008

The Okavango Delta

Wednesday night we camped at the Delta Rain campsight from where we'd leave for the Delta.


Thought you like to see how the facilities work - the building in the background is the toilets and showers. Hot water around the clock from the wood-burning boiler in the foreground. Someone adds wood around the clock. The water tank is up at the top left. And the showers were wonderfully hot and clean.


An hour-and-a-half drive takes us to the mokoro launch point. The mokoro was traditionally a boat carved out of the trunk of a sausage tree - indeed ours was one of these. There are now fibreglass mokoros also.

All we had to do was to sit back and enjoy the ride while our guide, 'Shoes' (because he plays soccer), propels the boat with his pole.



We went for a bit over an hour with most of the scenery being grass...

...plus water lilies...


...and this little frog - it's about the size of your thumb.


We camped on a small island - got there before lunch and then relaxed during the heat of the day before going on a late afternoon walk on a nearby larger island.


The major sighting was a pair of spotted hyena.


A beautiful sunset - we've come to expect that every night...


...and we returned to the campsite.


Early morning we went out for a longer walk...


...seeing woodland cranes...


...and storks.


These giraffes are observing us as carefully as were are them. They tend not to want us too close.


Later, a number of Zebra and two Wildebeast galloped towards us...


...then galloped off in another direction.


On the way back to camp, we saw this brown snake eagle.


During the day, we had a swim in one of the channels, but generally relaxed again during the heat of the day. The evening excursion was work only for our guides who poled us around to a hippopotamus hole where again one keeps a respectful distance and so do they.


The next morning, before packing up, we had a short walk mainly in search of birds.





Then it was back to the landing point. As we departed the area on our overland vehicle, the local folk, all of whom had been out with one group or another, were walking back to their village.
Returning to Maun, we drove past a cemetary. Gravestones were shaded from the hot sun.

We'll be back on the bicycles with the Tour after the rest day in Maun on Sunday. Next week is five days of riding to Windhoek, Namibia.

1 comment:

Janet Alexander and Chris Maund said...

Hi guys,
So glad you did this trip. Isn't the Okavanga Delta a must see!
You both look like you are fading away...must be all that cycling..(and not the food limits put on lunch huh!)Have a good ride to Windhoek..unfortunately it does live up to its name..windy corner..
cheers
Janet and Chris in Southern Cal