We arrived yesterday in Johannesburg, for a short layover, before proceeding on to Maun. We took a smaller airplane on the 2 hour journey and spent hours waiting to get through security and then waiting for a mix up with our hotel pick up. In the end, we learned about just how wonderful people can be when you look sad, tired and ask for help :) The kindness of the locals has continued to impress us and we eventually made it to our lodge for yesterday and today.
Last night we settled in and enjoyed dinner around a Boma, a meeting place (for us, a fire) meeting Poka our wonderful and attentive waiter! The food is delicious, lots of chicken and beef, with some western influence.
Today, we traveled in an open air vehicle at 7:30 in the morning. It was only 9C, so we were bundled up in blankets provided and realized quickly we were not dressed appropriately for our first outing! We will learn for tomorrow! Here, we met Sage, our driver for the day! He is a local man, who had so many wonderful things to share with us and teach us. We immediately enjoyed him and appreciated that we could trust him and ask him many questions!
Sage took us out to the Okavango Delta, to a small village to meet our local guides who would take us out in the mokoro(dugout wooden canoes) for the day. Sage shared that to make it fair for the local guides in the village, there is like a roster that they go through so that everyone gets fair treatment and everyone will get to take out the tourists, not one more than another. This is how they make their living and Sage said without them, we would not be able to go into the delta. They are trained to be local guides and they are part of the system that protects the delta. They must have a special license to go into the delta. So, everyone supports each other and protects the delta in turn.
So, we met Dutchmen and Makabu and they took us for the day! It was truly chaos at the "station" with tourists all around and the local people everywhere and the guides! Phew! It was busy!! But as soon as we "paddled" away, the peacefulness of the delta surrounded us! All around us there was nothing but water, birds, mokoro and the delta.
The Okavango delta covers 18,000 square kilometres. It is a unesco world heritage site and is one of Africa's seven natural wonders. It is one of the few interior deltas that does not flow into a sea or ocean. It is also home to some of the worlds most endangered species of large mammals.
For us, it was just a special experience to be a part of. While there were a lot of tourists, they fissile out as you depart the station. Many people stay over night but we just wanted a day trip experience. So we headed for an island where we parked the mokoro for a rest and went walking in the search of animals. We had seen many birds on the water trip over, especially this incredible Fishing Eagle, but we were in the search for large mammals now!
As we kept walking and walking, seeing tracks and poop from hippos, hyenas, giraffe, elephants, zebra, anteaters and Buffalo, I just really wanted to see the actual animals! I was also thinking that a walking game drive was very tiring and not quite what I had signed up for! Walking across the African land, in the now 26C heat... Hmmm?!?! But then we spotted some zebra and I was on a mission!
As we got closer and closer, we could see over 200 zebras!!! In the wild! No fence, no cage, just right there and had to stay up wind from them! Then... A wildebeest in the middle of them! And then something spooked them and some ostriches came running from behind and they all starting running and the dust was flying! I turned to Dutchmen and I said "If they're running, should we start going away too? Because if they're spooked??..." Ha ha he laughed!
What an experience!! So we made the long trek back to the boats to have our lunch and then we began our trip back. Our guides took us to a common area for hippos... And right there in front of us...Were 15 hippos!!! Wow! It was really cool! I know they're super dangerous but those ears fluttering every time they come up for air! So cute!!! As we were leaving they gave some snorts that we were close enough so it was a good thing we were leaving ha ha!!
The whole paddle back was almost silence... Birds, water, bugs, some wild horses, more zebras... And honestly, nothing but the delta all around us.
I will be honest, I wasn't overly excited about this part of the trip. This was Mom's part! Her doctor recommended it and we were kind of along for the ride. It sounded cool the more I read but I was more excited about South Africa. Wow, is all I can say. This was an incredible day!!
We are off to Nata in the morning... And a visit to the largest salt pan deposits in the world. We have met our tour guide, Vincent, and look forward to hanging out with him for a few days!
For now, here are some photos! I'm doing the best I can with photos on my iPod as I didn't bring my laptop... So I hope you enjoy!
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