Through the Delta

The morning of our departure into the bush, we were getting our morning hot drinks when KT came into the dining area all excited, saying come check out this big guy. We walk over to where we can see the rest of the camp and right by the kitchen building there's an elephant wandering through. Then we see another one. I'm kicking myself for leaving my camera in the tent, but it's a good lesson that around here a good subject could walk by anytime. KT offers to escort me back to our tent the back way, while telling Katie to go wait at the dining room where she'd be safe. I get my camera and snap some shots of the elephants, and when the coast is clear, we return to the dining room where Katie's hiding behind a tree because one of them is just outside, passing by between the kitchen and the dining area.

The elephant turns around for one more pass through the camp, then heads over to the river for a dip.

After breakfast and getting our stuff together, we take off in a heavily loaded mokoro for some destination deeper in the delta. We go for about 1.5 hours, but we would have been none the wiser if our guide, Bale, had just paddled a few circles through the reeds and then set up camp behind the main camp. This place is a total maze of islands, river channels, and mostly still wetlands, and it's really amazing how well Bale can get around. Just when it would look like islands were closing in on us, the grasses getting thicker, and the water shallower, he'd find his way through somewhere and all of a sudden we'd be in open water again, continuing on our way. Any island we needed to get to, he figured out how to get there, and then rather than retracing our route, usually got us back to camp by some other route.

In the mokoro, we saw lots of different birds

and a couple types of wetlands antelopes which seek protection from lions in the water. When they get scared, they take off making all kinds of noise as they splash through the water.

At one point the splashing we heard was a crocodile jumping from its island into the water, but from our sitting position in the mokoro we couldn't see it. (Bale stands in the back to propel the mokoro with a pole.)

Our first camp had been set up by a different group, and they were headed back to the main camp when we arrived, so we used their tent and other camp equipment. We cooked our meals over an open fire of leadwood, a very dense wood which burns for a really long time. We actually only had to light the fire once per site since the coals continued smoldering through the night and throughout the day when we didn't need the flames to cook.

The first evening and following morning we went on game walks where we saw the usual suspects (zebras, giraffes, warthogs, various antelope),

but seeing them on foot was much more exciting than seeing them from a vehicle. Since we weren't confined to a road, we could move around them, getting closer and getting different vantage points. However, after those two walks, Bale thought we would have better luck finding more exciting animals at a different camp.
So, after returning from the morning walk, we made breakfast then packed up camp (taking with us all the camp equipment) and took off in the mokoro for about 2.5 hours until we found a suitable site for our 2nd camp. From there we again went for an evening and morning game walk. On the evening walk, we didn't see a whole lot of animals, but we did see lion tracks, which Bale estimated to be about 3 days old.

After that walk, as we were getting ready to make dinner, an elephant made its way right by our camp, probably coming within 50ft! It didn't pay much attention to us, just continued on its way to the river and crossed to another island.

The next morning, as we had our pre-walk tea, we heard lions. The sound they make when not roaring is kind of like a cat purring, only a purr you can hear from miles away. We got in the mokoro and took off in that direction. A little bit later, we heard them again, now much closer. We stopped at one island and walked around looking for them, but there was no trace. I was kind of feeling like we were on a quixotic quest, trying to find these lions in such a vast wilderness. Just as we were on our way back to the mokoro, we heard them again, and closer, but still on a different island. e We took off for that island. After landing at it, Bale said to get my camera ready. I'd heard this before, and thought he knew where to find them, but we walked around a bit with no luck. The island was big and the grass on it was tall. We didn't have much chance of finding them, and they hadn't made any noise for a while. So we had to give up the search and return to camp for breakfast.

By this time Katie was a bit overwhelmed by the experience of the African bush (aside from the elephants in camp and tracking lions by foot, there were never ending sounds), and I was pretty sure that our chances of finding lions were slim, so we decided to head back to the main camp. A relaxed afternoon was followed by a spectacular sunset

and watching hippos in a pool near the camp. Today was once again an early AM mokoro ride to yet another island, with viewings again of the usuals, but with my focus now not just on getting pictures of animals, but pictures of them actually doing stuff, which resulted in lots of blurry pictures and jumping antelopes cut off at the edge of the picture.

For the evening mokoro ride, we asked to try for some good hippo pictures, and it did not disappoint, with 5 of them in one pool, the closest within 50 ft.

We also finally saw an elephant shaking a palm tree, which we had heard so many times.
The rest of the evening was spent much the same as the night before, watching the sunset and hippos. After having a lot of cloudy weather here, it finally cleared up last night, and we were able to see the stars, which were really bright here. For our final excursion here this morning, we again took the mokoro to another island where we mostly just saw baboons. We then continued to the nearby village where many of the employees of lodges work. It's a very traditional place, with mud huts and thatch roofs.
We did see solar panels and a satelite dish as well, so it seems they're taking advantage of some modern conveniences. With all the grasses and reeds here, one of the main crafts is basketweaving, and we bought a couple baskets from a local artist.

Prior to our flight, we took a look at the Oddballs guestbook. The first page I opened to had an entry about a crocodile attacking the mokoro. A few pages later, another entry talked about a hippo attack. And just now (back here in Maun) Katie read a story about 2 polers having to stab a crocodile until it released a tourist, who has since apparently regained the use of his arms. Good thing we didn't read this stuff before!

On the flight back to Maun, we were once again in a tiny plane, but this time we had to share it. The most exciting view from the plane was of a herd of hippos all splashing into the water.

Back in Maun, we stopped at a little craft stand and bought some cloth paintings

before returning to the Old Bridge where we've just been taking care of business the rest of this afternoon. Tomorrow we go from here in the wetlands east to the vast dry lake bed, the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans.