"In every walk of nature one receives far more than one seeks" - John Muir
A boat trip on the Delta river with family and friends. What a privilege it was to be able to do this trip. Such a blissful experience I would want to do yearly.
It was June 2017 winter in Cape Town. My family and I packed our summer clothes into a bag. I remember saying that I was a bit confused with the idea of summer in another country while it was cold and dry in Cape Town. It was one of the years we experienced one of the worst droughts we have experienced in a very long time. Boating on a river for a week seemed unreal and impossible. However, I have been to Botswana a few years prior to this trip and the Okavango always has an element of surprise.
My biggest excitement about this trip was probably the fact that my friend, Meriska, who was working in Dubai at the time joined me for the adventure. At that stage we haven't seen each other for over 2 years as I went to South Korea and she left for Dubai before I got back to South Africa. Reunited and ready to take The Okavango by storm.
We flew to Maun, Botswana where we got picked up by our tour guides. We organized the trip with Okavango River Safari. We joined the rest of our group in Maun. We were 3 families all from Cape Town and all of us knew each other for a few years or should I rather say almost my entire life.
The tour guide was a family member which made this trip quite special for Madelein as she spent some quality time with her brother. He had a 3 men working with him to make this trip as memorable as possible. The boat was made from thin aluminium.
We had the privileged to experience glamorous camping or Glamping as they call it. During the day we were on the water viewing animals whilst the crew went ahead to set up camp and get dinner ready. We had hot showers twice a day, tents with really great mattresses already setup and even toilets. Arriving on sunset was a nice opportunity for cocktails or sun downers.; everything was cold and delicious; whilst taking our last few pictures for the day and waiting for the night noises to start creeping in. At night the stars in the heaven skies was so bright. The fire was on and the bush field stories kept on flowing. In the distance the hyenas laughed that the Hippos grazed the river beds. We ate freshly baked bread everyday, amazing meats and salads of various sorts and the snacks was amazing; all authentic to Africa.
During the day we were on the water bird watching. There was extraordinary sites of Fish Eagles and as we cruised along it became a spectacle to watch the King Fisher bird hovering above the water, pinpointing a fish and diving into the water at full speed. Sometimes he is lucky and flies away with food, other times hard luck was the story of the day. But I think besides for watching the birds and the bees and listening to the bugs zooming and birds chirping we heard a familiar sound. Crushing all other sounds the giants of the bush grazed in the water between the floating grass. The Elephants of the Delta. Such big creatures, uniquely designed and unimaginably beautiful. The big tusks and the flapping ears, long trunks and short tails. I sat on the boat laying right next to them in the water just watching in adoration. There was so many moving freely. We had to respect their spaces as we were the zoo animals in this case. I learned how to drink Whiskey and soda with a splash of lemonade to take the edge off.
One other giant we also had to respect and look out for was the hippopotamus. The Hippopotamus is a strange creature and quite dangerous. They create pathways under the water and they always follow them. Interesting fact: they can run faster than a human on dry land, imagine what they can do under water. Being on a boat it was important to stay away from the pathways as they might feel threatened to by boat. A hippo has huge teeth and can sink a little boat in no time thus better to stay clear. They walked past the tent at night which was a bit scary if you needed to WC.
to be continued...
My biggest excitement about this trip was probably the fact that my friend, Meriska, who was working in Dubai at the time joined me for the adventure. At that stage we haven't seen each other for over 2 years as I went to South Korea and she left for Dubai before I got back to South Africa. Reunited and ready to take The Okavango by storm.
We flew to Maun, Botswana where we got picked up by our tour guides. We organized the trip with Okavango River Safari. We joined the rest of our group in Maun. We were 3 families all from Cape Town and all of us knew each other for a few years or should I rather say almost my entire life.
The tour guide was a family member which made this trip quite special for Madelein as she spent some quality time with her brother. He had a 3 men working with him to make this trip as memorable as possible. The boat was made from thin aluminium.
We had the privileged to experience glamorous camping or Glamping as they call it. During the day we were on the water viewing animals whilst the crew went ahead to set up camp and get dinner ready. We had hot showers twice a day, tents with really great mattresses already setup and even toilets. Arriving on sunset was a nice opportunity for cocktails or sun downers.; everything was cold and delicious; whilst taking our last few pictures for the day and waiting for the night noises to start creeping in. At night the stars in the heaven skies was so bright. The fire was on and the bush field stories kept on flowing. In the distance the hyenas laughed that the Hippos grazed the river beds. We ate freshly baked bread everyday, amazing meats and salads of various sorts and the snacks was amazing; all authentic to Africa.
During the day we were on the water bird watching. There was extraordinary sites of Fish Eagles and as we cruised along it became a spectacle to watch the King Fisher bird hovering above the water, pinpointing a fish and diving into the water at full speed. Sometimes he is lucky and flies away with food, other times hard luck was the story of the day. But I think besides for watching the birds and the bees and listening to the bugs zooming and birds chirping we heard a familiar sound. Crushing all other sounds the giants of the bush grazed in the water between the floating grass. The Elephants of the Delta. Such big creatures, uniquely designed and unimaginably beautiful. The big tusks and the flapping ears, long trunks and short tails. I sat on the boat laying right next to them in the water just watching in adoration. There was so many moving freely. We had to respect their spaces as we were the zoo animals in this case. I learned how to drink Whiskey and soda with a splash of lemonade to take the edge off.
One other giant we also had to respect and look out for was the hippopotamus. The Hippopotamus is a strange creature and quite dangerous. They create pathways under the water and they always follow them. Interesting fact: they can run faster than a human on dry land, imagine what they can do under water. Being on a boat it was important to stay away from the pathways as they might feel threatened to by boat. A hippo has huge teeth and can sink a little boat in no time thus better to stay clear. They walked past the tent at night which was a bit scary if you needed to WC.
to be continued...
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