Maun and the Okavango Delta

As we left Ghanzi en route to Maun, we passed through the foot and mouth checkpoint again.  The police officer recognized us from the day before and asked where we were headed.  There were 2 officers that missed the bus to Maun and needed a lift.  So we rearranged the back seat and had company for the next couple hours.

We asked lots of questions and learned about their childhood as well as what they enjoy doing in their free time.  They taught us more about the culture and how the police system works in Botswana.  And since they knew where we were going, they directed us straight to our hostel.

Maun

Over the past couple weeks, we’d heard so much about the rain and some areas of the parks being closed.  Our plan was to ask around and hear about the roads ourselves.  So the first day was spent going from company to company asking about different campsites.  Many of the camps in the national parks have been privatized and to get information on each one you have to call or go to each one.

 

We started with the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) thinking they might be able to give us an overview of different areas.  The woman behind counter was unable to give us much information besides saying the roads were fine.  We stopped by Xomae to find out the conditions of Nxai Pan before going to SKL. They manage the camps in Chobe and can fill up quickly. The man helping us said that all, but the first week of April was fully booked. He encouraged us to make reservations, which meant we needed to sit down to come up with a plan.

 

It took a while, but we came up with an idea of how we’d spend the rest of our time in Botswana.  The rest of the afternoon was spent going around town making reservations.  Each place gave us the same response to the roads, “there are pools of water, but you’ll be fine.”  After 6 different stops, we were done and ready for a beer.  We went back to Old Bridge Backpackers to set up our tent and work out dinner.  Through the hostel, we’d organized an overnight mokoro trip in the delta and we would leave the next day.

Mokoro trip

We had a 45 minute ride in a speed boat to reach the Boro poler station.  As we curved through the reeds, we saw a crocodile on the shore and 2 fish eagles.  Suddenly, there was a big bubble rising from the water in front of us and the driver slowed down.  We waited a few minutes and 3 hippos emerged from the water.  The bubble was their way of telling us they were there.

 

Once we reached the poler station, we were introduced to our poler, Dickie.  He took us on a 1.5 hour mokoro ride past the buffalo fence through small channels in the reeds.  We stayed off the main channel as that is where motorboats and animals like to be.  In the dugout canoe we sat on plastic chairs (without the legs) and everything we’d need for the next 2 days.  At one point, Dickie had us stand up and we could see zebras on an island in front of us.  He also pointed out a painted reed frog and talked about the lilies and wildlife around us.

 

 

 

We made lunch after arriving to our campsite, which was a small piece of an island that Dickie cleared to make a spot for our tents.  As we didn’t realize we’d have a fire, we had packed cans and food that didn’t need to be cooked.  Dickie brought fat cakes so we finally got to try them.  They are fried balls of dough that reminded me of zepolles my Grandmother used to make.

 

The afternoon was spent learning how to be a poler and swimming.  While Dickie made the poling look easy, I wasn’t that good at it.  Tico, with years of experience in the water, was able to do a much better job than me.  The pole is literally a long, straight stick so the movement comes from pushing off the bottom of the river.  While one of us pushed Dickie around, he made us a hat and necklace from a lily pad and flower.  Then, it was time for a swim to cool off.  The only piece of advice we’d gotten was to make sure our guide went in first as crocodiles and hippos live in the water.  As it turned out, Dickie forgot his bathing suit so he didn’t go in at all.  We looked around and went off the fact that a couple had been in the water not long ago and made our way in.  The deeper we got, the cooler the water was.  I was too afraid to go into the main canal as we were told that the animals prefer deeper water.

 

 

 

Later that evening, we went for an evening walk on the island and saw prints of various animals, but only managed to find zebras and wildebeest.  After we finished, we jumped in the mokoro and went to a lagoon in search of hippos.  While we didn’t find hippos, we did see a gorgeous sunset.  Once we finished dinner, we walked to a nearby camp of an overland group and listened to the guides entertain the group with song and dance.

 

 

 

 

Throughout the night, we could hear lions grunting far away, or so we hoped, as we were in tents on the ground and the reed frogs chirping away. Their sound resembles ceramic chimes clanking into each other as the males try to attract the females. We had a fire going that Dickie added wood to throughout the night to keep the animals away.

About halfway through the night, Tico dreamed a hyena was biting his leg.  He screamed and kicked the tent.  I woke up thinking Dickie was trying to scare off a real animal and spent the next couple hours listening to the noises around us.  According to Dickie, the only animals he heard somewhat near us were hippos going through the swimming spot that we’d been in earlier that day.

The next morning, we poled over to another island to do our morning walk.  We managed to get close to several giraffes and had an impala run directly in front of us before stopping to look us in the eyes.  The highlight was following the tracks of a Cape buffalo towards a dense area of trees.  Suddenly, we heard hooves pounding on the ground and bremaking fallen tree branches.  We’d come up behind two buffalo and they were not pleased that we found their hiding place.  Dickie had us stand closer to the trees and we waited until they were gone before we made our way back to the boat.

 

From there, we went back to the poler station.  We got to stand up again to see zebras and elephants in the distance.  Then, Dickie gave us a tour of the village and where he lives.  The trip was over, but we still had the motorboat ride back to Old Bridge.  We saw multiple crocodiles on the way.  They ranged in sizes from a small one to one that we could only see it’s head, which was at least half a meter long.

 

 

Helicopter Ride

While wandering around town making reservations, we stumbled upon the office of Helicopter Horizons.  They offered scenic flights and while there were airplanes that did the same the helicopter would be without doors.  We decided to splurge and have our first (and probably only ever) chopper experience.

 

The start of the flight took us over farmland until we crossed the buffalo fence.  The scenery changed to the marshland where we could see the delta from a completely different angle.  We could see the main channel as well as paths that had been created from animals.  The islands that were are hard to distinguish from a boat were much more apparent from the air.

 

 

The sun was setting as we worked our way over the desta.  We saw hippos, crocodiles, wildebeest, elephants, giraffes and a large herd of buffalo.  The opportunity to see the delta as well as the wildlife from the sky was something special.  It was a great addition to the safari experiences we’d had so far in boat, mokoro and truck.

 

 

 

Helpful tips:

• If you book an overnight mokoro trip through Old Bridge, they provide you with wood and a grill to cook on.
• Visit the Botswana tourism office to get a list of which companies run each camp to know where to go for reservations.
• Prices are in USD for international guests.  If you pay in USD cash you will save money due to exchange rates.