Botswana: The Okavango Delta, by canoe and plane; and Chobe National Park!

Ghanzi

As we entered Botswana, via the Kalahari Desert, we were treated to THE most welcoming border crossing ever. From getting accommodation advice from the lady at the immigration desk (complete with instructions of how to get there!), to the head of the border post getting on board our truck after we had crossed to welcome us to Botswana, thank us for visiting their country and to hope that we enjoy it – I have never had that anywhere in the world; and it was a good indication of what to expect in Botswana.

We made our way to Ghanzi Trailblazers (against the advice of our border friend) where we spent the night. You have the option here of going on a guided walk with San bushmen, who will talk to you about their culture, about their relationship with this desert land; and amaze you with their language (clicks and all!). This is followed by an evening of song, dance, and story telling around the fire which was fantastic; but be warned – some audience participation is involved so choose your seat wisely!

The Okavango Delta

The following morning, we packed up and headed to the Okavango Delta; a vast inland river delta in northern Botswana. We were dropped at a meeting point and picked up by a huge semi-amphibious truck that would take us to our camp on the shores of the Delta, from where we would launch our forays into the Delta. The camp itself was fantastic, nice tents elevated from the ground to prevent flooding (you are VERY close to the water here as the hippos’ grunts will remind you when you are trying to sleep); and a choice of bars, the bar closest to the jetties have the best whisky selection IMO.

We took a sunset boat cruise on the first night, with our drinks orders taken once we arrived and the promise of our drinks in a cooler on the boat to enjoy with the sunset; we relaxed for a couple of hours prior. The evening tour was excellent, with hippos seen, as well as a myriad of birds, and a sunset that was spectacular.

The next day we were taken on a boat through the Delta, heading towards our next activity: a mokoro ride around the Delta. Along the way we saw a few crocs (not big by Aussie standards but still with impressive teeth), lots of bird life; some very colourful birds in the edges of the waterways. A mokoro is basically an African punt, a type of canoe propelled through the Delta waters by a ‘poler’; we were lucky to be in the lead poler’s boat and headed out into the Delta to see what we could see. We did not see any hippos whilst floating on the waterways, which considering our proximity to the surface of the water was no bad thing. We did get the chance to be up close, and personal with a variety of bugs, frogs; and flora that you just would not notice speeding through the reeds, higher up in a boat. The waterlilies form an exotic floral carpet. The polers also took us on a guided walk on one of the islands in the Delta, and talked to us about Botswana’s culture and politics, which was interesting.  That evening we took another sunset boat cruise, more spectacular this time; with the bonus of a family of 3 hippos giving us a pre-sunset display. After dinner, as we settled down to sleep; we could hear that deep almost laughing noise of the hippos sounding like they were just at our tent, though in reality they were at least 10 metres away. Nothing to be afraid of….gulp!

Maun

Do the scenic flight. Do the scenic flight. Do the scenic flight. Do the scenic flight. Do the scenic flight. (repeat)

Ok, it may be a bit expensive for some budgets, and every flight will be different; but we had a fantastic experience and thought it was worth every penny. Admittedly we were very lucky to be in a small Cessna with a pilot and co-pilot who were not afraid to do some wing-tip turns and buzzing any number of herds of animals that they spotted; all at a height of 250 metres (at best). You can imagine how exhilarating the flight itself was without the real bonus which were the animals and scenery we got to see from the Cessna’s tiny windows. But see them we did, from water holes with huge harems of hippos, to others with a solitary big croc holding court.

We saw herds of giraffes, elephants, zebras; and all beneath that spellbinding African sun; we touched the ground at the end but our hearts took a few extra minutes after the plane landed, to settle. We stayed at a nice lodge on the outskirts of town, just past a yard that seemed to be reserved for the wrecks of cars who had been involved in animal collisions, let’s just say the cars we saw had 2 thirds less mass than they were manufactured with. I would love to say the animals barely had a scratch, but that’s sadly unlikely.

Chobe National Park

More safari?! In a word, yes.

At the Chobe National Park we took an afternoon game drive, where we saw the most uniquely disturbing thing. Have you ever seen an elephant masturbate? Using his back leg to do the business while maintaining some rather disturbing eye contact, it was quite a sight to see.  I’m sure you can imagine the awkward silence amongst the visitors in the 4×4, all wondering if this was really what they were looking at, until the park ranger turned around and exclaimed gleefully “masturbation”. That aside, the elephants were the stars at Chobe and we were able to see them in a completely different setting than what we had previously experienced, due to the large river flowing through the national park. We  saw groups of elephants down at the water, bathing, rolling over onto their sides and submerging themselves completely; it was fantastic to watch. We also saw groups of hippos, but these were just out of reach; until the evening where we took a sunset game float, on a boat. This was fantastic, sitting and gently floating around the Delta as the sun set, the captain finding animal sights for us to watch and photograph. You can take on board a bottle or two, and sit, sipping as you float on by to the next group of animals to see. We saw some hippos close-up, complete with oxpecker birds helping them out, buffalo, giraffes, baboons and more. The sunset here was amazing, we were really treated to a fantastic display.