29th Dec Guma Lagoon, Okovango Delta, Botswana, 18.9626S 22.374E, Alt 981M
Chocks Away ... Tally Ho Biggles!!!
Keywords - Delta flight, Christina's big needle, Sick puppies - James and Nicole, Wardroom 1, Base Camp, Sleeping Under the Stars, shivering my ass off, making Beggars ?
The next day the majority of us are scheduled to take a flight over the Okavango delta ... a massive inland network of waterways which drains into the sands of the Kalahari from the Okovango river ... we arrive at Maun airport and split into two groups of 5 four a 1 hour flight aboard a six seater Cessna ... Melissa sits with the pilot, Sarah and I behind and finally Tessa and Hiske ... looking at the cloudy and slightly windy conditions I know it will be a choppy flight ... as we take off we know all about this immediately as our little stringbox buffets through the air ... this is the extreme south of the delta ... and our 1 hour flight will only take us only a small distance into it ... the view from the air is of a surprisingly dry (for a delta) wetland ... but beautiful patterns of waterways criss cross the grassland making it look like a masterpiece from some surrealist painter ... and here and there islands of normal bush / tree land ... here you see animals huddled together (Elephants, Giraffe, Zebra, Impala etc) ... it is quite a spectacular flight and I'm only hopeful that my aerial photos can do it some justice ...
I'm always a little nervous flying and this flight is no exception ... especially with the chop ... but poor Melissa is using her airsickness bag to great effect and when we land everyone seems to have suffered in one way or another ... even the pilot comments that is as choppy as it gets ... but we were not prepared for what happened on the other flight ... poor James was so sick he had to be physically removed from the aircraft and taken to a clinic to be put on a drip ... he and his wife Nicole have been having a dreadful string of health issues since the Sudan earlier in the year ... but their spirits are remarkably good considering ...
The visit to the clinic delays our departure for the Northern delta and we use the time to get treatment for Christina (ankle problem requiring a large needle to be placed directly into the joint ... ouch!!!) ... and Sarah and I seek a dentist for her dodgy tooth ... as I return to the truck Jacques has hung a sign on the door - "Wardroom 1" ... quite appropriate given our problems ...
We are forced to leave James and Nicole over night in Maun to catch up with us the following day ... as we make our way to the delta ... it is a tearful farewell due to uncertainly ... but they make it to the bush camp the following day thankfully and James is back in his usual good spirits ... resilient chap that he is ...
After a 4 hour Northward drive in the truck we arrive at a staging point where we are to transfer to Land Cruisers to go into the delta ... we transfer a large amount of gear and food from the truck onto two Land Cruisers at the village of Etsha ... as we arrive a large group of young children gather around to see what is up ... as we work in the heat they stare ... one of the girls breaks out a bag of pens and there is a scramble at the children grab for some ... then we are eating biscuits and decide to give a few to the kids ... an even bigger scramble ensues ... this is an example of one of the dilemmas we face regularly ... by doing this are we turning the kids into beggars ??? ... I'm not sure but when we get back to the village 3 days later the same kids swarm around us asking for more pens!
We pile a unfeasibly large number of bodies on the back of a Land Cruiser and set off into the bush to our wilderness base camp ... after about 1 hour drive we arrive at what I can only say is a wonderful surprise ... the base camp is by a large lake ... with a beautiful wooden decking on which to sit an watch the sun set ... while sipping G&T's from the honesty bar ... tonight we feast at a table with real chairs ... and sleep out under a blanket of stars on the decking ... even the cooking facilities are amazing ... with all our washing and even a bit of baking (some very nice home made brown bread... best so far in a country which is no good a bread) is done for us by local tribeswomen ... this is a very nice secluded campsite and there are only 4 other guests!!!
Only 1 problem ... I forgot my sleeping gear ... and as if this is not enough ... what starts as a lovely snooze under the Milky Way but the lake ends as a freezing fitful sleep as the night progressed into pre-dawn ... to be fair it is probably about 18C ... not too cold ... but we are acclimatised...
30th Dec - Wilderness Base Camp, Okavango Delta, Botswana, 18.9267S 22.4259E Alt 990m
Into the wild ... but not out of coverage!!
Keywords - Wilderness Bush Camping first class, blanket of stars, Mokoro and polemen, Water lilies, A scare at bed time with Sarah, Hippo Lovin, Out of the darkness, Bush Food 1st Class, bush hike, bush pooing, face masks.
The next day we break camp and pile everything into a large speed boat which will take us to an island where our tribesmen Mokoro boat polers will bring us the rest of the way to our bush camp ... Sarah and I pile into one Mokoro with Star our poleman ... they sit low in the water and I'm fearful for my camera gear ... but as we drift slowly through the narrow waterways of the delta I soon forget any thoughts of danger ... these waterways are beautiful ... but you still need to be careful of Hippos and Crocs ... our Mokoro drifts through island of Papyrus plants and through large lakes of hundreds of amazing water lily ... a stunning sight to behold ... we land on an island and quickly set up our bush camp for the evening ... ablution facilities are courtesy of a big hole dug by our poler guides ... a special toilet seat is placed over it making my first bush poo something of a bearable experience ...
... Two large campfires provide cooking facilities for Joe ... I skip the afternoon Mokoro ride in favour of chillin at the campsite ... but no doubt the evening highlight is Joe's amazing cooking ... it is first class ... we feast on Fillet steak with Mushroom sauce and gravy ... baked potatoes ... and veg ... followed by some dessert ... the man can work wonders with food!!
That evening I decide to sleep on an upturned Mokoro under the stars and (more importantly) above the spiders and giant ants ... Sarah, Jacques and I lie out in awe of the amazing sky ... but when Jacques drifts off to sleep we end up scaring ourselves half to death ... as our imagination takes hold and every noise in the darkness poses some unseen threat of Hippo attack ... or worse!!
It is quite funny really and we only managed to keep our wits by playing a game of (re)name the star constellation ...
The one thing I do find funny about our bush camp is however remote it is we still have mobile cover!!! ... There is truly no place to hide in the world anymore!!!
31st Dec - Guma Lagoon, Okovango Delta, Botswana, 18.9626S 22.374E, Alt 981M
New Years Melan(al)c(o)holic
Keywords - Return to Base Camp, White New Year, SAFFER's at play, New Year's dinner, Irish Whiskey Hell, Feeling sorry for myself - what a silly git!!, Dutch raspberries, Christina's broken, baby sitting
The next morning we rise and get into the Mokoros for a hike on another island in the delta ... here we are treated to some beautiful plant and wildlife such as Warthog, Impala and more ... our guides pick plants and explain how they are used by the tribesmen and we are treated to some authentic bush tukka African style ... including some wonderful water berries ...
After lunch we break camp, pile all the gear in the Mokoros and make our way to base camp for our New Years celebration ... when we get the we find it is also occupied by 4 families South Africans (Boers) ... they are friends with the owner and have the place perfectly decked out for seeing in the new year ... complete with music ...
I start into my bottle of Jameson quite early (too early it turns out) ... we sit down to New Years dinner of Joe's bush Lasagne and veg ...
We make friends with our hosts and the party starts in this peaceful little hideaway ... complete with fireworks display ... Christina makes friends with one of the young daughter of Saffers ... a pretty little blond with the cutest of manners ... later that evening the whiskey grabs hold of me (complete with a few text from friends and loved ones) and sends me into a tailspin of self pity ... rather silly!! ... As I sit on the decking, drifting in and out of sleep and feeling very sorry for myself poor Christina has an accident when dancing ... she slips and in her effort to avoid her young child friend dislocated her elbow ... luckily (and perhaps a tad ironically) the father of Christina's new friend is a paramedic and he manages to re-set her arm ... in my melancholic state I miss the entire thing ... I am awoken by Wil about 15 minutes to midnight ... but in my grumpiness I fend him off ... then as midnight strikes Hiske gives me a big raspberry on the cheek .. followed by a peck from Sarah ... both of which I have to confess cheer me up enough to snap out of it ... I rejoin the crew on the deck to check out the most glorious moon rise I've ever seen ... the moon appears on the horizon a bright orange colour and gradually transforms to its usual finery as it rises above the water ... its colours dance across the lake punctuated by the flashes of a distant thunder storm ... a site to inspire believe and inner calm!!
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