Okavango Delta lets get lost and find some Hippos

stephb (54)in #travel • 7 years ago

TIA - This is Africa, Welcome to Paradise

Today I'll take you on a trip to the majestic and beautiful destination that is the Okavango Delta. Welcome to Africa, this is my home, born and raised as an African, we love travelling out here. In Africa a trip just down the road or a quick holiday might well be across several borders, we pay little attention to time and distance when it comes to travelling. We just go and go and go for days.

One of the many jobs I've had in my short time on this earth was a stint on the over-landing trucks which took me far away from Cape Town up into Africa. I arrived in Botswana August, upon arriving in this beautiful country I saw a sign that they DO NOT take lightly to poachers. As we drove across the border I saw the anti-poaching camp and was I ever impressed. There were several armoured trucks fitted with machine guns and roof top cannons. When I asked around about what they do the answer was clear and to the point - they hunt and kill poachers. I thought to myself fair is only fair. It's about time someone said enough is enough. But back to the Delta.

We traveled for some time after we stocked up on fresh food and supplies, the truck suddenly came to a halt. I stuck my head out of the window and saw a pathway leading into the bush and a sign that read: “Only 4X4's allowed beyond this point”. We started unpacking the truck and a few minutes later I heard a thundering sound coming through the bush. Two big V8 trucks straight out of the Vietnam War pulled up with trailers on each. We loaded our gear and we were gone. 20 Minutes later we stopped on the banks of the Okavango Delta. Here we met up with several speed boats. So from the trucks to the speed boats and we were off once again.

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The scene now indescribably beautiful unfolded with every minute we spent on the water. We were swinging around the corners down what seemed like a water motorway carved out of a papyrus-like reed forest. We passed crocodiles, antelope, elephants, giraffes. We saw it all but I did not see a hippo though.

image source An hour later we beached on the second island, the water was now too shallow to continue by speedboat. Here we met up with a team of pollers. They would be taking us to our final destination in their Makoros. A further two hours into what now seemed like the Garden of Eden. The Makoros are flat boats much like the ones in Venice on the channels driven by the poller in the back. Each one with two passengers and their luggage. These guys are talented. The Makoros where traditionally carved, each out of a tree annually. This, however, was destroying the rich landscape and pushing deforestation. So now they are sponsored Marokos made from fiberglass by the government.

image source We headed deeper into the heart of paradise, the views here were breathtaking and bird watching was amazing. Two hours later we beached on our home island where we would be spending three days and two nights. Now I need you to appreciate the fact that there is nothing out here that is civilization, whatever you need you need to bring with you! So in the next half hour, we set up a tented village for 45 people, a make shift kitchen and a few long drop toilets.

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We were baking fresh bread and serving up pasta - food fit for a king. We totally blew our client's minds and highest expectations out there. It's super rewarding seeing the amazement on their faces. But I have still not seen a hippo. So I took one of the Makoros and polled around the neighboring islands climbing trees here and there but no hippo. It was fun though. That night, while we were sleeping a hippo came through our camp and trampled our fire.

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In the wild, hippos are the fire fighters - they are known to charge camps and put out the fires, these huge lovable vegetarians can and will eat meat if you get too close to them when they have calves. A safe distance between them and you is roughly a 100m. Respect them and they will respect you in return. We went on some nature hikes escorted by the pollers where we saw all kinds of wild life. And as all good things go, they have to come to an end. But if ever there was a destination worth visiting it's the Okavango Delta... What a place. Worth every penny it costs you or every penny they pay you to go out there. Depends on what your preference is.