We left Maputo and flew to Johannesburg, even just an hour in that airport was culture shock with a full airport mall, and things to sell and buy and places to get money and spend money and all those other "first world" things. We then flew to Maun, Botswana and then into the Okavanga delta in a small and overweighted Cessna spottng wildlife along the way. Okavanga delta is created by a river flowing into the Kalahari desert and never reaching the sea, left to evaporate and create and amazing place for wildlife. Landed on a dirt airstrip for our tent lodge "oddballs". We were greeted at the airstrip and taken to our "luxury" tents by Makoro (traditional canoe where a guy stands in the back and poles instead of paddles). The place was pretty sweet. One thing about the game reserves in Botswana is that there is no cheap way to visit, it's all chartered flights and high end lodges. You pay for the access, and we're enjoying some of the comforts that's for sure. We were the only 4 staying in the enclave area that houses 10...the deck and staff to ourselves, yeah traveling in Africa is tough. The next two days were spent touring the delta through the reeds on hippo trails in the Makoros and going on a walking safari where we were able to see animals on foot (elephants, giraffe, zebra, antelope) and spent a good amount of time literally tracking a lion, using footprints, vultures, and termite mounds to spot them. Definately the feeling that you're doing this on the animals terms...never saw the lion. At night we were serenaded from our "tents" by a courus of bush animals and snorting hippos...they all seemed like they were just outside the tent.
No comments:
Post a Comment