Taking on the Okavango Delta!

On Thursday we began making plans to go to the Okavango Delta on Friday. I am such a planner, but I love being spontaneous here! After celebrating St. Patrick's day by going to see Celtic Fusion, a band from Ireland, we got up at 4am the next morning to catch our 10 hour bus to Maun. Katie, an international student from Colorado, Jenn, and I got on the bus and there were a total of five other people. Excited, we laid down across three seats and went to bed, soon waking up as we realized that this bus stops every half hour picking up new people, and this was not going to be as comfortable as the intercape buses that we took to Mozambique. It was hot, crowded, and the seats were not comfy at all, but by 4pm we made it to Maun.

Here is a map to show you where Maun and the Delta is! (Gaborone, the capital in the south being where I stay, and also Serowe is where the Khama Rhino Santuary was that I blogged about in the last post)

We got to The Old Bridge Backpackers which was recommended to us by friends, and to save money decided to only pay for one room (which meant paying 150 pula for a backpacker, and then paying for two 'campers' which is 50 pula each). So two people shared a small bed, one one person slept on the floor (luckily I got the bed!). The Backpackers was located right on the Thamalakane river, which leads to the Okavango Delta. It was beautiful to watch the sunset over the river, and read my book while I laid on a hammock under a tree.

When we first arrived we met these two girls in their mid twenties from the States who had been traveling around the world for a couple years, and had no plan of stopping anytime soon. They would travel until they ran out of money and then stopped to work for awhile. They had lived in three different cities in Australia working as waitresses or doing other little jobs working 50 hour weeks to save money. Then when they had enough, they continued on their way. They had already done most of Asia, some of Europe, and was working their way up Africa. All having a love for travel, it was safe to say that all three of us wanted to be these girls. After hearing about their adventurers, I too want to travel the world as much as possible!

These girls invited us to catch a ride with them to the local bar where there was a pilot party. Maun has one of the busiest airports, with small planes flying travelers all around different areas of the Delta and of course getting people to and from the Delta. We met pilots from all across the world now working or training in Maun, including people from New Zealand, Europe, Canada, and of course South Africa. The pilots do some sort of initiation by making each person do “an omelet” once they have completed their training. Two guys stood on chairs and first had to eat an entire egg, shell and all. They just plopped it in their mouths and chewed! So gross! Then had to chug a drink that was a shot of 15 different types of beer with a shot of some sort of hard liquor dropped into that. We danced with a pilot that used to be an aerobics instructor on a cruise ship (and boy was that obvious, haha), met as many people as possible, and then after stopping at a club that did not look safe, we decided to just call it a night and head back to the backpackers.

The next morning we got up and went on a Makoro trip. A makoro boat is a dug out canoe that is used in the shallow waters of the Delta. It is pushed by a man standing at the back of the boat pushing against the ground with a large pole. We were very nervous to go on this trip. We felt like this was probably going to be the riskiest thing that we do during all our time in Africa. Why were we so nervous? Well, less than three weeks before, four people were out in the evening on the river very close to the backpackers. There were two girls, including one American, and two local guys, including one that was the bartender at Old Bridge. They had been attacked by a hippo.. one guy getting killed from the hippo, and the other drowning, because he couldn't swim. The two girls were able to make it to shore. Everyone had been talking about what had happened, even people 10 hours away in Gabs. Everyone knows that hippo are extremely dangerous and for no reason at all.

We first took a motor boat down the river, already seeing dozens of different types of birds including herons, and the African fish eagle! Then we went to a small shore where we got onto the Makoro boats. Jenn and Katie went on one boat, and I went on another. My 'driver' was the young one, only 21 but looked 16. His name was Rogah, pronounced like Roger with an accent! Of course I had to tell him that was my Dad's name :) They steered us through the narrow pathways of the shallow delta, getting hit in the face often with the reeds shooting up from the water. But when I wasn't protecting my face, and we had a little more space, I felt so peaceful surrounded by water lilies. Rogah pointed out these little white frogs that were sitting on the reeds, and told me about how he loved being able to meet tourists from all over the world. Then he pointed out this noise that he said was a hippo! The water opened up and we could see the ears and noses of two hippos sticking out of the water (the most that most ever see of hippo). We sat behind some reeds, far enough away that we were safe, and watched ready with cameras in hand. Then one hippo sprang out of the water, mouth open, and left a big splash in the water. I hoped that I got a good picture! After watching them “play” for about 20 minutes we continued on our way.

Soon, we stopped, had lunch, and walked around “the bush” (in case you haven't heard this term, it means the places in Africa that are wild and free; rural areas with trees, bushes, and animals roaming free). We didn't see much during our walk besides one elephant way off in the distance. But we were so far away that I barely count it. I know that when I go up north to Chobe I will see tons of elephants, so I was not that disappointed. We headed back, seeing one more hippo's ears and nose on the way, but didnt stop to watch, because it soon went under water and we didnt know where it was. It really was an amazing once in a lifetime trip into the famous Okavango Delta.. well worth the 650 pula (about $100 USD).

The rest of the short weekend adventure was full of meeting new people and relaxing by the pool. On Sunday morning we went out to breakfast at a place near the airport, where coincidentally we saw several of the pilots we had met at the pilot party. We headed back, enduring another long and uncomfortable bus ride back to Gabs.. but it was well worth it!