Our trip into the Okavango Delta started bad. The Mokoro our guide had brought was too small and threatened to sink and when we took off with a bigger one it started to wind and rain – something we had thought to be impossible in this season. We were shivering and doubting our decision to do a 2-day trip… but it got better.
The rain stopped after a while and after we had set up our tenth on the island we planned to stay the night we continued our trip deep into nature. First, we explored the area with our Mokoro to see mostly water birds and then we went on a 3h walk on one of the islands. During this walk we got closer to zebras, gnus, pelicans, lechwe and red bucks than we had ever expected. We also received a lot of information about the animals we hadn’t received so far. Our guide grew up in the Okavango Delta and received all his knowledge from his grandfather – how to steer a Mokoro, the behaviour of the animals and how to survive several days in the Delta.
During our walk the next morning on a different island we also got relatively close to giraffes, elephants, buffalos and with the Mokoro even to some hippos. Those hippos we also heard at night as they were feeding grass close to our tenth. But the most dangerous experience we actually had after we had been brought back to shore. When waiting for other boats to arrive a poisonous baboon spider walked out of our camp bed. One of the locals explained to us that it injects a poison that works on ones nerves and can destroy them.
It was an intense and pure experience but we were also happy to be back in Maun two days later and enjoyed a hot shower, electricity, internet and a proper meal again. That meal we had with an English couple who were quite at the end of their 2-year world trip. As we hadn’t met a lot of world traveler on our trip so far it felt great to spend the evening with them and we even got some interesting information for our further travels.
Leave a reply