The Okavango Delta

Hi everyone! I'm typing from a cute internet cafe ("Internet Cafe," across from the Engen gas station in central Maun) after a leisurely breakfast of muesli and yogurt at the Okavango River Lodge, where I've been the last three nights. I will later transcribe some of my diary that I wrote over the past few days, but in the mean time -- pictures are worth thousands of blabberings from me, so I will get right to it -- my trip to the Delta!

I got here on a random Wednesday morning with not much planned (which I realized is a big mistake...too many things to do, easy to get distracted and do nothing...). I met up with Michael, a UPenn medical anthropology grad student, and we hit up the crocodile farm. This is Okie, the oldest known crocodile at a whopping 87 years old. He's the one with the open mouth. It's pretty darn amazing how well adapted crocodiles are to their environment -- apparently no big mutations/genetic changes since the time of the dinosaurs!

I stayed at the Okavango River Lodge, where I met a barman named Leo (of whom, more later). I stayed in a chalet, which is essentially a thatched-straw roofed hut, open to the environment (but with a screen wire meant to keep out the pests). I had my first experience with a mosquito net...hopefully I put it on correctly. I'm not really sure if I was supposed to tuck in the net *into* the bedding, but I figured better safe than sorry!

I had a fabulous veggie burger with "chips" and a salad for dinner (chips = fries, apparently the ORL is run by a hybrid Canadian/British couple). I met interesting person #2 (Marlene...see diary entry) over dinner, but she was making her own food, and she "detested" the smell of the citronella lanturn, so she left after ordering a glass of ice. That was fine by me, as I thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, the great '70s - '80s tunes (when was the last time you heard "Hungry like the wolf"?), and the beautiful view of the Delta. I played around the the few setting I have on my point-and-shoot, but these pix were nice:

Leo convinced me that an overnight camping trip in the Delta was the only way I would *truly* experience the Eastern Delta, so I signed up for a

2 d mokoro (canoe) trip with an overnight stay on one of the islands. Given the 40 deg (C) weather, I would soon realize that even a few kilometers of walking on flat land was utterly exhausting...we did 6 km the first day (saw 4 elephants, 2 of whom I spotted for the group; and 1 antelope, and 3 wild hogs [apparently the Setswana word for which is "poombah"!]. however, my dinky zoom is so bad that it's not even worth posting pictures yet...let me work on photoshopping it first). We did 12 km the next day! But we also saw zebras cavorting with wild buffalo and a whole lot more elephants. In fact, we stumbled upon 2 grazing elephants quite by accident, and were (un)fortunately only about 20 yards away from them! This is apparently really close, too close if the elephants decide to attack, and I was quickly shooed away by the tour guide -- but I did manage to shoot this picture. :)

Our hike ended with a quick stop at a real live Baobab Tree (of de Saint-Exupery fame). It was the most glorious shade I have ever had...even with long sleeves and a recently purchased safari hat, the sun was brutal. Baobab was our friend, but we were soon off to return to camp before the *real* heat came out at noon, when the sun is the highest. I had stupidly forgotten my water at ORL, but was able to make do with boiled river water (which tasted faintly of dirt...clay?). The only problem is...boiled water never really cools when it's 40 deg outside! But I did have a nice dinner of Upma, which itself had about 750 ml of water in it, so I think I stayed relatively hydrated. :) Also, my fellow campers were kind enough to share their water with me when the going got tough (they had brought over 10 L for just the two of them...).

Upma cooking on the fire:

Finally, despite all the trials/tribulations of African Bush Camping (who knows how many critters I slept with in my tent that night...) I would say the views of the river at sunset made the entire trip worth it. I was camping with 2 German engineers, one of whose father was a professional photographer, who had serious digital SLRs...they've promised to email me the pictures when they get back to Germany, but here's the view from my camera. Enjoy!