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The second-to-last blog post regarding my trip to Africa, continuing in Maun, Botswana where I spent the night before heading into the Okavango Delta in north-western Botswana.
Sunday, June 3rd
After breakfast, the hotel in Maun still had no information on my flight times. As I would be flying out later that day, I called the air charter company to find out. I had anyway woken up early and packed everything. The hotel was literally a five-minute walk from the airport terminal. Interestingly, my flights were just three hours after I had called, at around 11 AM.
Now, you have to understand that these flight transfers to safari lodges in the African wilderness aren’t like your regular, scheduled airliner vacation flights. They are charters, flown with small propeller aircraft that typically seat anywhere between 4 to ~15 people. The planes are usually in the air constantly, ferrying guests back and forth between numerous locations throughout the Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, the Kalahari desert or any other lodge that offers the option of flight transfers. The flights might be tentatively scheduled further in advance, but aren’t confirmed until the day prior. The airline will then usually contact you the day before, once they have confirmed the flights. This is usually done by forwarding the flight times to your lodge/hotel, not you personally.
That being said, I still wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t called myself. There aren’t many hotels in Maun called “Airport Hotel”, and the hotel reception was never contacted by the airline. Anyhow, with my bags already being packed, but with a couple of hours to kill, I hung out in hotel room for a little while to relax. I cleaned out the fridge in the car, which I would leave parked at the hotel.
The fridge had been pretty much ruined after driving around Chobe National Park’s 4WD conditions. I didn’t photograph the mess it had become. Picture this, the fridge was in the trunk of the car, with a lid on top of the fridge. The lid could be opened upwards or downwards, around a pair of hinges. On numerous occasions, I found the lid wedged under the fridge. Underneath! Not simply having come off the hinges and laying off to the side. The lid was underneath the fridge, which probably in itself weighed at least 10-15 kg (~30 pounds).
Now, when I arrived in Maun, I found not only the lid under the fridge, the fridge had also fallen on its side. Let’s just say this “exposed” the contents all over the car’s trunk. I was very, very happy that I was not going to cook another meal on the trip.
Having checked out of the hotel, I left my big suitcase behind in the reception, and walked to the airline’s office by the airport to “check-in”. I was handed a ticket, and gave my carry-on bag to the airline’s agent. Interestingly, it didn’t pass through security with me, which is usually a huge no-no, but that was the standard procedure for these charters apparently. I passed security, and met the airline agent 20 minutes later on the other side.
The airport had just one gate for domestic flights, separate in the building from where international passengers (Johannesburg for instance) would go through. The “gate” was actually just five rows of seats in front of a door leading outside to the tarmac. This is where charter airline agents would come through and pick up their respective passengers. For the 3-4 daily Air Botswana flights to the capital Gaborone, there would also be a boarding pass check first, obviously.
I flew with a Cessna Grand Caravan (pictured above after landing) to Xarakai Airstrip, near the Mapula Lodge, my destination inside the Okavango Delta. It was quite a big plane for a private transfer, but a large tour group was due to return from the lodge, which necessitated all the seats. Being alone with just the pilot though, he let me sit up front, which was awesome.
Lining up for departure from Maun.
I didn’t have a headset on to listen to the air traffic control communications, but I could still somewhat figure out what was going on from observing his various inputs and maneuvers.
Views of the Okavango Delta from above.
After landing I was picked up by representatives from the lodge. I was given a tour of the property and checked-in to my private room. Then I had lunch and was introduced to the guide who would be taking me on game drives during my stay.
During the afternoon, the lodge’s schedule provided a siesta break until high tea. This would usually be served in the middle of the afternoon around 3PM. It gave me an opportunity to just relax until then in the room, which was a very interesting compromise between luxury and nature.
There were no glass windows, just a net leading outside. It was enough to keep bugs and mosquitos out, but made for a lot of fresh air. This was nice during the day, but quite cold at night. I also had all the sounds of the wild animals right inside the living room.
The bathroom, with the sinks using filtered water from the lake that you’re looking at.
When I arrived at the main dining area for tea, I met with an American couple that would be with me for the activities. After finishing up our tea and snacks, we went on a game drive.
The Okavango Delta was filling up with water while we were there, which was very odd because the rest of Botswana (and Namibia too) was in the middle of their dry season. The Toyota Landcruiser that drove us around really got put to the test. At times it almost felt as if we’d be sailing more than driving.
Our guide considering which route would be easier to get across the flooded parts of the trail.
The reason is that the Okavango River starts in the highlands of Angola. When it rains there, it takes about four months for that water to flow downstream through Namibia and Botswana to the Okavango Delta.
We saw plenty of birds which are rare to see outside of the Delta, such as this saddle-billed stork.
We also spotted antelope. Mostly the usual impalas, including some that jumped across the trail right in front of our car.
There were also plenty of elephants, most notably one elephant mom that was very protective of her baby. She trumpeted at us loudly, and shook her head as we inched closer, which was something I had not seen before.
I had seen plenty of elephant babies staying close with their mothers. However, the mothers would usually leave you alone as long as you didn’t drive right at them, which we never did anyway.
We also drove along the so-called “Buffalo Fence”, which is a very unpopular thing in the region. It is a measure to fight the spread of foot-and-mouth disease. It was also intended to maintain some exports of meat from farms. A fence was put in place across Botswana, to separate the wild buffaloes of the north from the livestock south of the fence. The fence has been decommissioned, but not yet torn down. Every now and then elephants will stomp down the fence. We saw one giraffe a few hundred meters away, carefully crossing parts of the fence that was still standing.
It’s not a beautiful sight to see a man-made fence separating wildlife from their natural habitats.
A very nice climax for the game drive was when we spotted a group of leopards, particularly including a young one.
They had hunted down a lechwe antelope, dragged it into a bush, and were now taking turns eating it.
We returned to camp a bit before dinner, but long after sunset. After dinner and a bit of chatting, I went to my private room to go to bed.
Monday, June 4th
Early wakeup at 5:30 in order to get a very early start on the game drive. We had a light breakfast, and then set off shortly past 6. Plenty of animals are nocturnal, and even more species are more active in the mornings and evenings simply because it is colder. Once the sun rises and starts heating up the ground, several animals retreat to shady areas below trees and just lay still. To catch more animals being out and about, it’s best to get up early like we did. It was a pretty long drive, as we still didn’t return to the camp until it was time for lunch. We did take a break for morning tea after a few hours though.
At the crack of dawn we saw a pair of ostrich.
Throughout the game drive there were plenty of elephants, zebras and a few giraffe. There were two very cool experiences though, the first one being a leopard that we spotted in a tree. It was perhaps one of the leopards we saw the previous evening.
Leopards like staying in trees, as they are the only species of the big cats that do so. That leaves them out of the reach of lions, as it is not unheard of that they could attack leopards. That being said, a leopard is not a shy animal. It is not often that you’d see one in its tree-top safe space.
Later during the game drive, we spotted a pack of wild dogs. African wild dogs do have many similar features as domesticated dogs, hence the name, but they don’t look anything like pet dogs.
They have very large ears, and brown/black spots all over their fur. This was the only location where I saw wild dogs. They are usually easiest to catch near their dens, which are holes dug in the ground where they stay with young pups. The problem with this, according to our guide, is that some lodges will drive their guests very close to dens. This provokes the mothers to run away with the pups, perhaps to another den area. This leaves them very vulnerable to predators. Our guide didn’t want to approach the wild dogs, unless he was sure the pups were large enough to be outside the dens naturally, meaning that the mothers would remain calm.
By the time we returned to lunch, a large Chinese tour group had checked in at the lodge. They had already had their food and were in their private huts, so it was pretty quiet at lunchtime. That was until a few baboons showed up. In one corner of the main dining area was a bar area, with a couple of couches, a fridge and a selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks arranged in a cabinet.
On the table was a bowl with fruits, you can see it behind the bottle of wine in the left corner of the table. These drinks and fruits were all free of charge for guests at the lodge. At one point I hear someone whistling from the kitchen behind the dining area (separated by a wall). This was not for fun, more so to scare some animals away. Ten seconds later, I see a baboon standing just beside the bar cabinet on the left. It was slowly trying to sneak a hand into the bowl of fruits. Once the manager saw it and yelled at it, the baboon just grabbed what he could and ran off, climbing on top of the roof and off into the trees.
The baboons were a regular sight, and quite a nuisance, particularly for the staff. The safari vehicles are open cars, to allow better views. Unfortunately the guides have lost quite a few things by leaving them parked right in front of the lodge with bags inside. About 15 minutes after they had stolen some fruits, the baboons must have been thirsty. They had snuck back inside the main, common area of the lodge and were now drinking water from the pool.
Once we had managed to chase the baboons away for good, it was time to relax for the siesta. After the afternoon tea, we went on a boat cruise until sunset.
One of the guides, who was indigenous to the Okavango Delta, demonstrated how they traditionally used the long straw of water lilies to drink water from the Delta. It’s natural water and is actually relatively clean, the locals have been drinking it like this for centuries.
That being said, the guide spat out the water afterwards, and I certainly stuck to bottled or purified water myself.
The highlight of the boat cruise didn’t have anything to do with wildlife. Most afternoon activities at safari lodges, be it game drives, boat cruises or whatever, usually involve a “sundown” break. Usually this means stopping at sunset to have a refreshing drink and occasionally some snacks as well.
The American couple that were together with me during activities was celebrating a wedding anniversary. The guide had a genius way to celebrate this. He had included a bottle of champagne in the sundowner drinks without telling us, but that wasn’t all. Our guide had placed the drinks in a small bucket with ice and strapped a life jacket around it. He was standing in the back to drive the boat, and had hid the whole thing somewhere out of view.
At one point, while pointing at some animals straight ahead from the boat, he silently placed the bucket with drinks and the life jacket in the water behind us and sped away. We completed the tour and returned to the spot, closing in on it slowly. The bright orange life jacket was visible from far away, but since Africa is full of colorful animals, you didn’t immediately recognize what it was.
Eventually it became clear what was in there. It was a really neat moment to celebrate the wedding anniversary, along with a beautiful sunset.
As we returned to the camp jetty for dinner, we heard a lot of grunting hippos, but we couldn’t see them in the dark.
Tuesday, June 5th
On my last day at the lodge the activities were a bit more mixed. I had a flight back to Maun around noon. This time it was communicated to me the day before, as per normal protocol. In the morning I went back out onto the waters of the Okavango Delta, going on a mokoro trip for an hour. Mokoro canoes are classic dugout canoes. The locals have relied on mokoros for hundreds, if not thousands of years to get around the Delta. Particularly once the water levels rise and more of it becomes flooded. It was a good opportunity to see many of the water plants up close, but there weren’t many animals.
I did spot one tiny green reed frog, which is about the size of a human nail.
At one point we came through a large cobweb between some reeds. I got a huge spider stuck right in front of my face, hanging from the brim of my baseball cap. I wouldn’t say I panicked, but I certainly didn’t sit still either, trying to get it off. The problem with this is that the mokoro is not easy to balance for the poler. He is standing behind me and pushing us forward with a pole. Sudden movements can easily tip the canoe over. Nothing happened though, I tried as much as possible to keep my torso still.
The poler told me that occasionally some visitors don’t understand the problem with the balance. They will move around, trying to spot animals behind the canoe. The polers are trained and they actually have to pass exams to be licensed to take visitors out on mokoro trips. They know what they are doing. But one unexpected move could suddenly mean you’ll be swimming in the same water as hippos and crocodiles.
After I returned from the mokoro cruise, it was time for the US couple to drive to the airstrip for their own flight. We left early to mix in a short “game drive”. It was not an easy drive, as the waters had constantly been rising. Even over just three days, you could tell a difference. The camp was preparing to conduct transfers to/from the airstrip partially with boats. We drove towards the jetty that would be used to disembark and drive the rest of the way to the lodge, in order to have a break for snacks and tea.
On the way, we came across a massive herd of cape buffalo, with probably over one hundred of them.
We dropped off the couple, and I returned alone with the guide to camp for lunch. We came across the buffaloes once more. They were standing across the road, so we waited for them to eventually give way. You can have a look below, apologies for the wind noise.
After lunch, we drove back to the airstrip for my own flight to Maun. This also meant saying goodbye to the guide, but not before doing a little bit of maintenance at the airstrip.
That’s the uhm…terminal? The sign says “Xarakai Airstrip, Welcome”.
The flight back to Maun provided more views of the Delta from above. When I arrived in Maun, I boarded another charter flight into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, which I will cover in the next blog post.