Northwards To Maun And The Okavango Delta
Francistown, whilst there’s nothing exactly wrong with it, isn’t the world’s most exciting place and we’ve been kicking our heels a bit, spending three and a half days in a town where you can probably see everything worth seeing between breakfast and lunchtime. Maybe though, our three days have seemed lengthened by anticipation, for when we leave here we will be heading for somewhere which was always planned to be one of the highlights of the whole trip.
To herald our last night in Francistown, the very first invasive mosquito of the entire trip makes an appearance and clearly wants to be tonight’s star, whining its way past our ears and around our heads, goading us to respond. The little beast keeps whining in like a bomber plane and then going into hiding, creating an aura in which despite being on full mosquito alert all we can hear is the ceiling fan which makes precisely the te-pokka te-pokka te-pokka sound which would send Walter Mitty into a world of fantasy. It doesn’t do the same for us, it just makes us concentrate even more on listening for the telltale whine of the little shit which wants our blood. We sausage roll ourselves in our sheets and he doesn’t, thankfully, succeed. I hope he died hungry.
Next morning we’re down early to the bus station for one of Africa’s acquired tastes, a 7-hour ride in a rickety minibus rammed with people, luggage and parcels where once you’re in place there’s no opportunity to adjust your position, everything and everyone is just too tightly packed. Legs stuck, feet immobile, spine contorted, body rigid. By the time we’re set free we’re beginning to know what rigor mortis feels like. A red faced Michaela is so overheated that she says it feels like she’s having five menopausal flushes all at once.
To be fair to the bus guys though, they take the time as we approach destination to ask us precisely where we’re staying and then drop us no more than two minutes walk from the door. Plus, we paid about £9 each for this trip of nearly 500 kilometres we really shouldn’t complain. And hey, it’s all part of the Africa experience.
Where we have in fact just arrived is the riverside town of Maun (pronounced Maa-oon), gateway to the famous Okavango Delta, the world’s largest inland delta, and we’re excited about what will now be the last big adventure of this trip. Maun is a stretched out, sprawling town which exists under a covering of sand brought in by the delta waters and blown from the Kalahari, and the baking sun which had briefly disappeared in Francistown. The ever present drought is again very visible; our first lodge is described as “waterside” but is probably 300 yards from the edge of the currently feeble Thamalakane River with the tufted grass of dry riverbed filling the space in between. After two nights/one day in Maun we are soon away from town and off on the adventure.
We may have opted to curtail this trip but we are very much up for what promises to be another great experience, we’re expecting to end on a high. Our first base for exploring Okavango is the Boteti Tented Camp, way off the tarmac roads and several miles into the bush. This is dry land of deep pale sand and skeletal winter trees; it’s winter but boy is it hot, the thermometers are nudging 40 degrees and the occasional breeze feels like someone has opened a very large oven door. Just 500 kilometres and three days on from the big quilted coats of Francistown, everything in the “tent” is hot to the touch, even the toilet seat, as Michaela has just discovered with a yelp.
The wide Boteti River alongside the camp is completely gone, just another stretch of pale sand between the lines of trees which are the only clues as to its existence. We keep hearing that this extreme dry season is having a devastating effect on the animals as it gets harder and harder to find water, no surprise when a river of this size is completely dry.
We look out from the front of our new home at the camp, across land which is virtually devoid of colour, the sand so pale as to be almost the grey of cement powder, everything in sight dusted by its powdery grains and so matching its deadened palour. The barren lifeless trees have no brown to their bark, no green leaves to their branches, some pale tree trunks are stripped bare of bark altogether. Birds in winter plumage sit in camouflage, matching almost perfectly their colourless domain. All is dusted grey. Silence reigns, the relentless sun beats down. Nature is in stasis, waiting patiently for rain.
At our meeting time of 4:45am next day, well before sunrise, the ubiquitous greyness appears white in the gloom which, coupled with the skeletal trees, gives the uncanny appearance of a frosty morning back home, yet another incongruity in the early heat of a new day. There’s excitement in the air as we head out into the darkness in the safari jeep with our companions for the day, a mother and daughter from Sydney, and our driver guide Kay. A big orange ball of sunrise pins the bony trees to the glare in ghostly silhouettes. The temperature rises quickly even at this hour, warm air rushes through the open sides of the jeep as we move from tarmac to dirt roads and on towards the gates of the Moremi Game Reserve within the incredible Okavango Delta.
The day unfolds in style: we will probably never repeat the high drama of the Kenya safaris, but Moremi gives it a pretty good go with giraffes, elephants, warthogs making their appearance, together with one solitary lion, fazed by the hot sun and too whacked to do anything but sleep in a patch of shade. Antelopes of many types run when startled, hurdling shrubs and channels with leaps which combine athleticism, grace and humour, among the sightings our first ever springbok.
Elephants are doing well in Botswana, their population currently numbering 150,000 and growing by some 7.5% per year, an acceptable percentage of whom obligingly make themselves visible to our group today. Moremi is vast and open, and less touristed than the likes of Maasai Mara, making sightings perhaps less regular but certainly no less thrilling. Giant elephants protect their young, giraffes strain for the tastiest leaves, kudu and impala meet our stares with inquisitive eyes and twitching ears. Peering from behind shrubs, two kori bustards, the male of which is believed to be the world’s heaviest creature capable of flight, strut off into the bush with a swagger in keeping with its status as Botswana’s national bird.
Yet all the while alongside these fabulous sights, it’s the very land itself which is capable of capturing the imagination just as much. Here we sit, being driven across these parched, sand covered lands, between these stark winter trees, where everything is arid and crying out for water, knowing that in another season, this entire area is underwater or marshland. Okavango’s annual story, its character, its very existence, is truly remarkable. This place really is one of the world’s greatest natural phenomena.
More on just what makes the Okavango Delta quite so incredible to follow in our next post….
25 Comments
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
I loved, loved my visit to the Okavango. It was completely wonderful; I hope yours was, too.
Phil & Michaela
An amazing and virtually unique place, isn’t it
Travels Through My Lens
Great photos, particularly the lion.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you!
Alison
Looks like an amazing place, something to remember forever. Hope your hip withstood the 7 hour trip!
Phil & Michaela
Well it’s not really sorted but it’s definitely groin rather than hip. Bad days it’s painful just to walk and above all it’s really hacking me off!
wetanddustyroads
Oh my … “five menopausal flushes all at once”? I totally understand Michaela – and I sympathise with you. It’s wonderful to see all the wildlife in your post … we just got back from Mountain Zebra National Park and saw a lot of zebras and springboks. No matter how many times I see it, it remains a great sight every time. I’m glad you guys are enjoying your last couple of days in Botswana.
Phil & Michaela
We are indeed, we’re definitely not finished with Africa, just pressing the pause button….
Miriam
Ahh those bloody mozzies! But that stark landscape and extraordinary wildlife must have been a sight to see. Amazing experience.
Phil & Michaela
It’s a unique place…and seeing winter in 40 degrees feels really weird!
WanderingCanadians
Fabulous captures of the wildlife. The zzzz sounds from the mosquitoes still haunts my dreams sometimes. I hope they died hungry too.
Phil & Michaela
If they choose my blood on the wrong night they probably die of alcohol poisoning 😂😂
Toonsarah
So strange to see the Okavango so dry and dusty when it was so lush and wet on our visit! I love the elephants of course, and the sleeping lion, but I don’t think I could have handled that bus trip – I need to fidget a lot when sitting for long periods!
Phil & Michaela
It’s just incredible to think of the two starkly different characters which make up a year in the delta. More of that in the next post! I don’t think the bus ride would have done your bad back any favours, Sarah…
Heyjude
The bus trip sounds a nightmare, even worse than flying! And Maun is where I treated myself to a flight on Christmas Eve over the Okavango Delta. I was worried I would be sick as it was a tiny 6 seater Cessna, but luckily I wasn’t. It’s worrying to see the place looking so dry and dusty. Hopefully they will soon be getting the summer rainfalls. Love the giraffe photos Michaela.
Phil & Michaela
So hot and dry just now, which just makes it more amazing when you know what it looks like when the waters flow. These really are amazing places. Luckily I don’t suffer from motion sickness, so it was just a matter of steeling yourself against the heat and the feeling of being trapped. Worse things happen…
Parks and Planes
I loved reading this post! The intro bit about the pesky mosquito and the closing line of “I hope he died hungry” had me laughing a good hearty belly laugh. Thanks for that. The tent camp looked like fun and the wildlife downright enchanting. I look forward to the next post on this destination!
Phil & Michaela
Thank you – if we make people smile then we are happy! This is such an intriguing area..
grandmisadventures
It is hard to believe that a river that size could be completely dry like that. You captured some absolutely incredible pictures of the animals. The baby elephant though is my favorite- it just overwhelms with joy.
Phil & Michaela
You gotta love baby elephants! Okavango is a true natural phenomenon.
Lookoom
There’s a fine collection of photos of animals and landscapes. It reminds me of my outings in South Africa, although I preferred my days in the Kruger Park where I could choose my route rather than the outings in the reserves in the drived jeeps.
Phil & Michaela
That’s what we’ll most likely do when we eventually get to Kruger. Okavango is a remarkable place though.
Annie Berger
I’ve long heard of the famous delta but wasn’t aware of the extreme seasonal differences. The 40 degree winter heat would have done me in, Phil, even though you saw a huge variety of wildlife and Michaela’s pictures of them were sublime. I had to smile at poor Michaela’s run in with a scalding toilet seat. That’s new image!
Phil & Michaela
Yes it’s an amazing place, and the difference between day and night temperatures is a real sweep. Hot and cold extremes. Great place to visit nonetheless
Jyothi
Wow….superb captures!!!