Saturday 20th
July
I was horribly sick in the night, and it
was days before I was really right. A week later, when we were back at the same
lodge, I thought to ask about the ice. It was made from river water, so that’s
probably the explanation. No more ice if I have a G and T, then.
We left the truck in the airport
car-park, feeling nervous about it, as we very rarely leave it out overnight,
unless we are in it. Someone from Mack Air took us from their office over the
road to Maun Airport and told us to go straight through security. All well and
good, except that the security lady informed us that the piece of paper we were
clutching was not actually a ticket. Panic Stations! I watched the bags while
Barney dashed back over the road. I was getting worried by the time he got back,
but it seems our tickets had made it there ahead of us, it’s just that no-one
had bothered to let us know! Anyway, back to security, where we met Louise
(possibly the world’s most friendly and chatty person), and Andy, who was also
lovely. They were going to PomPom as well. The plane was tiny – just room the for
the four of us and the pilot to squeeze in – and apparently made of cardboard.
But it flew, and our flight took about 20 minutes. To start with below we saw
flat, dry countryside dotted with trees; some roads, fields and other man-made
things also visible. Then the water of the delta started to appear in patches –
it’s quite high at the moment. Gradually water took over more and more of what
we could see. We were low enough to make out occasional groups of animals,
including a few elephant. It was wonderful to get this bird’s-eye-view of the
Okavango Delta. Actually I noticed one or two very large birds soaring quite a
long way below us. I think we both would have been happy to stay up there, but
suddenly we were landing, coming to a halt not far from a bleached skull of an
antelope or something. Staff got us and our luggage into an open vehicle and off
to the camp, not far away. We were greeted by staff singing a greeting (dumela),
which was slightly embarrassing, and then by Baloo – honestly! – the manager, a
huge man. He was very efficient in giving us all the info we needed and took us
to our rooms, which were very luxurious tents. Ours had a deck at the front with
table and chairs, where we could look over the swamp; then a large porch with a
desk and two comfy chairs; then the bedroom with lots of windows/flyscreens and
two beautiful washbasins at the back, lots of white fluffy towels and more or
less everything you would expect for the price, plus an en-suite toilet. At the
back was a large decked and screened shower area, open to the sky. All
wonderful. We hurried back to the main lodge for brunch – a meal with an amazing
selection to choose from. Then we had several hours to rest and sort ourselves
out before the evening game-drive. Barney saw an enormous lizard in the water
near our deck, a water-monitor, we think.
Rams and BT were our guides for the
game-drive. We saw marabou stork and wattled cranes, amongst many other bird
species. The stars of the evening were a pair of lion, who were mating. I
remember years ago reading about a group that had been attacked whilst watching
this event, and really, who would blame the lions for this? But we were quite
close to them and they paid us almost no attention at all. Rams told us they
must mate four times every hour for seven days. This is necessary for ovulation
to occur, and ensures that only the fittest adults produce offspring. We saw
them mate three times, sleeping in between. They were beautiful animals, with
the classic sad facial expressions of lion and it felt very special to observe
them at such close range (if possibly a bit foolhardy – but then you just hope
that your guides know what they are doing).
After not sleeping the previous night, a
glass of wine finished me off at dinner, and I had to go to bed part-way through
our evening meal. I was driven by Max, 6’9” tall. We weren’t allowed to walk
around at night in case we bumped into any wild animals.
July
I was horribly sick in the night, and it
was days before I was really right. A week later, when we were back at the same
lodge, I thought to ask about the ice. It was made from river water, so that’s
probably the explanation. No more ice if I have a G and T, then.
We left the truck in the airport
car-park, feeling nervous about it, as we very rarely leave it out overnight,
unless we are in it. Someone from Mack Air took us from their office over the
road to Maun Airport and told us to go straight through security. All well and
good, except that the security lady informed us that the piece of paper we were
clutching was not actually a ticket. Panic Stations! I watched the bags while
Barney dashed back over the road. I was getting worried by the time he got back,
but it seems our tickets had made it there ahead of us, it’s just that no-one
had bothered to let us know! Anyway, back to security, where we met Louise
(possibly the world’s most friendly and chatty person), and Andy, who was also
lovely. They were going to PomPom as well. The plane was tiny – just room the for
the four of us and the pilot to squeeze in – and apparently made of cardboard.
But it flew, and our flight took about 20 minutes. To start with below we saw
flat, dry countryside dotted with trees; some roads, fields and other man-made
things also visible. Then the water of the delta started to appear in patches –
it’s quite high at the moment. Gradually water took over more and more of what
we could see. We were low enough to make out occasional groups of animals,
including a few elephant. It was wonderful to get this bird’s-eye-view of the
Okavango Delta. Actually I noticed one or two very large birds soaring quite a
long way below us. I think we both would have been happy to stay up there, but
suddenly we were landing, coming to a halt not far from a bleached skull of an
antelope or something. Staff got us and our luggage into an open vehicle and off
to the camp, not far away. We were greeted by staff singing a greeting (dumela),
which was slightly embarrassing, and then by Baloo – honestly! – the manager, a
huge man. He was very efficient in giving us all the info we needed and took us
to our rooms, which were very luxurious tents. Ours had a deck at the front with
table and chairs, where we could look over the swamp; then a large porch with a
desk and two comfy chairs; then the bedroom with lots of windows/flyscreens and
two beautiful washbasins at the back, lots of white fluffy towels and more or
less everything you would expect for the price, plus an en-suite toilet. At the
back was a large decked and screened shower area, open to the sky. All
wonderful. We hurried back to the main lodge for brunch – a meal with an amazing
selection to choose from. Then we had several hours to rest and sort ourselves
out before the evening game-drive. Barney saw an enormous lizard in the water
near our deck, a water-monitor, we think.
Rams and BT were our guides for the
game-drive. We saw marabou stork and wattled cranes, amongst many other bird
species. The stars of the evening were a pair of lion, who were mating. I
remember years ago reading about a group that had been attacked whilst watching
this event, and really, who would blame the lions for this? But we were quite
close to them and they paid us almost no attention at all. Rams told us they
must mate four times every hour for seven days. This is necessary for ovulation
to occur, and ensures that only the fittest adults produce offspring. We saw
them mate three times, sleeping in between. They were beautiful animals, with
the classic sad facial expressions of lion and it felt very special to observe
them at such close range (if possibly a bit foolhardy – but then you just hope
that your guides know what they are doing).
After not sleeping the previous night, a
glass of wine finished me off at dinner, and I had to go to bed part-way through
our evening meal. I was driven by Max, 6’9” tall. We weren’t allowed to walk
around at night in case we bumped into any wild animals.