Holiday in the Delta

We had a 4 day holiday here in Botswana. The other girl from work and I went up to the Okavango Delta. We were lucky to get a spot to go. I thought they were planning the trip before I arrived but it didn't happen and everything was booked. The planes only go on certain days up to the Delta so they let us take Friday off work which was very nice. We left early on Fri morning and flew to Maun. From Maun we went on a little 4 seat plane to the Delta and our Camp. Camp Kanana has its own airstip(dirt) . It was beautiful flying over the Delta. I didn't see any animals though. We got to the airstrip and were met by the manager of the camp. He drove us to the camp and on the drive I saw my 1st lilac breasted roller which ended up being my favorite bird. I also saw a fish eagle on a termite mound over a water hole. They look like a bald eagle. The birds were spectacular in the Delta. I saw so many. I also saw the rare and hard to find Pel's fishing owl on my 1st mokoro ride. We had a guide named Fly, he seemed so young but said he has been doing the mokoros for 15 years. He was one on my favorite people there. Kerrye and I were paired with a grandmother from Australia and her 2 grandchildren. I hung out with them most of the time. Our 1st activity was a boat cruise. We say 1 hippo in the water, 2 young nile crocs, giraffe and lots of birds. The next morning after we were woken up at 6:30am with a tray of coffee then breakfast at 7:00am we went on a game drive. The Delta isn't known for big game but mostly the birds and mokoros. We say red lechwe, impala, giraffe, tsessebe and lots of birds. There were a lot of leopard tracks but we never saw one. Back to the camp after the drive. On all of the activities you get a snack and drinks. Once your back at the camp you can hang out until lunch at 12pm. After lunch you can have a siesta until the next activity which they have another light snack at 3:30pm. All you do is eat and drink! I never took a nap. One of the little girls and I would go looking for birds ad I would take a shower during the break because there was no hair dryer and it was too cold in the morning or evening to let your hair dry on its own. Cocktails were no charge at this camp. They had a fridge full of different beers, 4 different wines and hard stuff plus lots of fruit juices, bottled water and soft drinks. After you get back from the evening activity you can freshen up and go back to the camp for drinks and sit by the camp fire before dinner. Dinner was great they had really good food and way too much. I did try kudu, springbuck, guineafowl and brim a local fish. They baked fresh bread which was wonderful.

The 2nd evening we went on a walking safari. I had taken a shower before and had lotion on my legs and when I got back the dirt was all stuck to my legs. They were black! Saw more birds, red lechwe, impala and a giraffe. Our guid Wago pointed out the different trees, animal tracks and anything else exciting. The next morning we went on the mokoros. The young girls didnt' want to go because a hippo charged a boat the night before and were scared. It was unfortunate that the people made such a fuss over it because they were scared of all the water activities after that. We didnt' see any hippo's. The mokoro was great, saw a malachite kingfisher! You got really close to the birds because you glide through the reeds in the little canoe. The night activity was another game drive. Saw zebra and a few new birds. The next morning Kerrye wanted to go on the boat dride again. We were doing the mokoro in the evening and I didn't want to do 2 boat activities, plus the boat was pretty boring. I wanted the game drive since there were fresh elephant tracks and I wanted to see an elephant. We went ont he game drive. We were the only people on the game drive that morning. All the other people in camp were doing other activities. The older aussie girl came with us. It was the best game drive of the trip! We saw the elephant, kudu, warthog, banded mongoose, vervet monkeys, baboons, zebra, giraffe, kudu, tsessebe and lots of impala, red lechwe and tons of birds. All the antelopes were on edge. We had a lion go through camp the night before so all of them just stuck in one place and we could get really close and they wouldn't run away. We were on the hunt for the lion. Wago found it! it was a lone male lion! It was thehighlight of the drive. I took so many pics of him. We ended up being the only ones to see him. Everyone went on the game drive in the evening to try and find the lion but they couldn't find him or the elephant. We went ont the moloro and fly tried to find the Pel's fishing owl again because I only brought the small lens onthe mokoro the last time. It is heavy and hard to hold up on the mokoro but I used it the 2nd time. It would move the boat when I panned with it. Didnt' find the owl but I did get 1 pic tfromt the 1st sighting. We saw a hippo on the way to the mokoros and some frogs in the reeds. It was great, I am glad I went. It isn't the place to go if you want to see the big 5 though.

We arrived back to Gabs around 11am and went to lunch with Justin and David then out and about to visit some villages. We went to 2 local pottery places and saw the Livingston cave and the site where his house was. That evening we went out to dinner for Justins b-day and then to the casino. Didn't win but who cares I saw a lion! I will post more pics when I figure out how to do the slide show. Also if you click on the picture it will blow it up. Make sure you use the back arrow out of the picture if you x out of it you x out of the blog. I took over 2000 pics on the trip. I am still going through them. I have identified most of the bird but still need some help from Aunt Susie!