Okavango Delta Bush Camp

Progress, 2010 a hole in the ground, 2017 a throne.

Reed buck.

An African Fish Eagle.

Burchell's zebras.

A bull lurking in the woods.

One of dozens of giant termite mounds.

A baobab tree.

One of the three elephants we followed.

Whiling away the afternoon in the swimming hole.

Holee poling.

Me, my hat and a Carling Black Label beer on our sunset cruise.

Tuesday, October 10^th.

We were up really early this morning, before dawn, in order to go for another game walk before the heat of the day and while the animals are out and about. We are camped on an island in the marsh and today we took the macoros to another island for this walk. The weather was cool and breezy and perfect for walking. We hiked for three hours and had a much more successful day. We saw a fish eagle, which looks like a bald eagle) and some unidentified antelope at a distance, and then a large herd of zebra. They were cautious but didn't seem to be bothered by us, just more curious. Shortly after that we came across a bull elephant feeding in the bush. We could see his back end and then he turned and peeked out of the trees to see what we were about. We stood still and kept our distance, because we were told that sudden movement of loud noises might bring a charge. He looked for a bit and then went back into the trees and we left.

We returned to camp for a brunch of bacon and tomato sandwiches, scrambled eggs and macaroni and cheese. Then we had a repeat of yesterday afternoon hiding from the African heat. I was in the swimming hole for a long time as the water was perfect and really clear. There were lots of little fish swimming in it too.

The locals keep a fire burning in the camp all the time, for cooking and boiling water, but also to keep animals away, as they won't come near smoke.

Late in the afternoon we loaded up in the makoros as there was an elephant sighting on the next island. A small group of us arrived just as three elephants ran passed us and into the bush. I got a video of that and then we wandered around the clump of trees and waited. Sure enough one came out and we watched as he went about his business of eating grass and trees. He looked at us but as we were a ways away he didn't seem bothered. When he disappeared back into the trees we went back to camp for our sunset macoro ride.

We all loaded in, brought a couple of beer with us and were poled for about a half hour to another hippo pool (luckily without hippos) and watched as the sun set and the sky looked to catch fire.

Then back to camp for dinner. It was pretty dark by this point and one member of our group put a mouthful of food into her mouth and got bit on the tongue. She immediately spit it out and turned her head torch on and saw a large, long insect swimming through her meal. Needless to say she was freaked out. After it all calmed down her friend said, 'it could only happen to a vegetarian!'

After dinner the local guides, about fifteen men and women entertained us with tribal song and dance for about a half hour. Then the group sang songs back to them. I made for a fun evening.

Technical note: I have broken the bottom right corner of the screen on my computer because of that broken hinge. It is still working at the moment, but if I disappear that will be why. I don't want to have to buy a new one in Africa, so I am trying to nurse it along. We'll see how it goes.