The national parks of Chobe and Moremi (the Okavango Delta) are joined by a concession region on the Khwai River, making a huge space for free movement of animals.  The delta is a huge expanse of rivers and floodplain.  Our camp on the Mbudi river had some noisy neighbours as many hippo inhabited the shallow waters. The wildlife was clearly abundant, and even though we were around 300metres from the toilet block, we were advised to drive.  The first residents to welcome us were the flies.  

The Okavango river flows into the Kalahari desert and forms an inland wetland with several rivers and channels. The area floods from June to August, dry months in Botswana, attracting vast amounts of wildlife. The traditional mode of transport is the Mokoro, a flat bottomed canoe that sits low amongst the vegetation and is powered by using a pole to push along the shallow waters, usually following channels made by hippo and elephant.  Looking across the water sometimes it looks like solid ground as the rushes blend into the grasses.  Rob and I had an evening Mokoro trip which was an incredibly peaceful way to see the wildlife.  We got close to the hippo, observing them at eye level. 

We spotted a red painted frog, a tiny reptile, however by dusk a chorus of these frogs deafened the whole area.  Our guide made us necklaces from water lilies, apparently a favourite delicacy of the elephant. 

We saw an elephant drinking which was fascinating due to volume of water you could hear it gulping, before the remainder gushed from its mouth. 

African Jacana amused us, their little legs and massive feet giving the appearance of walking on water as they navigate across the lilypads. 

The next day was a mammoth Moremi drive.  Half an hour to the enterance gate where the bridge into the park was a rickety wooden bridge made of beams and rubber matting. There was no one waiting to take park fees so we consulted a safari guide who said come back later. We weaved along the track under wooded canopy. The road occasionally emerged at the waters edge, where Hippos could be seen in the shallow waters.

Moremi is a vast part of the delta, but with main hubs. After exploring North Gate, we had a long traverse through the park to Xakanaxa which sat on a different finger of the delta. Our big aim was wild dog, but unfortunately we weren’t lucky in our pursuit. Our new spots of the day included a new antelope, the Red Lechwe. We also had a great sighting of some African Spoonbill, a bird with tiny eyes and an oversized spoon for a bill! 

Due to the long drive to the other side of the park, we opted for a full day out. The heat of the day is tiring, even with the aircon of the car.  We had some nice picnic stops where we would find an open habitat and get out of the car to make a coffee or a sandwich. As we headed the long traverse back to North Gate, we enjoyed the afternoon as the light softened and the trees gave way to long grasses. Our determination for cheetah and wild dog never waivered and we spent the end of the afternoon enjoying the softer light and playing ‘lion or termite mound’ through the thatching grass.  

At night the wildlife came to us.  After cooking over the fire we retired to the tents for what was to be a noisy night.  An hour in to sleep a hyena took on the bin. It wrestled the bin lid free and then took on the bin bag.  A second hyena turned up to rival the first, leading to a stand off.  Three or hyenas took it in turns to come in to camp, taking interest in the patch of ground where we had poured the washing up water.  They licked the braai pans and they didn’t flinch at Rob hanging out the tent, flailing a torch around and shooing them off.  Under the cover of darkness, every noise felt more tense.  At around 4am, a hyena scared a grazing hippo into the water. The almighty splash woke us up again, and we reevaluaated the alarm to wake us up at sunrise, rather than under the cover of darkness.  At around 5.30, a noise woke Rob.  He could hear something close by to the tent, but see nothing.  We suspect it could have been the illusive Leopard, as Sara and Neil were lucky enough to see one crossing the road as they left camp a few hours later. 

We instead opted for our final morning game drive in Khwai concession.  The soft terrain of rivers and rushes was a beautiful scene to spot hippos and giraffes. I was now traumatised by elephants due to their performance in savuti, and not keen to hang around for a photo.  I did enjoy the vibrant Meyers Parrot though!  

We were all ready for a bit of civilisation after our noisy night.  The road to Maun was a sandy track, rutted in places, slippery in others. Just outside the town it turned to tarmac and we reconvened at the brewery.  Maun is the gateway to the delta, and we headed to the little airport in the centre of town to investigate taking flight over the floodplains.  A little haggling later and we had a private charter 4 person plane piloted by Laurence.  From the sky, the expanse had a different feel.  We flew at 150metres, meaning you could clearly make out the animals. Hordes of elephant, buffalo, giraffe, warthog, zebra, kudu and even a lucky lion could be seen gathering near waterholes.  It made you realise what a privilege it was to spot these creatures on the ground, as there free roam of this gigantic area means they could spread so remotely. The hippos were hilarious from above. From eye level it often seems like they could be floating, but from above it is evident that their large bodies are just standing in the centre of the pool of water, and that they bob up and down at their leisure. I named this blog safari in a teacup, as it felt like the sped up version of our last 30 days. If you spotted something there was no asking for a second look. We flew on by, giving only a sense of scale and majesty of the landscape below.

We stayed the night in Maun lodge, arriving just in time for a quick dip in the pool.  We treated ourselves to the spa, although my facial was met with the advice “you really should wash your face more.” I guess she wasn’t imagining the baby wipe baths that had been happening for the last month!

In the morning we stocked up on souvenirs, enjoying haggling with the stall holders that lined the central strip of the town. The man who owned the tablecloth stand would run down to assist you with the basket stall owned by his wife, and haggle stone creatures on behalf of his neighbour.  We had what we were assured was the best coffee in Africa, then were on our way to Botswana’s sandy centre.