Okavango Delta

Here is an account of the further adventures of Jane's Journeyers who wound up in the middle of the Okavango delta for a further three nights after our tearful parting at Chobe. Thanks to Joe McAllister for the text and to Blanche Tait for the photos (except for the ones of Little Dave and the one with Blanche & Dermott in the mokoro, which came from Jane Deluzio).  The Okavango Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a very large inland delta formed where the Okavango River drains into the sands of the Kalahari basin. 

The Okavango Octet

First rule of Gunn’s Camp: Watch out for Little David, the resident elephant, who, we have been told, has the tendency to run rampant through the camp.

Second rule: Lock your tent when you leave. The baboons are smart enough to unzip the flap to get inside.

We were literally in the middle of nowhere. For all educators, “literally” is correct usage here. From Chobe we took two puddle-jumper planes west-southwest into the very middle of Africa. We needed two planes because each could accommodate no more than five passengers, one of whom had to sit in the co-pilot’s seat.

We passed over miles and miles of scrub brush only rarely intersected by roads. There were scores of animal trails and occasionally watering holes containing elephants or hippos. It was hard to tell from that height what they were.

No mistaking this fellow

Finally we flew over a vast area of green swampland that is the Okavango delta. We came all this way to the other side of the world to see muskeg? As if we didn’t have enough of that at home in Canada.

At one small, dry, island there appeared a dirt airstrip where the pilots set down, stopping just short of running off the end of the runway. We collected our bags and took the short, three-minute walk to Gunn’s Camp where greeting staff sang a welcoming song.

Then came the introduction to the camp and warnings about Little David and the baboons. Our “rooms” were tents, albeit with a self-contained washroom, wood floor, and outdoor shower and tub. The tents were nicely appointed with king-size beds and lovely fresh white linen. There was a porch and reading room for each tent.

Our first excursion, like many to follow, involved taking a slow moving motorboat through the channels of the Okavango. Canadian muskeg this was not, with sightings of many exotic birds and a pool of ten or 12 hippos.

We saw the undertaker stork’s cousin the Saddlebilled stork with plumage like a costume hero and Spotted heron, Fish Eagles, Blacksmith Plovers, African Jacunas (Jesus bird because he looks like he is walking on water) Purple Herons, Woodland Kingfishers, African Darters, various colored Egrets, and Giant Eagle Owls.

“We need to make those birders jealous,” said a wryly vindictive Mary, recording yet another sighting.

There was no phone or wifi, nor clocks in our tents, which are separated from the bar and dining huts by a long wooden walkway to keep visitors above the rainy season flood. We arrived before the true rainy season, so below the walkways is a thatch of grasses, but the walkway did narrow at two points for an “elephant crossing.” A little staff humor no doubt.

Big Dave?

At six a.m. each morning a line of women kitchen staff with trays carried on their head, wove its way over the walkway to the guest tents. At the door to each tent a serving staff quietly called “Knock, Knock” and delivered a tray of hot coffee. A light breakfast at 6:30 and onto the channels by seven.

On two mornings, breakfast was followed by being poled about in a mokoro through some of the smaller channels. Our guides Eustice and Edward avoided pointing out the crocodiles sunning on the sandbars, something they gleefully did when we were safely in a metal-bottomed motorboat.

Third Rule: Don’t trail your hand in the water. There are crocodiles, Curt.

A “mokoro” is a dugout canoe, flat bottomed and powered by a man standing in the rear pushing with a long pole.  a 20 minute poling looking at the flowers and birds through the delta at water level you arrived on a major island in the middle of the delta where we took a four km. walk through the woods. A mixture of giant owls and natural examples of substitutes for Kotex were pointed out to us. (The cotton wool plant, if you must know, a plant with a fluffy, absorbent top like milkweed weed.)

Then there was the fireball lily (first seen at Victoria Falls). The flower is ground up and fed to cows to increase their milk production. The stems are mixed with oil and ash and put in a pinhole incision in a mother's breast to increase her milk supply.

Wild basil is spread over corpses to keep the flies off during the wake after a death, since there is no embalming done.

Animals like lions and trackers rub themselves with wild sage to hide their scent from other animals as they hunt. It also act as an insect repellent.

Eustice and Edward were Bushmen and talked of how they learned about the plants and trees. Edward proudly pulled out his credentials. He was a fully qualified guide after a month’s course, but knew far more than could be learned in one month.

The hippo pool was empty when we arrived at the end of the walk. There were hippos without end on the three motorboat rides we took through the larger canals.

Rule Four: Don’t run over the submerged hippos in your motorboat.

One the first day, most of those with any intelligence went for a long siesta but some found out there was a gift shop at a nearby camp. They went shopping. 

Upon arriving home they were greeted by Little Dave, who is really a large four or five legged elephant. (Figure out the five-legged reference for yourself. Blanche has pictures of course.) Little Dave was blocking the landing spot for the motorboat.

Little Dave stuck around for high tea while the staff cast nervous glances as the hulking animal stood just beside the dining hut with its outdoor grill.

On our last night, responding to our questions about culture and memories of the Boma restaurant, the kitchen staff put on an impromptu song and dance performance before supper. There were no costumes and nothing professional about it; the staff were still dressed in their working clothes, but there were some sweet voices and good footwork.

We worry sometimes about the racial divide and implications that arise from the blacks in each of the countries we visited frequently being in servant positions. We whites, including most of the guides and managers, were usually in superior positions.

But the all-black managers at Gunn’s assured us the staff enjoyed performing. The songs they sang and dances they did were traditional pieces which members of the dominant Tswana tribe might sing at weddings or other cultural events. Wikipedia says Botswana is a relatively free and democratic country with a good standard of living, fourth highest in Africa. “The citizens refer to themselves as Batswana (singular: Motswana).”

Supper was always a faux regal affair. The serving staff, in newly learned English announced the night’s meal to applause and laughs. Brazil always announced the dessert selection as the “Desert selection” in spite of himself. So the service was good if a little homespun as were the food and wines. Suffice to say The Test Kitchen has nothing to worry about.

After dinner and a few drinks at the self-serve bar upstairs, all guests were guided back over the boardwalk for an early night before the next 6 a.m. “Knock, knock” call.