Okavango Delta – Botswana

Bucket list, YES! … a chance to experience one of the 7 natural wonders of Africa!

What an opportunity to see a pristine, unspoilt piece of Africa and an incredible way to share in an adventure of a lifetime. Off the grid with a group of eight, one guide, five mokoros, three islands.

“And our adventure began, travelling five hours up the main canals and weaving our way through the grassy wetlands to our first island camp.”

The Mokoro’s, a 6 meter dugout boat are an iconic sight of the delta and each Mokoro has it’s own poler. These polers’ are invaluable, born with a genetic GPS of the area. They found their way around ever changing waterways, using the trees and termite mounds as if they were road signs.

The water is a clear burnt orange, strained through the reeds and clean enough to drink. I must say I was a bit nervous drinking my first bottle of water and it did have a sand like flavour.

The Okavango Delta is one of the few inland Delta systems that does not have an outlet to the sea but rather drains its filtered water in to the Kalahari desert. It is a huge natural expanse of waterways, grasslands, ever changing islands with abundant wildlife. We cautiously made our way around bends, vulnerable in the low slung Mokoro’s. It was inevitable that we would cross paths with a pod of hippos where we apprehensively held our breaths and slid silently past.

Where there is beauty there is danger.

The Mokoro’s sit low in the water and with the grass so tall you see nature from a completely different perspective. Small frogs cling to the springing grass as we brush past. Spiders tight rope across the fine lines in the tall grass. And the elephants seem so much larger at water level.

The Okavanga Islands

You could barely see the smaller channels amongst the high grass that led to the islands. There are several islands which are constantly changing size depending on the water levels. These islands are originally formed from the termite mounds and become more permanent once the vegetation takes hold.

We were travelling up stream to find our first island home.

The Delta Grass

This untouched grassland is a feast for the senses. You can hear the grass breathe as the wing blows through. The sun highlights the texture with its yellow warmth. You have that feeling you are the only adventurers to have seen this land.