Roger Delta

So after having enjoyed a proper bed and not waking up freezing for a few nights we left Swakupmund and hit the road again

Some of us spent a night outside when we camped further north in Spitzkoppe, a large collection of rock peaks that a great to climb on but are also home to some Bushmen paintings. We slept in an in-dent on top of a small rock, huddled around the campfire, signing to keep warm, well maybe just signing for the hell of it, Fantastic time.

Our next stop was a Cheetah reserve, were they had three tamed cheetahs and about 20 wild ones. The afternoon started with us getting to interact with the tame ones, pet them, have the standard photo ops, then after we loaded up into the back of pickup trucks and headed off to feed the wild ones. We drove into the fenced area and immediately picked up a following until we reached a flat planes area. We watched as huge chunks of Zebra was tossed out to the waiting cats and they jump and tried to catch the meet before wresting it from each other and then retreating to a safe distance to enjoy their dinner. They are beautiful animals, would like to see one properly hunt and see its speed.

The next day brought us to Etosha National Park a large park in the north of the country. We spent two nights camping next to and then in the park and the days driving through. While we saw a good number of animals, large herds of wildebeest and zebra, lots of Springbok and Impala, some elephants, and lots of Giraffes I wasn’t overly impressed, my brief time in Kruger had shown me more, but that is the luck of National Parks isn’t it, sometimes you see tons and others hardly anything. But I did get the chance to finally see lions which was great, some younger males playing very close to the road to, so the view was perfect. And somehow our driver (Christie) still managed to spot a leopard a couple hundred meters away on the tree line. I don’t know how he did, we could barely see it and we knew where to look, but it was there, and I got to see another leopard which is never unwelcome but I’m waiting for my chance to see one closer.

That was almost it for Namibia; we headed up the top near Angola and camped close till the Botswana border in the Caprivi Strip. Then the next day we slipped into Botswana and headed to Maun, a city close to the Okavango delta, here we got our supplies ready for a couple nights in the Delta.

The delta is something I have heard a lot about and has been on my list of places to visit for a while, so I was very excited to be going. The next morning, we jumped into some old trucks and got driven to a sort of launching area for the large canoes that ply the waterways of the delta. At about five meters long they were not small, but only held two people, their gear and the poller who pushed the boat through the reeds. We all loaded up and were off to find an island to camp on.

It was everything I hoped that it would be, you are laying back in the boat as it silently glided through the reeds and they brushed past your head. At some points you could see nothing to either side of the boat for the reeds were too thick and tall, so the boats slide in single file through the narrow canals so calmly and peaceful that I think I fell asleep for a while.

After about an hour we reached out island campsite and set up camp. A few of us got there early and set up a little surprise for Lee (the Israeli) whose birthday it was, so that when her canoe pulled up there were balloons and a banner to welcome her.

The delta at this time of the year was very full as the water from the rains in Angola flooded it creating large sections of water spotted with islands. So, we camped on one of these islands, ours was quite large and stretched for quite awhile.

The time on the delta consisted of resting in the camp, we were told not to go more than 50m from camp due to the fact it was a park and you couldn’t be sure what was out there, so we were a bit limited to what we could do but it was nice to nap in the sun. In the afternoon we broke into small groups and went for walks, it was very quiet, and we didn’t get to see much but the area was beautiful. At the end we did get to catch a glimpse of a hippo in the water.

The next day we had a walk in the morning and again didn’t get to see much wild life, followed up our mid day rest. We got to try polling the boats and we gave it a go and through it took a while to get the hang of it and your balance right, only a few of us fell in.

Two hours before sunset we set out in the boats (not polled by us thankfully) to see what we could see. This time we were treated to a trio of elephants near the water and we watched them for quite a while, even getting out of the boats and watching from the bank for a while. Then we continued to a large pool in search of hippos, but the pond was calm, we were given a spectacular sunset as a consolation prize.

In the evening the pollers and guides sung us local songs and then expected the same from us. We attempted Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and made it a good deal through it before crashing out; our audience didn’t look terribly impressed. We were able to get to Old McDonald had a farm though, which I don’t think made up for our failure but still it was something.

The next day we packed up camp and loaded the boats, got back to the main land and headed back into Maun to rest and shower (something we hadn’t done in a few days now). Some people did a flight over the delta which apparently was great; I had to decline, maybe another time.

So that’s where we are now, just recuperating in Maun after an amazing experience, one that lived up to a lot of my hopes. It does make me want to come back in the dry season so see the difference and be able to see more animals.

There is a United Statian who I have enjoyed hanging out with, guy named Brandyn, similar sense of humour as mine. Coming up with words to use on the phone to help in spelling words besides the normal ones, such as K as in Knight or Pneumonia, these are much funnier when said out loud, go on, give it a try.