Cruising the Okavango Delta
Leaving Khama Rhino Sanctuary early left us an open day in Maun before four of our party departed for Cape Town and then the USA. I immediately enquired about a possible river cruise when we checked into our hotel.
I was hooked up with Timothy at Temogo Safari and we back-and-forthed about our wishes, cost, meeting place, and so on. Like other parts of our trip so far, there was much more water in Maun in the Thamalakane River so we were excited about the prospect of getting into the Okavango Delta - a place two of our party hadn’t visited and didn’t expect to experience on this trip.
Embarking on our Okavango adventure
We met at their office at 8am the next morning, discussed specifics, then made the short drive to their boat launch. We met our river guide, walked the plywood pallet gangway and crossed two boats to board ours, then got underway. Our path took us from the river into the fingers of the delta and the NG-32 concession, a place we spent time at 2 years ago.
Nile monitor
Being on the water was such a nice change of pace - cool breeze, no bumps, so many birds and other critters. After about an hour we made our way to the community NG-32 concession where we had to stop, pay some entrance fees, and maybe do some shopping.
Shopping at NG-32 gateway
There were beautiful examples of the local woven baskets here and they were purchased.
Elephant enjoying the water weeds
One of our big hopes was to encounter elephants moving through the water, and this happened a few times. Very special to be able to approach relatively closely in a boat and watch an elephant eat, play, and move through the water. We had a similar close-up encounter with a pool of hippos.
Squacco Heron eating frog
Tracked over 30 birds on the trip, none new to me but great to see nonetheless. So many African openbills and white-faced ducks.
White-faced Whistling-Duck and Openbill take flight
They seemed to be lurking together quite a bit on the journey, and I got this photo as a group of them were scattered as our boat approached.
The cruise was great but marked a bittersweet point on the trip: Scott, Jeanne, Tenya, and Julie all boarded a flight from Maun to Cape Town the next afternoon. And then there were three: Ken, Karen and I will roam Zimbabwe and back into Botswana for another week or so before returning to Maun to say goodbye to Karen.
