MAUN and the Okavango Delta

Camped by a gorgeous river complete with hippos

 

2-4 JUNE 2011

MAUN: Gateway to the Okavango Delta

Find my way to the mini bus station here in Kasane – 3 blokes already on board and after 20 minutes they leave to try their luck hitch hiking. The driver reassures me to stay on board as we drive back to Kazungula (Botswana border) to look for more passengers. Soon enough a BIG bus appears form over the order and I guess its heading to Gaberone and would get me as fas as Nata, where I could look for more transport west to Maun. I wait patiently and soon enough the driver advises me to “get on that bus” and soon enough I’m on board a bus so new there is still plastic on all the seats! Good company and chats as we zoom along the highway south towards Nata, where I’m reassured I will easily find a lift to Maun.

Well, we're ready

But then near Nata the bus pulls over for a foot and mouth/fruit fly check – and unfortunately someone on the bus is smuggling leaving us halted for the next hour. On and off the bus we passengers wander and rumours abound as to how long we will be here. I watch the passing traffic when a safari truck pulls up with a couple of local passengers and I’m asked where I want to go to – Maun – yes they will give me a lift. WOO HOO. I race on board the bus to gather my gear, reclaim my back pack then hop on board the truck all the way to the outskirts of Maun from where I get a taxi into town, then a local combi out to Matlapaneng to find my way in the dark to the Maun Rest camp, kindly recommended to me by Bill and Jill. I must admit to wondering what the hell I was doing miles out of town, walking in the dark hoping that there would be more than the main road sign to guide me.

We're going that way

Sure enough I get there, check in and ask for a warm campsite cause baby, its cold out here! I wander about to find I am the only person staying here which seems a little perverse having an entire campground to myself. Later that evening when I’m tucked up in my tent, I can hear something/someone wandering close by. Then I hear “Madam, Madam”. I figure someone knows I’m here so I answer only to be reassured by the lovely security guard “that if you hear someone walking around, it will be me all night looking after you.” And reassured I remain during my entire stay there. In the morning the campsite reveals the superb position it has right on the gorgeous Thamalakane River. The sun is shining and all is well in the world as I thaw out and head off to try to find a tour to hook onto to get out to the Okavango Delta as Maun has no shortage of Safari camps and it’s a gateway to the Eastern Delta Region.

BLISS

Not a successful foray but I do meet a Botwanan couple up here for funeral, who were lovely to talk to and discover some of what Botswana is about. They were of the opinion that Botswanans are the laziest of all Africans (however my vote would go to Togo) and they were amazed that I did not employ a maid at home in Australia. They contemplated the rising costs of maids, especially Zimbabweans because life was getting better for them at home and they were not so happy to work for so little now. They also commented on a peculiar African trait of being envious of your friends/neighbours/family. If they get a big car, you want a big car. If they get a new tv, you want a new tv. I have heard of this many times even from expats with local wives who are affected by gossip and envy! Not my cup of tea.

Double BLISS

Back on the trail of a tourist trip into the Delta, I get an quote for a fly in/fly out safari, with everything laid on and I am tempted if I can’t find anything else going. Then I hear of one trip going on Monday, 3 days away. I return to Maun Rest Camp to find Jill and Bill newly arrived and they give me the number of a guide taking them out tomorrow – YAAHHH. I ring Oscar Boleme and all is fine – so tomorrow it’s all aboard the mokoros, a traditional dug out canoes, nowadays manufactured from fibreglass. Jill and Bill make me dinner tonight – a yummy braai (bbq) meal and they also offer to take me to the Crocodile Camp tomorrow morning where our day trip is starting after breakfast with them. I’m now hoping that they might adopt me! Saturday dawns and its gorgeous. There are 7 of us – Jill and Bill, an aussie couple with 2 grown daughters and me giving me my own mokoro   poled diligently all day by a lovely young man whose name escapes me now. But the day trip is fabulous as we glide silently through papyrus (and many spiders’ webs), stopping at islands for short informative walks including trying the local palm wine.

Do I make it look easy or what??

Palm wine in the making

We cannot believe our eyes when we stop again for lunch, beer, red and white wines included in a delicious spread just for us! Fantastic, and we all congratulate Oscar Boleme (Nxume Adventure Safaris) on his organisation of this tour. After lunch the guides amuse themselves by letting us try poling – the aussie girls are pretty good at it, Bill masters it quickly and I am a complete failure with no balance whatsoever. Who knew? Lol The afternoon is spent liding along some more and stopping further upriver “to watch for hippos”. Now I am very doubtful that hippos even turn up here with the amount of water traffic returning home but never the less sitting in the shade sipping the last of the wine in the peaceful environment was pretty charming. Soon enough we are delivered back to Crocodile Camp for our ‘welcome back’ drink. 

Yes, apparently you can pole AND talk on the phone

 

Boy, does Oscar sure knows the way to get rave reviews for his tours – ply em with grog! Lol Great trip and a wonderful opportunity to see just a tiny part of the very famous Okavango Delta. I shout Jill and Bill dinner tonight at the Old Bridge Backpackers, taking then over the Old Bridge which they never knew was there!

Jill rushing forward for more drinks after a long day

They have offered me to join them tomorrow when they visit the Khama Rhino Sanctuary for a couple of nights then they can drop me at Palapya where I should easily find transport onwards to Gaberone and they will head east to Martin’s Drift. I am really touched at their kindness and readily agree. I had planned on travelling via Ghanzi to Gaberone, but to visit Khama is really only easily done by private car so it’s a great opportunity to visit there.

FACT: Okavango Delta is fed by 18.5 billion cubic metres of water from the 1430km Okavngo River that originates in Angola. This water spreads annually across the flat landscape, losing itself in a 16,000 sq km maze of lagoons, channels and islands. Thus the Delta is formed and fed and remains a unique ecosystem.

Bill braai'ing

FACT 2: The plural of mokoro is mekoro