Long: We packed up our backpacks this morning and took a one hour powerboat ride up the waterway to the Mokoro village. When we arrived at the Mokoro village we were assigned a guide from the village, who is responsible for your transportation and well-being while staying in the delta. We also met Steffan, a German also camping, that has decided to join our group for the night. After loading packs, tents, and supplies into three dugout canoes, the guides “poled” us for two hours through narrow waterways to our campsite. As you can see from the pictures, the canoes are very narrow and you have to be very careful not to tip them over. Luckily the guides have grown up poling and they take care of everything, while you just sit in the canoe and enjoy the delta. Upon arrival at the campsite we setup all of the tents. It was at this point that Nikolai informed the group that he had never pitched a tent before, and that his first time camping was when we started the trip. What!!! Once the camp was setup, the guide showed us the bathroom. After a short walked behind a bush, he pointed to a small hole he had dug and gave us a little shovel. As you can see from the picture below, Nikolai was prepared!
We spend the afternoon practicing poling in the canoes. It is extremely difficult to both maintain balance and guide the canoe, but somehow our guides did it with ease. We will try again tomorrow, but until then we met our guide for the afternoon game walk. So far all of our game drives have been in the car, and this one will be walking. It is somewhat distressing because when we were in Etosha all of the signs said, “Do not leave your vehicle,” but now we were walking into the bush with no protection. Not to worry though, our guide gave us a great safety briefly that went something like this…”If a lion attacks us, do not run, instead stare at it and make yourself look large. If a buffalo attacks, quickly find a tree and climb it. Keep in mind that Lions usually attack the first person in the line (the guide), while Cheetahs usually attach the last person in line (me!)”. Great, so with the safety briefing we felt a LOT better. We headed into the bush for our first walking game drive and, in short, we saw ant hills and lots of sign (a.k.a. shit). We did though manage to get some excellent pictures of the sunset.
We arrived back to camp at dusk, ate a light dinner, and then listened to the guide tell stories and jokes around the campfire. We learned a game called, “This is how I bounce my stick,” which Nikolai or I will definitely have to play with others again. The next morning we woke up very early and began another game walk. We spent four hours walking through the bush, and this time managed to see a lot more animals. One hour into the walk we stumbled upon an enormous bull elephant eating in the trees. We were able to walk within 300 feet of him and then decided it was best to leave. Among other things, we also saw a large group of baboons bouncing along the ground to their trees, and the remains of a zebra that apparently had an unfortunate encounter with a lion. We arrived back into camp around noon and both Niki and I slept for an hour. After this we practiced poling a bit more, but it didn’t really help, and then loaded the canoes and headed back to the Mokoro village.
The entire group has been making fun of Nikolai for the amount of water he consumes and consequently, the number of times he has to go to the bathroom. He didn’t let us down this afternoon. After only drinking a little under 2 liters of water of the last day, he immediately headed for the village and found a small general store and drank two sodas. Interestingly, in this village, like in many places in Africa, all kinds of soda are available to purchase, but usually no water. Once on the powerboat he drank two beers and two waters, for a grand total of six drinks in thirty minutes. In the meantime, on the powerboat ride back, we also came across a pickup that didn’t quite ford the river. We all imagined a son from the village was now informing his dad that the family pickup was stuck in the river. It was though, a good demonstration of why our Land Rover is outfitted with a snorkel (Equipment that allows the engine to breath if the exhaust is covered with water). We are told we might have to cross a river or two if we head north, through the parks, to Zambia.
Once back at the lodge we showered and ate. We also talked with Scott, the Botswanan guide, again to get an idea of how to best get to Zambia. We decided to head north through Moremi and Chobe national parks. Many people fly into these parks because the roads are so bad, but we figure this is why we bought the car, so why not give it a shot! We also decided that if they can fit, we are going to take three Germans that are looking for a ride to Zambia with us. We are a little worried about this because it was a tight fit with Damon and Jo; three people might be pushing it. We have tried to set expectations though. We have made sure everyone knows it will not be a pleasant ride in the back. Despite this, they have decided to tag along. Should be interesting!
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