Monday, August 8, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Let's go to the Delta...TOMORROW!
I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, considering the entire time in Botswana has been about spontaneous decisions involving travel, but I still am pretty amazed that we managed to organize three nights in the Okavango Delta just one day in advance! Rugby Sarah, Athena and I were the only members of the Gabbers Crew left but our ten hour bus ride through Botswana felt like we were coming full circle to our first trip to Kasane with the rest of the group. Driving northwest from Gabs, the landscape just feels dry - scraggly bush and hard, light brown ground with only occasional grass. The transition into the area around Maun is drastic, as all of a sudden it's as if you cross a line between desert and oasis to find yourself surrounded by the greenest trees and swamp water. We stayed at the highly-commended Bridge Backpackers in Maun, a hotspot with a great bar area by the beginnings of the delta's water and a choice of tiny dorm rooms or camping. We'd booked individual dorm rooms but were unpleasantly surprised to find we had mice for company. This turned out to be a good thing on our second night there when Athena assertively asked for alternative accommodation when it was obvious that mice had been actually climbing on my bed and Sarah's nightstand; as a result, Sarah and I got to sleep in one of their luxury tents! There was a very decently sized room in the tent, consisting of two real beds and no mousy guests! Way to go Athena!
In between our two nights at the backpackers', we did an overnight Mokoro (canoe) trip into the real delta itself. The Backpackers organized four mokoro guides for the three of us and one other American, Christian, so that two of them poled the mokoros we rode in and the other two poled the mokoros with all our camping equipment and food. The Backpackers also sent along our very own personal chef, which made us feel like we were camping in real luxury. He cooked three meals for us in total - beef stew for dinner, a full "English breakfast" brunch, and pasta for lunch - and also brought us sandwiches for the first lunch and cereal for FIRST breakfast. It felt almost ridiculous, but it was so so so so tasty! The mokoro rides themselves were actually not the most entertaining activity as we had to just sit in them for almost three hours on the ride out to the campsite, but at least initially the delta itself was quite a sight - I've definitely never been rowed through marshes before! Both from the mokoros and on walks on some of the delta's islands, we saw lots of elephants. They really are incredibly beautiful animals. It's both scary and thrilling when you watch an elephant shake a huge palm tree with its trunk until fruit and leaves fall down. Needless to say, our guide didn't let us get too close! We also found giraffe bones that someone had spread out under a tree in the rough formation of its skeleton. Thanks to this experience, I can now say "I found giraffe bones" in Setswana, perhaps one of the most useful phrases one could hope to learn. Ke bonye marapo a thutlwa!
As a thank you to our guides and cook, and also just to show off, we sang the Botswana national anthem for them before we left the campsite. When we returned to the Bridge Backpackers and told one of the people in charge, he asked us to sing it for him too; when we did, he immediately declared that we would all get free drinks at the bar! Note to self for all future travels - learn the relevant national anthem and perform it as often as possible!
Now that we're back in Gabs, and especially now that Athena and I have just said goodbye to Sarah, it's hitting home that I'm leaving tomorrow. I will really, really miss Maru-a-Pula and all the students - the number of fun times and hilarious jokes we've had here is far too high to even imagine. I definitely want to come back at some point in my life, although who knows what the circumstances of that occasion would be. At the same time, right now I'm getting increasingly excited to see everyone at home again - in that sense, it's been way too long. I have a weirdly good flight schedule - I leave Bots at 5pm tomorrow and arrive in New York by 7 in the morning , including a two-hour stop in Joburg's airport and an even shorter stop-over in Dakar just like last year.
Thanks to everyone for following the blog! Don't think that it means you're going to avoid hearing endless stories from me in person when I get home...
In between our two nights at the backpackers', we did an overnight Mokoro (canoe) trip into the real delta itself. The Backpackers organized four mokoro guides for the three of us and one other American, Christian, so that two of them poled the mokoros we rode in and the other two poled the mokoros with all our camping equipment and food. The Backpackers also sent along our very own personal chef, which made us feel like we were camping in real luxury. He cooked three meals for us in total - beef stew for dinner, a full "English breakfast" brunch, and pasta for lunch - and also brought us sandwiches for the first lunch and cereal for FIRST breakfast. It felt almost ridiculous, but it was so so so so tasty! The mokoro rides themselves were actually not the most entertaining activity as we had to just sit in them for almost three hours on the ride out to the campsite, but at least initially the delta itself was quite a sight - I've definitely never been rowed through marshes before! Both from the mokoros and on walks on some of the delta's islands, we saw lots of elephants. They really are incredibly beautiful animals. It's both scary and thrilling when you watch an elephant shake a huge palm tree with its trunk until fruit and leaves fall down. Needless to say, our guide didn't let us get too close! We also found giraffe bones that someone had spread out under a tree in the rough formation of its skeleton. Thanks to this experience, I can now say "I found giraffe bones" in Setswana, perhaps one of the most useful phrases one could hope to learn. Ke bonye marapo a thutlwa!
As a thank you to our guides and cook, and also just to show off, we sang the Botswana national anthem for them before we left the campsite. When we returned to the Bridge Backpackers and told one of the people in charge, he asked us to sing it for him too; when we did, he immediately declared that we would all get free drinks at the bar! Note to self for all future travels - learn the relevant national anthem and perform it as often as possible!
Now that we're back in Gabs, and especially now that Athena and I have just said goodbye to Sarah, it's hitting home that I'm leaving tomorrow. I will really, really miss Maru-a-Pula and all the students - the number of fun times and hilarious jokes we've had here is far too high to even imagine. I definitely want to come back at some point in my life, although who knows what the circumstances of that occasion would be. At the same time, right now I'm getting increasingly excited to see everyone at home again - in that sense, it's been way too long. I have a weirdly good flight schedule - I leave Bots at 5pm tomorrow and arrive in New York by 7 in the morning , including a two-hour stop in Joburg's airport and an even shorter stop-over in Dakar just like last year.
Thanks to everyone for following the blog! Don't think that it means you're going to avoid hearing endless stories from me in person when I get home...
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