Okavango Delta, Botswana

The Okavango delta in Botswana is the world's largest inland river delta. It is a 16,000 sq km expansion and expiration of the Okavango River. It has a unique ecosystem that encompasses both forest and flood plains.

To penetrate the dense vegetation of the delta's waterways one must hire a mikoro (a type of canoe) which is manuevered by a poler. Apparently poling is a lucrative business (for Africa) and marrying a poler would be considered quite a catch.  Poling isn't limited to men.  There are women polers as well.  The reeds are very dense and they continuously smack your face as you fly by. Wearing sunglasses to protect your eyes is a must. Luckily none of the reeds that slashed past my face were sharp.

We made camp on an island in the middle of the delta. It was rustic.

In the evening and early morning we had a guide give us a walking safari around the island.  There were tons of aardvark tracks.  There are lots of ants and termites on the island, a favorite food of aarvarks, and there were many holes in the ground and torn up termite mounds. Unfortunately, we didn't see any aardvarks.

Judge scouting for animals

There were a lot of interesting insects on the island.  The guide, Judge, was very excited to find out that I was an entomologist and asked me to teach him everything I knew. In exchange he taught me how to read animal tracks and identify dung. I thought it a fair trade.  How can you tell the difference between hippo and elephant dung? Elephants are browers, so their dung is full of roots, grass and seeds. Hippos are grazers, so their dung  is only grass.

Later that evening, I took Judge spider hunting in the dark.  There are so many different kinds of spiders in the delta. I swear I didn't see the same one twice. Also, showing him the spiders allowed me to explore the island at night, which would not have been safe otherwise.  There are lions and elephants to worry about.

I was given the opportunity to learn how to pole a mikoro, which is a lot harder than it looks. I wasn't able to make it go straight for more than 5 feet.

It was very hot in the delta, it had to be over 100F. That limited our movements to early dawn and late evening. On the plus side, I was able to see several sunrises and sunsets.

Our last night the polers sang and danced for us, which was hilarious.  Usually you see women dancing, so it was nice to see the men getting into it. My favorite dance involved the men hopping around like frogs and croaking on every third beat. I was pulled into the dancing group and gave my very best frog jump in front of the fire. It was a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving with my African family.