Our stomachs were knotting in anticipation of the mokoro trip. We went directly to the Seronga Polers Trust where we could get the trip for significantly cheaper. It was wicked!! Our poler was very professional and we were in good hands. What they however do not tell you, is that the mokoro goes through thick grass, which is higher than your head at times. This is mossie heaven and wasn't the most pleasant experience to be covered with hundreds of the buggers! The trip itself was cool. We bush camped on a little island somewhere in the delta, called Xau. We were just hanging around, settling into our new home for the evening when we heard noises of breaking branches, but ignored it thinking that it was our guide collecting firewood. The sound became louder as it approached our camp and Darren decided to investigate. It was Ellies invading our camp! We quickly scurried up the nearest, biggest tree for protection and waited as they lazily came into our camp. It was a seriuos adrenaline rush. While in the tree we discovered the nest of a rare owl (can't remember its name but the field guide told us that it was something like a "powls owl"), complete with eggs and all. Not long after that our guide decided that it was a good time for a walk around the island. We could still hear the elephant, as they broke branches off trees and did their thing. It was quite frightening!
The evening was quiet, yet it was hard to sleep. The thought of the ellies coming back was quite discomforting, but the moon was gorgeous and the sounds were soothing.
We found out later that a week after we went on our trip, another group's trip was cut short when a hippo came up and bit the mokoro in half injuring the passengers in the process. Apparently the poler dug his pole straight onto the hippos head, who didn't take very kindly to it and decided to exact his revenge by "chomping" the canoe.
We all met up again in Maun and heard Brett's encounters with ellies in Chobe. It was quite fun
Our trip in Botswana took us passed the Makgadigadi pans. We were given a few directions, but these were not quite enough to keep us on track. We managed to get a touch lost and soon had to whip out the GPS. This was cool. Our first cross-country-off-the-beaten-track-4x4-ing. We had to go really slowly as the terrain was bumpy savanna and holes were in abundance. We decided to focus on a black dot in the distance to keep our course. The dot spread its wings and flew away. It turned out to be hectically huge vultures, feeding off a dead... wait for it... cheetah!! How cool is that! We wouldn't have seen this had we stuck to the main road. Not 800m later, we reached the pans. The grass abruptly gave in to the gray deadness of the pan. The pans were incredibly desolate. The only hint of life was the dozen of spoor embedded in what used to be mud, now hard crust. Our hearts felt light... our spirits
free. We could yell as hard as we wanted and no one would here. This is Africa! We bushed camped on the gray salt pans, overlooking its nothingness as we watched the sunset over the horizon.
As the sun rose over the pan, the crows started to gather in anticipation of their breakfast: Brett lying on his stretcher. We giggled as they came closer, but soon he moved and they realized that he wasn't dead afterall! The wind started to pick up and soon we were covered in a thin, fine dust, resembling cement. This was our queue to leave and we packed up as quickly as we could. The drive was awesome and we spent hours admiring the nature in the area.
Seronga S18 06.979 E 21 40.204
Xau S18 52.829 E 22 31.305
Maun S19 57.231 E 23 28.757
Ntetwe Pans S20 28.674 E 25 21.941
Bushcamp S 19 50.444 E 26 09.235
General cost of petrol: R 4.04 per litre
General cost of camping: R50.00ppp