| The Okavango
River empties into the middle of the Kalahari
Desert of northwestern Botswana forming
an inland delta that constitutes the world's largest and
most beautiful oasis. In December 1994,
I took a four-day camping trip in the Okavango
Delta. We left Island Safari Lodge in Maun
and drove to the boat landing where our
equipment and food were transferred to motorboats.
The motorboats took us along the Boro River
to a small village. Here, we transferred
to a mokoro
(plural: mekoro), the traditional dugout
canoe that holds two people and the poler.
Several hours later, we reached our destination,
an island surrounded by crystal clear channels
where we pitched our tents. No luxury lodges
here, no showers or toilets, not even a
pit latrine, and no vehicles. The cool water
can be consumed without filtration or chemical
treatment for the water remains sweet at
all times. As for bathroom facilities, you
took a shovel, TP, and matches and buried
the waste and burned the TP. For bathing
facilities, you swim in the channel. Hippos
and crocodiles are not a problem in this
part of the delta for they live in the northern
part. For the next several days, we took
morning and evening wildlife walks spotting
savannah species (cape buffalo, elephant,
giraffe, impala, kudu, sable, tsessebe,
warthog, wildebeest, zebra), predators (hyena,
lions), and lots of birds. We did not see
any scat or tracks of wild dogs, cheetahs,
or leopards. There was a young bull elephant
near the campsite with fresh elephant dung
in the site. The first evening, we gathered
around the campfire and told elephant jokes.
I described an incident in the Zambezi Valley
a few months earlier where a colleague left
a bag of oranges on the front seat of a
4WD. Elephants will trash vehicles and tents
because of their lust for oranges. The next
morning, there was quite a bit of commotion
for a mature bull elephant tried to break
the vehicle door using its tusks and a tusk
was wedged in the door. Eventually, the
elephant freed its tusk. Back in the Delta,
I had to make use of the bathroom facilities
and went off into the bush. As I carried
out my business, the young bull moved closer
toward me. I was thinking that they would
find me the next morning crushed in my own
excrement. What an ignominious way of going.
Anyway, I was able to finish my business
and went back to my tent. The next morning,
I found a bag of oranges in my tent left
by one of my 'mates'. |
