The Delta

I have wanted to see the Okavango Delta for over 20 years.  This wish began the last time I visited Africa, only at that time, I was in Central Africa, where I saw silver back mountain gorillas, which inhabit the mountains of the Congo.  (Think Diane Fossey).  I met some Australians on that trip, who described their experience seeing elephants in the Delta.  It was magical and was literally something that I have dream about. Seeing the Delta has been on my bucket list ever since.  

Adam

The Delta is an amazing place. According to Wikipedia every year, 11 cubic kilometres (11,000,000,000,000 liters!) of water flow into the delta. It's quite difficult to get your head around what that means. It's a heck of a lot of water, and while it does spread over something like a 15,000 square kilometer area, all of that water literally disappears - is used by plants, evaporates, and makes its way into a huge aquifer. It's gone long before the continent reaches the ocean.  This is why we could fly for less than two hours and go from desert to water land.

Beware the monkeys!

After landing on our second remote airstrip (although this was our first that had cattle as a possible navigation aid), we were swept away to the lodge by Adam, who was to be our guide for the next 2 days.  The world lights up when Adam smiles.  He is particularly passionate about birding and never went anywhere without his bird book.  We were bird novices and he was quite patient with us as he showed us the beautiful birds who made the delta their home.

Our home was to be the Nxamaseri Island Lodge.  We practiced for a very long time trying to say Nxamaseri - it is essentially click + "n" + amaseri.  Timing is important in the pronunciation.  I don't think that I ever actually got it right.  

Each cabin had it's own deck, along with a lovely
tree-lined view of the delta.  It was magic.

We didn't know it before we arrived, but we timed our stay perfectly.  The lodge was just about to do some remodeling, so they were not taking any long term visitors, which meant that we were the only ones there.   We each had our own cabin, which had an open half wall facing the delta.  From our beds we would hear the hippos chuffing around as the sun set and the monkeys getting breakfast as the sun rose.  You had to be careful about the monkeys, as they considered the rooms their own.  Anything not tied down or put away was sure to be a target for their (monkey) business.  

After settling in, the proprietor, Tian (another chap from South Africa) suggested that we go on a sundowner cruise.  We took full advantage of that offer and scrambled into the skiff, arms full of gin, and snacks. Catherine was our mixologist.  We treated Adam to olives (beware the pits), peanuts, and dried fruit.  He was quite willing to try all of these new flavors as he educated us on the various birds and plants of the delta.

Papyrus

This wonderful water world supports a broad range of life: fish (sport fishers flock here - we took a pass on that option) reeds, papyrus, hippos, crocodiles and birds.  The water has a high amount of minerals in it, which means that not much in the way of nutrients go to the surrounding land.  That said, Delta water served as our drinking  water  (after filtering and boiling). It was sweet and tasty.  And, those that live in it seem to thrive.

The bird life was beautiful, and with Adam's help we learned to identify many and better appreciate them all.  There were Jakanas, Darters, Bee Eaters, Fish Eagle, Kingfishers, and Egrets.  There is also a very rare species of owl that we didn't see.  Here are a few that I was able to capture:

Bee Eater

Fish Eagle

  

Fish Eagle on the hunt

Egret

Kingfisher

As we meandered through the Delta in the late afternoon light, G&T's in hand, the day came to an end and the light just kept getting better and better, going from this:

to this:

and finally this:

It took our breath away.  As Tian said, you really cannot capture the magic of an African sunset with a picture.  You'll have to take my word for it that it was FAR better than it looks!

And so, that was the end of our 4th full day in Africa.  We had started the day in the middle of the Kalahari desert and ended listening to the hippos wake up for their nightly foraging.  (Go here and listen hippo sound #2 for an example!)

We drifted off to this lovely sound, in this really peaceful place.  The next day we were going inland to see 20,0000 year old Bushman paintings.  And, when we woke up, we knew that the day was going to be great.    I will tell you all about it later, but here is how we started: