Tuesday, February 2nd - Maun, Botswana

Our schedule this morning was for breakfast and bags out at 7 and then departure at 8.  That part went well except again we had to go back as father and son had paid same bill and another bill had been missed entirely.  We weren't even out of the driveway. to the resort so it was just a matter of backing up for a while so not as bad as yesterday and nice to know that the resort was being cheated out of the liquor bill for that group because I think they had several bottles of wine with dinner. 

I think everyone was up earlier than required this morning.  It was a beautiful sunny morning with a lovely sunrise.  There were elephants around the watering hole until about 6 and then they all disappeared, which meant we had fewer distractions as we prepared for departure.

We had a quick stop in a little place called Nata, just a break for ice for the cooler and a comfort stop.  However, ice was not to be found anywhere in Botswana so we're drinking our water warm to hot depending on how long the bus has been sitting in the sun.

The landscape was totally flat.  There was dry sandy land sometimes with small shrubs and brown grasses, sometimes with just sand and very little vegetation of any kind, and then sometimes it was green again and had lots of gras,s grubs and small trees.  There were few towns along the way and the homesteads were small with round thatched roof huts - several of them and some outbuildings in one fenced compound.  They were small and rustic looking but very neat and clean.

At 12:30 we stopped in the town of Maun to do banking and get some lunch.  We had almost an hour but it still seemed like a rush.  I had a quick burger at Wimpy's, which was pretty disgusting but did provide some nourishment.  Then we went directly to the airport where some of us had a flight over the Okavango Delta.  The bus and the rest of the folks continued on to the hotel.

We had two planes for the flight: one an eight seawater and one a six seater.  I was in the eight seater with Roland as pilot.  By the time we got our boarding passes, paid our bills and went through security, it was time to board for our 45 minute flight.  I didn't really know what to expect but as a river delta in the rainy season I was expecting lots of water and, being in Africa I was expecting lots of animals.  However, neither of those two things materialized.  The delta is very dry so there were more sandy patches than water.  And aside from a few elephants on land and some hippos in the water, there were no animals to be seen.

The delta itself is interesting to see though.  I expect a delta at the mouth of a river to have lots of water in the form of rivers.  The Chobe River is not normal though.  Sometimes it flows west and sometimes it flows east depending on its water level and that of the Zambezi River.  It is the only west flowing river in Southern Africa to have crocodiles but that's because it is also an east flowing river at times.  I'm not sure why it makes a difference but I guess the crocs started in the east and filled up all the rivers going that way but just never made it across the divide to the west.

Anyway, the Chobe delta is a huge mass of meandering streams and pools.  At the moment it is very green in places with lots of water and in other places it is quite dry and the sand is showing through as seen clearly from the air.  There are small trees or shrubs - hard to tell from the air - but mainly lots of green mossy looking grass.  Even the ponds were covered in green but I couldn't tell if it was algae or grass.  The water in some of the streams looked quite clear but others seemed really brown and muddy.  Depending on how the sun was hitting it, and there was a lot of cloud, the landscape looked either absolutely lush and inviting or dry and barren.

The plane was very hot and the air vent wasn't providing as much air as I like.  As a result I was sweating and wiping my brow a lot and fighting to not be nauseous.  The flight was quite calm though and everyone had a window seat so as long as I kept looking at the ground I was good, and I did make it without incident.  All of us made it just fine even though we each had four air sickness bags, which we thought was pretty funny.  Our pilot did not say anything as we flew.  He said he was too busy watching for birds in the air to help point anything out for us and we decided that we were happy to have him looking for and avoiding birds.  

Once back on ground we went to our hotel.  I did some laundry and tried to repack for our next few days.  We are going on a canoe trip and camping on an island tomorrow so we need to carry just enough clothes and supplies in our backpacks for that journey.  I also charged up everything I could think of as we won't likely have electricity while there.  After I got all that organized I went down to the pool for a quick dip and dried off in the sun and then the shade.  After a shower and change we had dinner and then people started heading off to bed as we have an early start again tomorrow.