Botswana: Days 12-17

Cheetahs up close
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Ghanzi

After crossing the border into Botswana, we began to periodically get the secret knock on the window by our guides that meant we were to hide the meat from random check points.  This entailed taking the meat out of the freezer and putting it into someones locker until we were in the clear.  These patrols are due to the scare of foot and mouth disease and so they want to be sure you are not bringing meat into the country from another country.

Game drives, game cruises, game walks....

Tovah on the Deltas
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Anyway, when we arrived at our campsite we were taken on a Bushman walk.  There are not that many Bushman left, but they are a people who live off the land.  It was amazing to follow them and watch how they went about daily tasks without the modern conveniences we have.  For example, to get water for drinking/washing, they dig up the roots of a plant, then scrape it with a rock to get this byproduct that when squeezed produces enough water to drink and wash their faces, etc..

The Irish and Wendy in Chobe
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While Tovah and I enjoyed the walk and felt we learned a lot, we also were troubled  by it.  We feel there is a fine line between experiencing another culture to be able to truly understand it, and exploiting the people.  Some of these feelings come from the idea of the experience being "staged", and others from being uncomfortable with people snapping pictures of these people like they were on display.  I think we will struggle with this throughout our travels when engaging in prearranged experiences.  That is why I much prefer spontaneous interactions/experiences with locals.

Safari truck group
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From here we headed to Maun which would be our jumping off point to the Okavanga Delta.

Maun

One important side note about traveling in East Africa which I learned in Maun, is that master card/maestro are not accepted almost anywhere.  So, for someone like myself whose debit card is a master card, I had to rely on Tovah to take money out for me with her visa.  Therefore, anyone planning to travel here I suggest bringing a visa card.  Or even bringing two debit cards, a visa and mastercard.

Chobe River cruise
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While we spent the afternoon in town, Helen, who was feeling ill, began to get worse.  It got so bad that on the way back to the campsite Dzingi dropped Helen at the hospital and Nel, Lynzi and I stayed with her.  Poor Helen was continuously getting sick, and being poked and prodded by endless needles.  Later that evening Dzingi came back to pick me and Lynzi up, but since Helen was being admitted overnight, Nel stayed with her.  Unfortunately Helen had to miss the Delta trip.  Since the doctors were unable to get to the bottom of her illness, they finally decided to treat her for Malaria!!!

Mokoros
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Okavanga Delta

Aside from Helen and Dzingi, the rest of us got up early to take a very bumpy ride out to the delta.  On the way, there were kids everywhere that would wave to us as we passed and many even chased after the truck waving.  When we arrived we split into pairs and Tovah and I met our guide James who would be transporting us through the delta in a Mokoro (a wooden dug out boat- almost like a canoe).  When we arrived at our campsite in the delta we got accustomed to what would be our first real bush camping experience.  This entailed a dug out hole for a toilet, and no fence to keep out large and possibly dangerous animals.  Truthfully, this was the kind of camping that i assumed the whole trip would be, but had been pleasantly surprised.

5 legged elephant in Chobe
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Since it was so hot out everyone decided to go for a swim.  Tovah and I knew that the delta was full of crocodiles and hippos and so decided against bringing our bathing suits due to limited packing space. We therefore could not partake and instead baked in the sun.  That night we went on a safari/game walk which is a completely different experience than a game drive.  We saw tons of beautiful birds and luckily Nel was with us and had her bird book so we were able to identify them. In addition we saw zebras, antelope, and had a very close encounter with an elephant.  It is strange to be walking around through large animal tracks knowing that a hippo, lion, elephant, etc. had earlier walked where you were now walking.  As we were walking I began to feel a little sick like I was dehydrated.  Luckily we made it back to the campsite moments before I believe I would have passed out.  I laid down in the tent for literally two minutes and let the water I drank sink in and then I was good to go.  That night we had a campfire, roasted marshmallows and watched our Mokoro guides as they sang and danced for us.

Bushman girl with baby
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The next morning we had a 5 am game walk then were taken in the mokoros back to where we were being picked up.  We wanted to be the first group back to the campsite so that we could get our showers in first as we had a very long drive ahead of us.  However, when we got back Pangani (our truck) was not there- Dzingi was picking up Helen.  So, we sat by the pool until they returned and got a later start than intended for Nata where we spent the night in a new campsite called Elephant Sands.  One thing about Elephant Sands is that they had awesome outdoor showers with trees growing out of the ground to hang your towel.  Though they were salt water, they were still one of the nicest showers I have come across at a campsite and had a great outdoor/airy feel.

Kasane

From Nata we drove to Kasane where we arrived early enough to do our laundry in the wash basins.  The rest of the day was spent chilling by the pool and trying to catch up in our journals.  It was still hot out after dinner so Liz, Nel, and I went for a swim.  Liz swam in her already wet clothes due to earlier being frightened by a small dog that tried to bite at her ankles making her jump in the pool fully clothed...it was really funny to witness!  Anyway, Nel, Liz and I decided to stop at the bar after our swim to see if the bartenders would offer free drinks as they did at our last campsite.  Not only did we get many a free drink, but they also asked if we wanted to go to the hot mud/springs.  Giving us a few bottles of wine to take along we set off in the safari truck with the owner and his friend.  Despite the terrible smell of sulfur, we swam around in the hot mud and finished off the wine.  When we got back we went for a swim as well as took showers to try to wash the mud and most importantly the smell off us, but it was no use.  I decided that it would be better for me to sleep in Pangani (our truck) rather than wake Tovah with my sulfur stench.

The next morning was rough as I was feeling the effects of the night before.  As we climbed into our safari truck for our Chobe National Park game drive, I noticed that the front seat of the truck was covered in mud and realized that the mud was from me, Liz, and Nel- it was the same truck we took to the mud baths.  On our game drive we saw lions, as well as hundreds and hundreds of elephants.

Later that evening we met many of the people that were going to be joining the tour from Livingstone to Kenya with me and Tovah on our Chobe River Cruise.  The views from the cruise were beautiful and I tried to take many mental pictures.  Again we saw lots of animals and even saw hippos out of the water.  The people we met that were joining our tour were nice, but we didn't get to spend much time with them as our current group was trying to maximize our last days together.  Besides, every time I spoke to someone from my new group Ros would jokingly give me a sad face and say, "oh, so your hanging out with your new friends now?"  Anyway, we had some drinks on the cruise and thus spurred our national anthem competition on the ride back to our campsite.  Everyone tried to beat out the others in singing their national anthems the loudest.  Nel said that they could hear us 5 minutes before we actually arrived!  When we did arrive we were greeted by nachos that our guides made followed by quality group time at the bar as the following morning we were heading to Livingstone where we would have to say goodbye to many of the close friends we have made.