The Okavango Delta, Botswana

Getting ready for the speed boat trip up into the Okavanga Delta.

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As if we haven't seen enough water, one of the highlights of this part of the trip was a visit to the Okavango Delta, one of the wettest parts of Botswana (yup - back there again).

The trip started with a 1.5hr speed boat ride up the delta, followed by a truck ride and a punt ride to what we'd been warned was going to be a bush camp with no facilities.

As it turned out, we arrived at quite a nice site with good covered cooking facilities (these things are important!), a decent bar, a hippo viewing pool, one out of three dogs (the others killed by wild elephant and crocodile) and fixed tented accommodation.

The following morning we did a 1.5hr punt into the depths of the delta followed by a four hour walk to try and see some of the wildlife. We failed miserably in spotting any wildlife but now know more than any of us want to about animal dung.

The crew en-route. From front left - Coleen, Kori, Alison, Rachal, Louise, Paul, Suzanne, Matt, Jodie and Annette

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One of the surprises of the delta is quite how big it is. I reckoned off the map it must be at least 120 miles by 80, it's shaped like a maple leaf hanging down and we were up on the stalk. Most of the water comes down from Angola and 75% to 80% is used by plant life in the area with most of the remaining water evaporating off leaving just 5% to soak into the ground to feed water reserves elsewhere.

One big surprise was that there is a huge wooden posted fence running across the island we did our walk on. Apparantly the EU insisted on it as a condition of keeping wild and farmed beef separate as a way of preventing foot and mouth spreading. That's important to Botswana as it's top three industries are Diamonds, Beef farming and Tourism.

Ok. I know its not exiting - but I could have mentioned the rain!