Okavango Delta: how to ride a mokoro and hippos at sunset

After our first night at the Okavango Delta, we woke up at 5.30 to leave at 6.30 the camp after breakfast for an early morning tour. That night, I slept better because Sh decided to leave the tent when she woke up again 3h earlier than we had to. And it felt good to feel a bit more rested.

We ate, drank some water, happy to know we could visit the bathroom without having to scan for eyes. And then, we left. Team buffalo, the survivors of the previous day adventure, gathered together and with Momeht, we started our walk to discover, by foot, the Okavango Delta at sunrise.

The morning walk

We started our walk when the sun was starting to rise. And it was supposed to last until approximately 11 am. Aware that it was going to be a long walk, we were advised to bring along plenty of water, a good hat and sunblock. And of course, closed shoes.

Like the previous day, we were told to walk on a single line and, this time, to be quiet. For these four hours, we walked a few miles and encountered more buffalos, a few hippos, many many more antelopes, giraffes, baboons, zebras, gnus… You name it, we saw it. Well, all except for cats, we did not see any in Okavango.

Following up with the dynamics of the previous day, we joked for half a morning about our near-death experience the previous day. And between these jokes, we got to learn a lot about Botswana and its animals. For example, at some point during the morning, we saw a herd of about six adult elephants. And our guides told us that they were all females and that it was a breeding herd. Turns out that female elephants have a flat head while the males’ is rounder. This helps people to see from afar if they are male or female.

A history lesson about about Botswana while walking around the Okavango Delta

Something else that Momeht told us was about their flag. In case you don’t know it, Botswana’s flag is this one.

Even though relatively pretty, there is a meaning to this flag. The blue in the top and in the bottom represent both the skies above Botswana and the life brought by its water. On the other hand, there’s the white and black, symbolizing a zebra. Why a zebra, would you ask. Well, zebras are the national animals of Botswana. It may seem as a weird option having lions, elephants and more impressive options. The reality though, is that it was chosen by its significance.

A small love story

When the flag was designed, the president of Botswana, Seretse Khama at the moment, was married to a white British woman, Lady Khama (or initially known as Ruth Williams). They decided to name the zebra the national animal of Botswana as an example of unity between both white and black people. In case you are wondering, because of the zebra colors. When the flag was designed, they decided to feature this animal on it to show the world that both black and white people are welcomed in their country.

Considering that this happened in the mid-20^th century, when the apartheid in South Africa was at its peak, their marriage was a bold statement. And if you ask me, it was awesome. The whole story of how they met and the repercussions that their union had in Africa is explained in more detail in Wikipedia. In my opinion that highlights enough how extremely important this was. You can read a bit more about it here. And I don’t know if you realized, but Khama was also the name of the first national park we visited during this trip!

Back to “Brunch”

After this small lesson of history, we headed back to camp. We were all more or less dehydrated and hungry. And of course, Ir, was waiting for us with an amazing feast. Even though they decided to call that brunch, we had for lunch a Shepperd’s pie that, as usual, was fantastic. We devoured our food and then realized we had five hours without anything else planned.

In most cases, I would have gone to explore. But it was so hot. They had left unscheduled the warmest part of the day because well… it was too hot. While we were deciding what to do with our afternoon, a surprised giraffe showed up on camp. I am unsure of who was the most surprised one, the animal or us. In any case, it was nice to see one of these from so up-close.

After some thinking, some of us went to the “pool” while the rest of the group decided to stay behind in what it would be later known as “the circle of shade”. This name came from people having to move around every few minutes to stay in the shadow.

A bit of a boring afternoon…

We walked for a bit to make it to the pool under a scorching sun. There’s not a lot of shadow in the Okavango Delta. And then we soaked for an hour. For this trip, (I will make a packing list in the future) I had bought a foldable water bottle of one liter. As you can imagine, it was amazing to save space. But it was definitely not good to keep anything cold. As a result, I ended up drinking very hot water all day long for almost three weeks.

On this day, that water was so hot that it started tasting bitter. I was paranoid on whether it was the plastic melting. My taste buds not working anymore… All I new was that I was very thirsty and the water tasted terribly. And then, I decided to take the bottle of water along to the pool to put it on the water and cool it down. The temperature went down, and the water tasted normally again. And soon many other people in the group were doing the same thing. If you ask me what was the reason behind the bitter taste, I really do not know.

We went back after an hour to the camp, but got so hot, that decided then to go back to the pool a couple of hours later. This second time less people joined and those of us there, decided to go a bit wild.

A mokoro lesson

During the last couple of days, we were told a few times that if we were interested, we could try to drive the mokoro around. The little boat they used to take us to our island. Baleh, the poler who took A and me to the Okavango Delta the previous day was with us. And after asking, he was more than happy to give us some lessons.

I was the first one on the boat. He took us both down the current and then he told me to bring it back. Ha! I had already lots of problems to simply stand on the boat. My legs were shaking insanely. By the time I managed to stand, the current had taken us even more meters back. And then I had to start poling.

There was just no way I managed to do this. My brain head coordination is not very good and my balance is even worse. Even though I did not fall into the water, by the time I managed to get us to the center of the canal, the current would take me back. If I managed to actually move forward, then I would end up crossed in the middle of the river. Then Baleh was telling me that I had to push away to direct the boat. And, to be honest, nothing made sense at all anymore. I ended up giving up (temporarily) and Baleh brought us back.

Most people are better at this than me

After coming back and learning that there were some pics of me terribly failing at this, other people tried. First, it was N’s turn. She was actually very good at it. Like with me, Baleh took her down the current, and in no time, she was back into the pond. Turns out she had previous experience paddle surfing and this was not very different from that. She was so good that she then decided to do it on her own. N dropped Baleh on land and then proceeded to pull herself into the middle of the pond. As she was moving away, she hit a small sand formation and felt on her butt…. Right off the mokoro. We were all more or less laughing but N’s mother, L, was going hard at it. Loved these two, to be honest.

After that, C, a Scottish girl, tried again and she managed to bring both Baleh and herself back to the pond. But, learning from previous experiences, she decided not to attempt taking the mokoro by herself. I guess one butt in the water for an afternoon was enough.

My second attempt and a scare while driving the mokoro in the Okavango Delta

While all the other people were walking back to the campsite, I decided to give it another go. Baleh suggested for me to try to bring it back to our island. He took us halfway there and then we changed, I got up and he sat. To make it there, we had to pass about five meters away from a group of hippos, which made me feel quite anxious about falling and being killed by them. By now you should all now my drama tendencies. And having a poler on land screaming at Baleh that we were too close to the hippos did not help either.

If before I had issues with the current pulling me back, these problems were still there. With the addition of the wind against me. After trying to push us to the island for 15 minutes and not moving forward at all, I gave up, this time for good. It took him three pushes and we were back on land. Amazing what experience can do!

Sunset cruise

After going back to the camp, I changed into dry clothes and we proceeded to go to our sunset cruise. I was paired up again with A, and we went back into the mokoro. During this sunset drive around the Okavango Delta we were taken to see two water buffalos. We sat in front of them for a few minutes, and then we headed for a larger lagoon to see the sunset.

We sat there for about 40 minutes while the sun was going down. While we were there, we saw a hippo leave the water, another water buffalo and some antelopes. And lots and lots of hippos showing their heads now and then. It was a beautiful choreography with the sun setting behind them.

Right before the sun disappeared behind the trees, we were rushed out of the lagoon. Turns out that the hippos become extra mean after dark.

Local dinner

At some point during the many hours that we had to wait during the day, I asked Ir why he always cooked either American or European food. He told me that most people would complain if he cooked local food, but that now and then he would incorporate more food from Southern Africa. And so that night, after arriving from the cruise, we had barbeque lamb with roasted veggies and pap. This pap, is a typical cornmeal type of food that does not punch a lot of flavor and has an interesting elastic texture. I personally did not love it but I was happy to try something more local.

While we were having dinner, I realized that the ground around the bonfire was wet. Curious about it, I asked G what was the reason behind it. And then he told me something curious: the polers had performed a ceremony while we were on the cruise around the Okavango Delta.

Right after dinner, some of us, with a poler, headed out to take some pictures of the stars. After finding the right settings the night before, it was easier. Interestingly, this night we also saw dozens of fireflies dancing around us. It was a beautiful and magical experience.

Back to a ceremony

When we came back into the bonfire, we discovered that all of our polers were on a group next to the fire. They asked us to seat around it facing them and then they started singing. G told us that this “ceremony” is something that typically happens in Botswana in weddings, parties and celebrations of the sort.

They started singing, men moving as if they were animals, women acting as if they were pregnant. They sang many songs, and they laugh a lot. It was a very uncoordinated event, and people were just having fun. Some polers took us out to dance and jump with them around the fire, although for us it was very hard to follow their speed. In general, it was just a nice and fun evening and so unprepared that it felt genuine.

By the end of it, we were asked to form a zebra circle. For this, we needed to alternate a white and a black person. Then, they asked us to join their last song. It was basically a hymn to Botswana, and the elephants, and the river, the Okavango Delta, the sun, the tourists, the hippos… you get the idea. It was a fun way to say goodbye to the Delta.

To finish, they told us that women, to impress men, they yodel. And so they kind of taught us how to do it. With various degrees of achievement, I must add. Then, men were told that they should imitate the sound of lions when they want to get female attention. Obviously, it all looked very ridiculous and we all ended up laughing like crazy.

The end of our last day at the Okavango Delta

We were around the fire for a bit longer chatting with the polers and the rest of the group, but soon, people started to head to bed. It had been a long and hot day and many of us were quite tired. Not much later than 8 pm, a big part of the group was already sleeping.

Thank you for continue reading this diary! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. If you want to read any of the previous entries click here. If you enjoyed this post, spread the love and share it in some social platforms!