Ike had warned us that he was "stingy" with his time in the morning and that we were to be up breakfasted and ready to safari at 6.30am. Hils and I wait until we hear movement in the camp before stumbling out of our tent in the dark at 5.30am. After a light breakfast of weetbix and coffee we are off on our first Botswana safari.
We drive around for quite a while before spotting our first animal, a tsessebe, the fastest of the antelopes. Later we find two large male lions sleeping in the grass. We get within 2 metres of them but they have full stomachs and are more interested in sleeping than they are in us. Ike tells us that because guns are forbidden in the game reserves the animals have not learned to fear humans. He said, however, that if you get out of the vehicle animals would attack because walking in an upright position is seen as challenging to them.
Further on we see the blue ball monkey, so named for obvious reasons! I ask Ike if they have blue balls because they are cold and he laughs and laughs. Ike has a dazzling smile and an infectious laugh. We take every opportunity to get him laughing just because we enjoy listening to him. We head back to camp with the usual ducking and diving. Because the land rover has open sides, and the park tracks are narrow, trees crash through the sides as we drive along. Many of the trees are acacias with vicious, long thorns, so we have to lean left and right to avoid them. We all take turns at shouting "left" or "right" to warn each other and it is always accompanied by much hilarity.
We arrive back at camp to find Mfana has prepared a delicious lunch of his own fresh baked bread, sausages and a feta and beetroot salad. My team is on kitchen duty so we do the dishes and then relax before setting off for a cruise on the Okavango Delta.
It takes an hour to reach the boat which cruises at a slow relaxing pace through the various narrow fingers of the delta. As we set out we pass luxury lodges lining the river banks and ruefully discuss the fact that they probably have flush toilets and showers. Our guide, Punch, takes us in close to the roosting area of some maribou storks, a hideous bird with a bald neck and a pendulous droopy gizzard, and further along to where the attractive yellow billed stork is nesting. We spot a crocodile right beside the boat but it dives into the water and disappears as we get nearer.
Punch pulls the boat in amongst some reeds where we have afternoon tea while watching an elephant resting under a tree. I travel on the top deck for the journey back and feel relaxed and sleepy as the scenery slips by. Ike safaris us back to camp giving us thrills and spills aplenty. We ford some deep crocodile infested streams and cross the infamous number 3 bridge, which appears to be just piles of sticks balanced on top of each other. It wobbles and shakes and bends alarmingly as we cross.
We come across a family of 20 to 30 monkeys climbing
and dangling from a tree and another tree covered in the gorgeous red carmine bee eater bird, making it look like a decorated Christmas tree. We stop to watch a pride of 6 lions. Ike knows this pride and says there are usually 12 in the group. They are about 30 metres away and we have seen many much closer so I entertain myself by watching the other safari vehicles watching the lions. One couple, the woman in white slacks and dangling gold earrings, with only their guide for company, sit elegantly sipping wine, as they watch the lions. White slacks, for goodness sake!!!....It is clear they are not camping!
Ike stops further on and picks up some elephant dung to hand around the truck. He tells us to sniff it. I am reluctant, at first, but when I do I find it is sweet smelling, like fresh grass. Ike explains that elephants have a very poor digestive system and that their food passes straight through them therefore they must eat for 18 hours a day to gain adequate sustenance. We make a stop at a water hole glowing pinkly in the sunset and watch hippos bobbing up and down and yawning.
A glass of wine and a meal of beef stew, couscous and broccoli followed by bananas baked with chocolate is most welcome. Lanterns glow softly around the campsite as Ike tells us more stories from the jungle. I am enchanted and cannot quite believe I am sitting here in Botswana in the wilderness. We go to sleep to the soothing sounds of a thousand frogs.
Photos: (1) Ike at the wheel of the Land Rover, (2) The startling blue testicles of the "blue balls" monkey,
(3) Mfana slices his fresh bread baked in the camp fire, (4) Our boat for the cruise on the Okavango Delta,
(5) The Maribou Stork, one of the "Ugly 5" of Africa, (6) Yellow Billed Stork, (7) Luxury lodge on the Okavango Delta, (8) We crossed this precarious bridge made of sticks, (9) I watch the watchers on safari, (10) Ike keeps us enthralled with his tales of the African bush. Who knows what is lurking over his shoulder!!?
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