The Fifth Day of the BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE

It was another early start on our second morning in the Delta.  Today was the day we had to ride the mokoros back to main land.  Once again, Trevor yelled to us to wake up and one of the locals beat some sort of drum.  

(Tentmates: me, Ketil, SarahCatherine)

We ate our breakfasts, the usual and some homemade biscuits Elroy made over the campfire, then pitched our tents and packed up our bags. 

(Homemade bread for breakfast)

As we all packed up the utensils and food from breakfast, filling up the mokoros with all our crates and bags, someone spotted two elephants across the way.  I ran to the shore of our campsite for a look.  Sure enough, not too far from us, two male elephants were walking through the reeds, the morning sun hitting their backs and forming a glow above the water.  This actually felt real.  Yesterday we had gone out to find the animals in their natural habitats, but this time they had just walked right into our campsite. 

(Elephants at 7am)

There I was, just finishing up breakfast and two elephants practically walked through the campsite!

We finished packing up the mokoros and then each pair rode with their previous polar again.  SarahCatherine and I jumped into Peter’s mokoro, me in the back this time and her sitting up front, and enjoyed the early Botswanan sun. 

(African Lily in the Okavango Delta.  My new favorite scent.)

Heading down stream back to land, the ride was much faster and just as I settled in to take a nap, we were already back to land.  SarahCatherine and I tipped Peter with some Pula, and the group took pictures with their polars and then together. 

(Peter and I)

(Team Elephant and our polars)

Everyone helped pack up our safari truck and then hopped in once more.  Trevor passed around Sprite and St. Louis (a locally brewed Botswanan beer) and we all sat back and relaxed for the hour ride from the Okavango Delta back to down town Maun.

In Maun we met up with Paul and our faithful truck, Shashe.  The group unpacked the safari truck one last time and then loaded everything back into Shashe.  We stretched our legs and made a run to the bottle store (liquor store), for the first time on the trip.  Back on the bus we were joined by another guy, Jeff.  Jeff had been on the Friday 2waytravel trip but got sick in the Delta and spent a night at the local hospital.  On the bus, SarahCatherine, Colleen, and I found the cake we had bought on the first day of the trip.  It wasn’t too dried out yet and there was still about half of it, so we ate the rest of the cake in one minute.  For the short drive to our next camp we all played ‘Asshole’ of course, and this time Jeff joined in.

            By mid afternoon, after driving through a particularly barren desert area and seeing a few bushfires, we arrived at Planet Baobab. 

(Bush fire on the drive)

All around the campsite there were huge Baobab trees.  They have the thickest trunks that go up so high before large branches come out of them, light brown and gray with no leaves. 

(Baobab tree)

SarahCatherine and I snagged the best tent spot again, in the shade and right by the site’s sort of cabana where we all charged our cameras.  After everyone set up their tents we headed over to the pool with our two coolers full of drinks.  The pool area made me feel like I was really on a tropical vacation.  There were comfortable beds along the sides, cabanas with roofs made of sticks, and a fountain in the water. 

(Pool area)

(Fountain)

We all played around in the pool for a while, but it was quite cold, so we mostly lay by the edge in the sun.  A little before dinner I took a shower.  My first shower since the Delta, second on the entire trip.  I put on fresh clothes and it felt so good to be clean.  A few of us took a walk around the camp before it became dark.  We saw Baobab huts where people could stay, and toured around the camp restaurant and bar.  Right outside of the restaurant there were couches made out of cement but painted to look real, and inside the restaurant and bar the lights in the ceiling were decorated with empty beer bottles. 

(Cement couches)

(Black Label light)

We made our way back to camp just as it got really dark, and helped ourselves to a dinner of beef stew and rice. 

After dinner Paul and Trevor collected wood and we made a fire.  Everyone sat around the fire and we played a game.  Everyone had to write down two questions and put them in a hat.  Then we passed the hat around the circle twice, each person picking up a question and then answering it.  We made a rule that you could pass on a question once, choosing a different one.  And so started the circle of trust, and later the truck of trust. 

(campfire)

Then we played ten fingers, and SarahCatherine and I won…  People started heading to bed around 10 pm.  However, Ketil, Mike, Evan, Elroy, SarahCatherine, Colleen, Kylee, and I stayed up to play more games.  First we went to the bar.  They had a challenge that if you could climb up one of the poles in the bar, while carrying a beer, you could get the beer for free.  The challenge ended at 10 pm, but Ketil tried it anyway, and succeeded. 

(Ketil climbing the pole in the bar)

We played a round of ‘Asshole’ in the bar and then headed back to the cabana in the campsite.  And so began the most interesting night of the entire trip, which ended at around 1:30 pm. 

(Funniest night of the trip)

Enough said.

The Fourth Day of the BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE

This morning was once again an early start.  However, since we were staying in the Delta another night we didn’t have to take down our tents!  It was cold so I put on black pants and a gray long-sleeved shirt.  We again had to wear toned down colors and blacks and browns so as not to scare the animals.  It was early and not quite time for breakfast, so Elroy just put out tea, coffee, and rusks.  It was everyone’s first introduction to rusks.  They are a mix between biscotti and dried up bread.  Officially called ‘buttermilk biscuits’, they are delicious in coffee.  I helped myself to two and became full.

(Rusk and coffee)

After applying bug spray and sunscreen, though it was only 7 am, Team Elephant set out on our early morning game walk in the Delta.  Again we split up into groups, this time even smaller, and were assigned two guides.  My group consisted of Vanessa, Colleen, Franzie, SarahCatherine, Allie D, Mike, and myself, along with our two guides Kaizer and Cisco.  Kaizer was our main leader, leading us along through the bush, while Cisco, a much older man, tagged along at the end, really only talking in Setswana to Kaizer, most likely giving advice and such, as Kaizer was fairly new.  On our walk, which lasted over three hours, we encountered many animals: buffalo, two elephants, baboons, a pack of impala, a wildebeest, and three zebras.  The buffalo we saw were far away from us, running back into the woods, as we got nearer.  The first elephant we saw, we barley glimpsed.  It was hidden between palm leaves, and was a younger elephant so it wasn’t big enough to be seen above the leaves.  The second elephant, however, was about 25 years old.  Kaizer brought us closer to it, drinking water from a pond, slowly and quietly. 

(Elephant #2)

We all stared in wonder, snapping pictures, as it drank.  Then it stopped drinking water and walked a bit towards us, causing Kaizer and Cisco to signal for us to retreat.  But again, we were able to stand just a bit farther back and watch the male.  As it got even closer to us, Kaizer and Cisco whirled around, pushing us away from the elephant, forcing us to run out of the trees and into the fields.  Wild elephants are obviously extremely dangerous, but at the time it was hard to realize that the elephant could easily have killed us.  I was still in the mindset that I was somehow protected by a bar or fence.  We saw the baboons while we were in the midst of Lalapalm trees, sitting on the termite hills and running past us.  We saw the pack of impalas in the plains of the bush, one male amidst a pack of females, all staring at us. 

(Impalas)

And lastly, and most exciting for me, we saw the wildebeest and three zebras across the plains. 

(Wildebeest and Zebras)

They never got scared of us as we got closer, not that we really got that close, and they never moved away.  Even from afar, the zebras were the most beautiful animals I have seen.  Also on our walk, Kaizer pointed out an Amarillo tree and its nuts, Lalapalm nuts, which Cisco helped us crack open, and a great big Baobab tree. 

(Lalapalm tree and nuts)

(Inside of a Lalapalm nut)

(Baobab tree-note the loss of bark on the lower part of the trunk)

The tree bark was torn away in spots where elephants had used their tusks to scrap the bark off in order to get to the softer wood on the inside.  (Fun Fact: a Baobab tree is the kind of tree Rafiki lives in in The Lion King)

The sun was just getting hot as we rode in the mokoros back to camp.  Elroy had prepared us a proper breakfast while we were out of beans, ham, corn bread, and tomatoes.  We lounged around camp for a while and talked.  The women had made baskets, bowls, and bracelets out of reeds while we were at the camp and sold them to us for Pula, the currency in Botswana.  A little after noon a small group of us headed back to the ‘swimming pool’ and beach.  I brought my journal along, and others brought books or nothing and we all lay out.  When I got hot, I jumped in the water.  Peter, my polar, showed us reeds in the water that we could pull up and eat the ends of.  He and a few of the others also brought some Lalapalm nuts to the beach and let me try one. 

(one of the locals and a mokoro full of Lalapalm nuts)

The outside was a red shell, and on the inside was a mealy sort of dried out fruit.  Again we gave ourselves a mud bath, this time covering our faces, and rode around in the mokoros. 

(Team Elephant takes a mud bath)

By 4 pm we were all back at camp and eating lunch.  I was exhausted from being in the sun all day, and gladly accepted the sunset mokoro ride.  Everyone packed into the mokoros and we rode out to an open water area to watch the sun set.  On our way we got extremely close to an elephant, around 25 years old, and watched him eat and shake a Lalapalm tree.  

(Elephant #3)

Behind him was another elephant; this male was 45 years old.  When the elephants walked away we continued our ride to the open water.  There we sat, mostly in silence, to watch the sun.  It was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. 

(Pictures of the sunset over the Delta)

No words or pictures can do the great orange ball of flame justice as it slowly descended beneath the water we sat in.  The sunset took only 11 minutes, from 6:05-6:16 pm.  By the time we reached camp once more, we had lost almost all natural light and were forced to light candles around the site.

The fire had been built up while we were gone, and dinner was cooking.  Everyone gathered around the fire and talked.  Team Elephant sat on one side of the fire and the locals sat on the other.  Once we had finished eating our dinner, Elroy gave the locals the rest of our food.  They had their own food as well, this sort of oatmeal dish called ‘mealie meal’, but I was glad to see they got some nutritious food also.  Around now Trevor told us we had to prepare a singing and dancing routine to perform for the locals.  Apparently, they were going to be singing and dancing for us, and we were to return the favor.  Elory made us all popcorn on the fire while we sat around and planned what we were going to do. 

After the locals had finished eating, they got up and sang and danced and performed for us.  I videoed as much of the show as I could, but again, it just doesn’t do the performance justice (Once I’m home you can request to see the video from me). 

(The locals singing and dancing)

First they just sang in Setswana, swaying back and forth and clapping their hands.  This was for the first few songs.  Then they began to dance around the fire while singing, taking up a few of us and swinging us around.  At the end of one of the dances we were all pulled up and danced around the fire.  Then the songs became more animated and they began to act out what they were singing.  My polar, Peter, was some kind of old man with a cane and potbelly in the play; he was usually so quiet, so it was exciting to see him participating. 

(Peter dancing)

The show lasted for the better half of thirty minutes, all in Setswana.  Their last song, however, was a listen and repeat song, in English, and we were all able to join in.  Then it was our turn.  We had all decided on ‘Lean on Me’ and ‘In the Jungle’.  Being as clever as we could be, we changed the ‘Jungle’ to ‘In the Delta’.  As we sang both songs, the locals interspersed themselves with us, standing around the fire, and dancing to the songs.  Team Elephant continued to sing the better verses of American songs we could remember until the group grew tired, and we sat down.  Some of the locals showed us some mind games in the sand and we all gathered to solve them.  Let’s see how you all do…

1.     10 10 10    Make the top and bottom the same with one straight line.

9   5    0

            2.    X 8 I X 8            Make a car with one straight line.

            3.    IIIIIIIII       There are nine lines.  Make ten with the lines.

You all can email me if you want to know the answers.

After the puzzlers, we played a few more games and then headed off to bed.  This time the tent mates and I were much too exhausted from the day to even think about talking into the night.

The Third Day of the BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE

            Extra sleep!  Today I got to sleep until 5:45 am!  Trevor woke everyone up, and this morning we really had to move quickly.  Today we were driving to the Delta to stay for two nights, and we wouldn’t have the truck with us.  We each had to pack one bag with clothes and all the necessities we would need for the two nights.  I packed my backpack with extra underwear, pants, a long sleeved shirt, my swimsuit, towel, extra memory card, extra camera battery, sunscreen, bug spray, toothbrush, and malaria medicine.  I figured I wouldn’t need much more than the clothes on my back and warmer clothes for the nights.  As we all ate the usual breakfast and took down our tents, the truck to drive us to the Delta arrived.  It was a typical safari truck.  No sides really, no windows, and huge tires.  It was basically a wide-open space.  Down the middle of the bed were two rows of seats with their backs facing each other, so that people could look out of both sides.  On the floor, there were sides that latched up only to ensure nothing on the floor of the truck would fall out.  Thus, we would have to hold on for dear life when riding to the Delta.

(Safari truck)

            We loaded the truck with everyone’s bags and sleeping bags, enough sleeping pads, enough tents for three people to a tent, a 5 L jug of water for each person, and two coolers and crates with enough food to last the group two lunches, two breakfasts, and two dinners.  Then we all climbed aboard, hanging onto the posts on the truck, and drove an hour to the edge of the Okavango Delta. 

(Beginning of the drive)

We passed through the lager city of Maun, and then continued on through its many villages, eventually driving on sand roads through forests of small twiggy trees covered in orange leaves.  We saw the occasional mud hut and enjoyed the show of being mooned by two little boys. 

(Mud huts)

A cart pulled by donkeys passed, and by a little past 8 am we had reached the shore of the Okavango Delta.

            There at the edge of the water were canoes and people, waiting for us.  We unloaded all of our belongings from the truck, and waited on the sand, while the men and women at the shore loaded our tents and food into the boats. 

(The mokoros waiting for us)

A man came up to SarahCatherine and I, introduced himself as Peter, and offered to take us in his canoe to the island.  We agreed and he loaded our bags and water into his canoe, unfolding our sleeping pads and making them into chairs for us to sit in.  These canoes, I learned, are called ‘mokoros’. 

(Peter, SarahCatherine, and I)

The mokoro we rode in through the Okavango Delta was made of wood, while others were made of fiberglass, and was 12 years old.  The ride from the shore to the island we were to stay on took about three hours.  Peter stood at the back of the boat and used a long wooden stick to push against the bottom of the waters and propel us forward. 

(mokoro)

We lay back in the hot Botswanan sun and relaxed.  All of the mokoros were a good distance from each other, so we could all enjoy the Delta in peace.  It was almost too sacred to talk loudly, and SarahCatherine and I found ourselves speaking in low whispers to each other, too afraid to break the peace.  Peter talked to us about himself and his daughter, pointed out trees and insects, and taught us some words in Setswana, his native language.

            Halfway to the island all the mokoros took a break on a random island so everyone could get out, stretch their legs, and pee.  The sun was high in the sky by now.  Most of the guys had taken their shirts off, and us girls were down to our bras and shorts.  Upon getting back in the mokoro, Peter washed our feet of the mud we had stepped in, and then gently placed our feet into the mokoro. 

(mokoros at the rest stop)

The rest of the ride he continued to teach us, pointing out a Sycamore tree, reed frogs, African Lilies, and a sausage tree.  Riding in a mokoro in the Okavango Delta is by far the most peaceful thing I have ever experienced (I will post a video I took of it on facebook).

(standard view for the mokoro ride)

            By noon we reached the island we would be staying at for the next two nights.  Our mokoro was the last one to reach land, and fortunately people had already set up our tent.  It was extremely hot out, and everyone sat on the camping chairs, drenched in sweat, too hot to do anything but sit and guzzle water.  I was fried.  It hadn’t occurred to me until about an hour into the mokoro ride that I should put on sunscreen, not only because the malaria pills I take make my skin more prone to burn, but also because TIA (this is Africa) and the sun is much stronger.  I liberally applied more sunscreen, too late to not get burned, but I hoped it would help a bit.  I wasn’t the only one who was burned, though.  As we ate lunch the color on everyone’s skin grew redder.  The lead guide of the group of locals, Matanta, gave us an introduction.  He explained what to do if we saw wild animals, not to go out walking alone far from camp, and that after you were done going to the bathroom in the hole they had dug in the ground, to put some dirt on your waste to be courteous to the next person to use it.

            After lunch we changed into our suits and took the mokoros to a beach near the island that was perfect for swimming.  We walked a little past the beach to a deeper area of water with very little reeds.  We played volleyball, swam, and the locals let us paddle the mokoros.  It was extremely hard; you have to balance standing up, hold the heavy paddle, push the super heavy boat with the paddle, and somehow steer, all at the same time.  After a while the rest of the group headed back to camp to rest before our walk, but a few of us stayed and gave ourselves a mud bath.  The mud smelled like poop, but we sucked it up and rubbed the mud all over our bodies, minus the face.  Then we stood and let ourselves dry.  The mud cracked and turned a light gray, and it was hard to move.  We washed ourselves off in the water, although the mud never really came off my skin, and then headed back to camp in the mokoros.

            A bit of hanging out at the camp, and obviously some card games later, we headed out for an informative walk, around 5 pm.  Everyone dressed in greens, browns, blacks, and muted colors, I had to borrow a black shirt from one of the girls, and pants.  We rode in mokoros to the land we would tour, and then split up into groups.  Our leader showed us the poop of different animals, along with tracks, and told stories. 

(Our guide showing us poop)

He explained how the palm-like trees are called Lalapalm trees, because ‘lala’ in Setswana means sleepy, and two or three glasses of the Lalapalm wine will make a person drunk and sleepy.  He also explained that the white kind of salt on the ground came from the water that once occupied the area we were walking on.  Now, the locals use the white salty stuff to wash their dishes.  We continued to walk for an hour and a half.  Our guide showed us a pack of antelope across some water, and we came across an antelope bone.  At a little past 6 pm the sun began to set.  The sky was full of beautiful pinks, yellows, and oranges. The trees became black against the sun, and it was what I thought was the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen.

(sunset)

(Sunset over the water)

            Back at camp we had our first dinner cooked by Elroy, and it was delicious.  After a whole day in the hot Botswana sun, I was tired, and hungry.  We had sausages, chicken, potatoes, and squash. 

(Dinner)

The meal completely filled me up and was worth the long wait around the campfire.  After dinner we stargazed for a bit, but the ground was wet so I headed back to the fire.  We all sat and talked around the fire, and the tent mates and I retired to our tent at around 10 pm.  It had been a long day and the three of us, SarahCatherine, Ketil, and I, were tired.  The tent was hot with the three of us, and we couldn’t sleep.  We stayed up talking, laughing, and sharing stories.  It wasn’t until almost midnight again when we finally got sick of talking.

The Second Day of the BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE (My Birthday)

             “Hey guys, time to get up,” Trevor said sleepily, walking around the tents.  I would learn to get quite used to this voice in the mornings, and usually popped right up out of bed.  On this first morning however, after having gotten up at 4:15am the morning before and having gone to bed at midnight, I struggled to get myself up at this ungodly hour.  It was 5 am, the sun hadn’t risen, and there was a chill in the air.

            But of course, as I really need very little sleep to function, I was up and quickly getting dressed and packing my things, once my eyes had fully focused to the dark.  SarahCatherine and I were the first ones to completely pack up our tent, tent poles, and sleeping pads.  As this was the first morning of any of us ever having to take down our tents, though, it took others a while.  This system would soon become a lot quicker, as our ten-day camping excursion progressed. 

(Early morning breakfast) 

Breakfast was coffee, tea, toast, and various cereals.  The group yawned and ate in silence, still surrounded by the early Botswanan morning.  The group mumbled “Happy Birthday” to me as they slowly ate their breakfast.  I was long awake, and drank my coffee quickly.  Trevor had told us we had a long drive today and the sooner we left Camp Itumela, the sooner we would arrive out our next camp.

(Downtown Maun, Botswana)

            By 6:30 am the truck was packed, the group was fed, and everyone had gone to the bathroom.  Thus began our 7-hour drive.  The first three hours were extremely boring for me.  Everyone slept, even those people who had gone to bed early the night before.  I read a magazine, took a little nap, and finally occupied myself by staring out the window.  The scenery was still barren, red dirt and leafless mini trees, but animals had been added to this drive.  Along the sides of the road we continued to see herds of donkeys, horses, and cattle grazing.  They were all very malnourished, their skin sagging off their bodies while their ribs and spine protruded from their backs. 

(Cattle on the side of the road)

Also popular on the drive was mud huts, springing up randomly on the side of the road.  I was enthralled with this old age type of living, and we started a game on the bus of trying to find huts, so we could capture them in pictures. 

(Thatch huts)

(Mud huts)

The game hardly worked.  But for those of us who saw them, they continued to be a mystery for us.  With the mud and thatched huts came fences.  Not just everyday fences with two vertical logs connected by two horizontal logs, but vertical logs stuck into the ground closely next to each other. 

(Fences)

As the day continued and the sun rose higher into the sky, the animals became more hidden as they laid under the shade of the large leafed trees that scattered the sides of the road.

            As the long ass drive continued, and we neared towards 11 am, we finally turned our ipod back on, and started up the card game that would without a doubt make up some of the most defining moments of our trip.  Asshole.  Universally known, a game understood by the Americans, Norwegians, German, and Canadian.  And so the game brought us through the rest of the truck ride, landing us at Camp Sitatunga in Maun, Botswana right around lunchtime.

            Roasting hot already, we unloaded Shashe and once again set up our tents, sleeping mats, and bags.  SarahCatherine and I jumped from the truck to get the best spot, and ended up with tents crowding us all around.  Lunch was sandwiches and fruit, and then we had the rest of the day to play.  Everyone made their way to the pool, bar, and volleyball area of the camp.  SarahCatherine bought me a birthday Smirnoff Storm, and we soaked up the sun by the pool.  This was by far the hottest birthday I have ever had.  Most of the group attempted to play a game of cricket, stopping part way through so as not to scare a large cow that walked in from the forest. 

(Cricket)

Then we laid around by the pool some more until again we attempted to play a game, this time volleyball.  My team won, of course, and we all jumped in the pool. 

(Volleyball teams and referee)

The water was freezing but a few of us crazy folk decided to stay in and play pool games until we were literally shaking with cold.  My first shower of the trip was in order, and the hot water felt great.  By this time it was almost 6 pm, and the sun had almost completely gone down, making it a bit colder out.  The group made our way to the bar once more, this time more bundled up than during the day, and played Asshole.  We laughed, fought, drank, and played cards.  Elroy made us take a short break to show us a Bushbaby, a small monkey, that was climbing the tree in our campsite, and then we continued.

(Bushbaby)

            Finally, by 8 pm, our dinner was served.  The camp staff had made us a meal of rolls, rice, cabbage, and beef stew. 

(20th birthday dinner)

We all ate at a long picnic table in the bar area, and talked and laughed.  I enjoyed the delicious dinner while sipping on a Hunter’s Cider, a drink one of my fellow trip mates had bought me, surrounded by my roommates and great spring break friends.  After everyone had finished eating, we sat around and talked.  Suddenly, I was bombarded with singing from the group, and a chocolate cake with “Happy Birthday” writing and “Happy Birthday” candles was plopped in front of me.  As Team Elephant sang, and I realized what an amazing trip I was on, sitting here in Maun, Botswana, I wanted to cry. 

(20th birthday cake!)

Instead I made a wish, which in fact came true later, and blew out my candles.  The cake was the best cake I have had in Africa so far.  As it turns out, SarahCatherine and Colleen had asked if they could get a cake for me, and our driver and cook had gone out earlier that day to pick one up.  I felt so blessed as I sat there and gorged my face with the cake.  After a while, the rest of the team trotted off to bed, leaving more than ¼ of the cake left.  We couldn’t let the cake go to waste, and we wouldn’t have room to fit it into one of the trip coolers, so SarahCatherine, Colleen, and I took it upon ourselves to finish the cake in just 3 minutes.

            After eating the cake, Colleen treated me to a Storm, and Ketil treated me to one later, and we played our favorite game, Asshole. 

(SarahCatherine, Me, Ketil -future tentmates in the Delta)

For a while some kids from the Southern Ambition trip joined our game of cards, but soon went to bed.  Eventually the rest of Team Elephant retired to our tents, at around midnight.  It had been the best birthday I have ever had.  I wasn’t with my family, I wasn’t with my best friends, and I didn’t open any presents, but it didn’t matter.  Celebrating my birthday with a group of 20 people who I had just met the day before, in Botswana, on the trip of a lifetime, was all I needed.