Each Mokoro was to be whisked through the papyrus jungle by a poler. When this word was first used, I immediately had a couple of worrisome associations...
The trip started with an adrenaline kick, as we set out in a small speedboat and quite soon came to a halt when the shallow canal we were travelling on was found to be blocked by dead reeds and papyrus. The captain didn't say that we were going to go through, he said we would attempt to; probably just a trick to make it more exciting... but it worked!
As we flew over the obstacle and then continued speeding through thick vegetation, I half expected to find myself being chased by a villain from a James Bond movie, surreal.
I've dreamt of going into the Okavango delta for many years and once there, it actually felt rather dreamlike. Quietly we were poled through the fairytale beauty of the canals covered in water lilies. Bee eaters, comorants and Jacanas were everywhere with Fish eagles over-looking our progress.
The morning in the delta was awesome, with a light breeze keeping the mosquitoes at bay. Once in a while tiny lime green frogs hitched a ride, but jumped off just before I had a chance to get a great picture. The spotted one was a bit more co-operative and hung around until I promtly evicted him.
When the breeze subsided a few hours later, both the heat and the mosquitoes started to become a bit of a nuisance. Fortunately one of these could easily be partly relieved, as I had brought an umbrella... I did feel rather colonial though.
The miniature vampires of the delta had a splendid day. That evening I'm not sure if I gained or lost nutrients and calories by going to dinner, as I apparently have the sweetest blood on the Swedish buffet. I didn't know it at the time, but the irritating little buggers had also left me a present...
/A
No comments:
Post a Comment