The Okavango Delta: day 1

We spent 2 days camping in the Okavango Delta, a dream come true for the wetland ecologist in me.
We drove for about an hour from the town of Maun, to our launching spot on the edge of the delta. Here, we met our guides.
Gudrun and Sebastian didn't have any hats, so we improvised for themThis is Patricia, my makoro poler

The traditional, and most efficient way to move through the delta is in the dugout canoe called a makoro. Here's the view of the view from mine as we leave the launch.

The makoros are long narrow boats that are poled through the marshes. I must say I wish I had one of these during my collection trips, for sure.

It was interesting landscape. Beautiful. Serene. Very green on the water, but inland ever so slightly was obviously tail end of the dry season.

In addition, this was apparently an extremely high water year, and many trees were a little miserable due to the excessive flooding.

One of the reasons that the delta is such a fascinating place is due to the timing of the water. The water that floods the delta comes from the highlands of Angola. It takes close to 6 months for that water to reach the floodplain. By the time it does, the rainy season in the Okavango is over. Thus, this so called 'jewel of the Kalahari' has water all year round, from the highlands in the dry season, from the skies in the wet.

Kaja and Carrie were a little nervous in this makoro and they eventually switched boats to avoid wet camera equipment

It was amazing how the makoros could push right through the reed beds.

Jan got his own boat, with his own crazy poler

The polers were very photogenic as they made their way through the delta

Determined termites

We camped between those trees

This cutie patoutie played the role of our local guide. He could tell amazing things from a pile of dried out animal poop.

Chris took us for a little walk around our little island.

It smelled amazing. Many of those plants that you see are a type of sage.

The sunset was spectacular, a red ball of flame over water lilies, hippos, and mokoros. too bad my skills as a photographer were not enough to capture it. These are my attempts though.