Day 3: Okavango Delta

After two long days of driving, this morning we left our camoflague van behind and traveled in more appropriate modes of transport for the region – first by motor-boat and then by traditional mokoro (dugout canoe). The Okavango Delta is the only inland lagoon in the world – an amazing marshy expanse filled with beautiful birds, hippos, elephants, and crocodiles.

We enjoyed breakfast in the lodge while watching the sun rise over the delta – what a way to start the morning! We climbed in a motorboat for a 40-minute ride to an island in the delta where our mokoros and rowers were waiting. Mokoros carry three people, two seated passengers and one “driver.” The driver stands in the rear of the canoe and uses a long wooden pole to propel and steer the mokoro through the reeds and twisting channels through the delta. Traditional mokoros are hand-carved from wood – I was surprised to see ours looked a bit shiny. One of the guides explained they now use fiberglass, because the wood in the traditional canoes rots very quickly and it’s hard to find trees large enough to carve the canoe.


This was one of my favorite parts of the trip – the water was amazingly clear, the day was gorgeous, and I felt like we had the entire delta to ourselves. I shared a mokoro with Greg, the Australian teaching math in Azerbaijan, and our driver happened to be the leader of the group, so our mokoro got to go in front.


We didn’t see any hippos but we did see a number of elephants, which is unusual – our guide said we were a very lucky group. The coolest moment of the day was when a male elephant emerged from the grasses on an island fairly close to our mokoro – he looked straight at us and flapped his ears (a sign he’s angry) before retreating back in to the grass. So cool.

The boat land / launch area was on a little island with all these gorgeous hanging trees - for some reason, it reminded me of the little secluded island area where the "Kiss the Girl" song from the Little Mermaid takes place.