After landing and transferring to our safari car, we had a fair drive still to make camp and it was via a route to give us some good game viewing opportunities. Having grown up in South Africa and visited many game reserves I have seen many elephant but without a doubt, saw more on this drive than I had seen in my entire life to date. Multiple large herds were encountered moving through the bush and enjoying the wet areas. It seemed hard to believe that this number of large herbivores can be sustained in an area.
Big game were the obvious target for our guide but our preoccupation with birds was also rewarded with a Swallow-tailed bee-eater, Ground hornbill family and multiple Hamerkop to photograph.
As the sun dropped in the sky we encountered Pink-backed pelican, hippo and crocodile before arriving in camp.
Just before reaching camp and the small collection of tents around a dining tent that would be our home for the next 5 nights, we had a scene of white-faced whistling ducks silhouetted against the setting sun.
Candles on washstands outside each tent created a picturesque scene and were a welcome place to rinse the sweat and dust from our faces.
Chairs around a camp fire, for ambience more than warmth, were a welcome moment of stillness for a cool drink before dinner and to recap the day. A long day of travel bouncing in planes and then over sandy roads had us hot and tired so after an impressive meal a warm bush bucket shower had us clean and rapidly asleep awaiting the 05h30 wake-up call.
As young adults we had always wanted to visit the Okavango delta but work commitments, the inability to get adequate leave together and financial constraints had prevented it. Now finally, a year of planning had us here, unexpected circumstances allowing us to share it with the children. Some months of stress and anxiety had unfortunately accompanied us and would colour the experience for the duration and beyond, but we had finally made it to the Okavango delta in Botswana after decades of hoping “to make it one day”. The opportunity to live immersed in the experiences of the bush for 10 days was overwhelmingly exciting, the anxiety of the “what ifs” of the issues we had had to bring with, terrifying in the remoteness.
Photos with iPhone 14 Pro, Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 28-400mm f4-8 VR or Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 180-600mm f5.6-6.3 VR
