spring break, part 1

It’s 5:00 on a Saturday morning. The sun has yet to peek its head above the horizon. The streets are still teeming with exuberant kids whose celebrations from the night before have yet to cease. You pile into a minibus heading for the airport with friends whose eyelids are still heavy from an abbreviated slumber. It’s the beginning of a weeklong adventure into the wild.

This is the story of my mid-semester break trip to northern Botswana.

Sunrise painting the grassland gold as we search
for elephants and giraffes

The flight went quickly and we landed in gorgeous Maun, Botswana, with a view of the famous Okavango Delta off in the distance as we walked across the tarmac. The airport was tiny, as expected, and so I was taken aback when the sign read Maun International Airport, because I was used to only major cities having international service. But when your nearest neighbor is only a one or two or flight away, I suppose being dubbed ‘international’ is no big deal.

Eating like a king at Audi Camp. Gourmet pasta and
chocolate mousse. I never could keep my eyes open
for pictures...

When we walked into the airport a man was standing with a sign with our program’s name on it. I’ve always wanted to have a guy waiting for me like that. We loaded into two big trucks and headed to Audi Camp, which was a fancy campground where we spent the night. They served us a fabulous three course meal that night (see picture of chocolate mouse).

In the morning we headed out for our Mokoro trip, which was a trip into the bush that was to culminate in a ride through the delta in small dugout boats to an island where we would camp.

The truck drive through the bush that morning was an adventure in itself. We drove across a river where water started coming into the back where we were sitting, which was at least six or seven feet above the ground, and I was momentarily concerned that we would float away (for the Oregon Trail fans out there, there were plenty of jokes about whether we should have forded the river or caulked the wagon and floated across).

Mokoro "harbor"

Also, the sides were open in the back of the truck and so huge tree branches that would get initially snagged on the front of the truck would sling-shot into the back and so there was a constant scramble to predict which side the biggest branch was coming from and try to avoid it. One boy took one in the face and I was unfortunately sitting on the outside and was left with an arm full of cuts and scratches.

The guides took a few wrong turns as well, and so the drive ended up taking three or four hours. Some of the kids sang to pass the time. I channeled my eighth grade choir and chimed in on a few Grease numbers.

We finally got to the Mokoro launch site (see picture of the “harbor”) and I did not realize how small the boats would be. But there wasn’t anything to do about it at that point, so I sunscreened up and helped load supplies into the tiny boats.

The polers were excited to see us and explained some guidelines while we climbed into the boats. There were thickets of grass in the bottom to give cushion and help with water that got in, and the guides folded bed mats into chairs for each of us, and so the boats were actually outrageously comfortable. And the poler took care of the transport, so there was no paddling! (I wish canoeing was like that back home) I leaned back into my mat and enjoyed a soothing glide across the Okavango Delta.

Derek and I in our Mokoro

As we wove our way through the reeds and crisp water I dozed in and out. One of the girls made an astute observation: it was like an all-natural spa treatment. Lying on comfortable mats with the sound of water passing by and birds chirping, while basking under the African sun without a care in the world. I could take that trip everyday.

Near the end of the ride we saw two hippos playing in the water, not 50 feet from our Mokoros. My first in person hippo experience!

We got to the island campsite and lunch was whipped up in no time. Again, we ate extremely well, even while in the middle of nowhere. I had a ham and cheese sandie with onions, tomatoes, peppers and chili sauce. Then on top of that I had fried chicken, salad, coleslaw, hard-boiled eggs and fruit juice. Talk about fit for a king.

We got a little naptime before an evening bush walks with the guides. We split up into groups of six or so and headed out into the wild. That first night we saw a herd of water buffalo, antelope, termite hills and a humungous spider with a colorful pattern on its back. At one point I was able to take a step back to soak everything in; before me was an endless green-amber savanna, with antelope gaily grazing in the neighboring field, and I was surrounded by good friends as we all silently enjoyed the heavenly sunset, not wanting to spoil the moment with inadequate words.

An early morning bushwalk with the lovely
Audrey hiding sheepishly behind a sprig
of sage, with Lurch in the background

When we returned we had another huge meal, and then everyone sat around the campfire as we shared stories, told riddles, and mingled with our local guides.

The next morning we had a bush walk at the break of dawn. It was hands-down the highlight of my semester thus far. We took a different path from the night before, and soon we could hear the calls of a group of baboons. The guide couldn’t believe that we hadn’t seen baboons before, so he tracked them for us (with some combination of their droppings, footprints and calls – I wasn’t really sure how he did it) and soon we were amongst a whole family. They were running from tree to tree and some had spotted us and had stopped to stare in return.

We made our way through some trees and came upon a lake. At the edge of the lake there were puddles, and I was about to walk through one thinking it was nothing out of the ordinary, but my guide stopped me and stuck his walking stick into the puddle. It was as deep as his entire stick! I would have been up to my chest in mud. Apparently elephants make theses holes as they pick up mud to cover themselves with. Good thing I didn’t have to learn it the hard way.

Then, as we circled the water, our guide pointed out a pair of eyes floating in the water. A crocodile! It was cruising unassumingly in the morning sun, probably keeping an eye on the silly group of humans wandering his shore.

Then on the next lake over there was a huge pod of hippos. We counted at least seventeen and they were frolicking and swimming and spewing water everywhere as they enjoyed the relief from the heat that water brought. They became curious about us as we approached, and some of the hippos slowly started making their way towards us. We enjoyed each other’s company for a few minutes, and as we left one of the hippos opened his mouth as wide as he could and let out a moan, and we yelled goodbye right back.

I couldn’t believe all of the experiences I was having, but the surprise waiting around the next corner is what made the entire trip. We rounded a bend and the path opened up to a clearing, and standing in the middle of the clearing were four of the most majestic, impressive elephants you could imagine. I was speechless. Here, in the middle of the wild – not a game reserve, no fences involved – were four real-life elephants, grazing to their hearts content and I was sharing the same field, walking along as though a brother in their kingdom.

Elephants in the background...look closely

Our guide explained that as long as we stayed downwind, we could approach them, and we did. We got so close that we had to whisper, as not to disturb them. Plenty of pictures were taken, and everyone reveled in the moment.

We headed back and after a quick, but hearty brunch we loaded the Mokoros for the return trip. It was as serene and relaxing as the first, and I was sad to be ending this once in a lifetime experience.

That night, back at Audi Camp: first course: butternut squash soup; entrée: pan seared fish with a roasted vegetable medley and a garden salad; dessert: ice cream! (I had 4 helpings) for dinner…

SERENITY NOW!

A female lion curious about these weird tourists
in her territory

Bushwalk

Mokoro trip