The Beauty of the Okavango Delta

Early morning game drives are cold, especially with the wind hitting your face as you drive through the bush looking for animals. Both of our safari camps provide wool blankets for these chilly drives, along with “bush babies” – hot water bottles covered in plaid wool bags. I have decided these are the most wonderful things ever invented! Oh, and did I mention how cold our tent is at night here? There are no hard walls to the tents in this camp, so we experienced the cold, crisp night air every night as we prepared for bed (and every early morning for that matter!). You can imagine how incredibly delighted we were to jump into these comfortable beds and discover these wonderfully warm bush babies under the covers!

The open-air lodge at Sable Alley has a wonderful fire pit area (great for warming up after evening drives) and overlooks what we and others quickly dubbed “Hippo Pond” – the wetland area directly behind the lodge filled with hippos. The patchy grasslands surrounding the water move as the hippos move in and out, causing the pond to actually change shape everyday.

We continue to be amazed at the number of different birds we have seen here. On our Monday morning drive, we saw a juvenile bateleur, helmeted guinea fowl (a bush chicken that locals eat), magpie shrike, spur-winged goose, red-billed spur fowl, and a Goliath heron. After spotting several gorgeous lilac-breasted rollers, Kam shared with us how they use their vibrant colors to attract insects (thinking they are flowers), and then catch them mid-flight.

We spotted red lechwe antelope as we made our way closer to the marshy wetlands. These animals have long legs and live in the marshy areas, where they can escape predators by running quickly through the water. We also spotted a tsesebe, the fastest antelope in the world and fondly called the bush Ferrari by our guide! And Hannah spotted the distinctive saddle-billed stork, one of the must-see birds on her list!

Our morning also included a ride in traditional African mokoro boats (similar to a canoe) through a narrow marshy river. What was a relaxing, picturesque, and serene ride in these boats for Hannah and Mark was 45 minutes of sheer stress for me. There were hippos in the nearby water – literally in the body of water we were in, but in a more open area upstream (as evidenced in the photo below)! There was no way I was relaxing until we were safely back in our ATVs!

That said, we did experience the beauty of these wetlands and saw lots of other species, including an African green frog and reed painted frog, as well as a malachite kingfisher.

On our way back to camp, we passed by a dead hippo (Kam informed us it had been injured in a hippo fight and died from his injuries) being guarded by two male lions and one female lion. They had been feasting on this carcass all morning and were resting, but clearly were making it clear this was off limits to other predators who were likely lurking nearby. The smell was the nastiest, foulest smell you could imagine; we managed to breathe through our mouths just long enough to snap some photos of the beautiful guards.

After a relaxing lunch and afternoon at camp, we ventured out for our final evening drive with Kam. We quickly passed back by the lions, who were busy feasting on the hippo (I’ve purposefully avoided showing pics of the actual, disgusting carcass.

We then ventured to the western part of the concession and saw so many animals – many species we’ve already seen but we never tire from seeing them again! Dazzles of zebra, herds of impala and a confusion of wildebeest (great grouping name, right?!), all congregating in the same open field area. There’s safety in numbers, especially in an open field, in the bush! We also came across a tower of giraffes and saw our first baby giraffes! Getting good photos was a challenge, but seeing these babies made me so happy. A baby elephant was playfully walking behind its momma as we drove by – such a sight! We also spotted a gray hornbill and a sparkle-backed heron while enjoying our final sundowner cocktail.

On our way back to camp, we spotted several hyenas lurking around the hippo area, seemingly waiting for the lions to be done – they were still there, eating and guarding. When we returned to camp, we were told we just missed the three dominant male lions of the concession – called the Golden Boys – walking through the grassy areas immediately below the lodge. A short time later, we heard them clearly take over the hippo carcass, pushing the younger three lions away. The hyenas will have to continue waiting their turn.

Tomorrow morning is our final safari drive before we head to the airstrip for our small chartered flight to the Maun Airport, where we will connect for our flight to Johannesburg. While we’ve seen more jaw-dropping sights and scenes than we could have ever imagined, it’s hard to believe this incredible trip is coming to a close.