Bucket list, YES! … a chance to experience one of the 7 natural wonders of Africa!

What an opportunity to see a pristine, unspoiled piece of Africa and an incredible way to share in an adventure of a lifetime. Off the grid with a group of eight, one guide, five mokoros, and three islands.

And our adventure began, traveling five hours up the main canals and weaving our way through the grassy wetlands to our first island camp.

The Mokoro’s, a 6-meter dugout boat are an iconic sight of the delta and each Mokoro has its own poler. These polers are invaluable, born with a genetic GPS of the area. They found their way around ever-changing waterways, using the trees and termite mounds as if they were road signs.

The water is a clear burnt orange, strained through the reeds and clean enough to drink. I must say I was a bit nervous drinking my first bottle of water and it did have a sand-like flavor.

The Okavango Delta is one of the few inland Delta systems that does not have an outlet to the sea but rather drains its filtered water into the Kalahari desert. It is a huge natural expanse of waterways, grasslands, and ever-changing islands with abundant wildlife. We cautiously made our way around bends, vulnerable in the low-slung Mokoro’s. It was inevitable that we would cross paths with a pod of hippos where we apprehensively held our breaths and slid silently past.

Where there is beauty there is danger.

The wide-open channels are decorated with waterlilies but are also inhabited by hippos and crocodiles.

The Okavango Delta is one of the few inland Delta systems that does not have an outlet to the sea but rather drains its filtered water into the Kalahari desert. It is a huge natural expanse of waterways, grasslands, and ever-changing islands with abundant wildlife. We cautiously made our way around bends, vulnerable in the low-slung Mokoro’s. It was inevitable that we would cross paths with a pod of hippos where we apprehensively held our breaths and slid silently past.

Where there is beauty there is danger.

The wide-open channels are decorated with waterlilies but are also inhabited by hippos and crocodiles.

The Okavanga Islands

You could barely see the smaller channels amongst the high grass that led to the islands. There are several islands that are constantly changing in size depending on the water levels. These islands are originally formed from termite mounds and become more permanent once the vegetation takes hold.

We were traveling up stream to find our first island home.

Termite Mounds

Large termite mounds are a distinguishing landmark of the Delta. Normally they average two thirds below the ground but here in the Delta the fluctuating water table makes the termites build above the ground. The interior of the mound is kept at a constant twenty eight degrees and it is really warm to lean against on a cold night out.

The Delta Grass

This untouched grassland is a feast for the senses. You can hear the grass breathe as the wind blows through. The sun highlights the texture with its yellow warmth. You have that feeling you are the only adventurers to have seen this land.

SLEEPING IN THE MAKGADIKGADI PAN

This must be one of the most unique places I have ever been. I was not prepared for the beauty of this desolate landscape and the feelings it would evoke.  The sun setting reflected on the white salt moonscape. It was silent but for the crunch of salt underfoot as we followed our long shadows to the horizon where we would spend the night.

Less is More

The Makgadikgadi Pan is one of the largest salt flats in the world. It’s actually all that remains of the formerly enormous Lake Makgadikgadi, which once covered an area larger than Switzerland, but dried up several thousand years ago.

SALT PAN TEXTURES

Salt Plates to Horizon

THE SALT PAN EXPERIENCE

There were no landmarks, trees, or animals, just this infinite white-crusted surface.

BUILDING MEMORIES

Amazing to think that we were sleeping in a lake that existed thousands of years ago. Our beds were everything we needed for a chilly night under the stars.

“If you are quiet enough, you will hear the flow of the universe. You will feel its rhythm. Go with this flow. Happiness lies ahead. Meditation is key.”

The San people are also known as the Bushmen

Eighteen hours is barely enough time, to sum up, a culture that has been lost to, discrimination, bureaucracy, and modernization. Africa’s earliest inhabitants the Kalahari Bushmen were driven from their land and denied their natural heritage.

I am fortunate to have shared this brief time with these extraordinary people who have an inborn wisdom of the earth they inhabit. They are a small people and the harsh environment has etched its’ geography in the harrowed lines of their faces.

The bushmen have traditionally inhabited the Kalahari Desert regions of Southern Africa, including parts of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Angola. The San people have a rich cultural heritage and are known for their hunting and gathering skills, as well as their unique language and spiritual beliefs. Despite facing many challenges and pressures from modernization, the San people continue to maintain their traditional way of life and cultural practices.

For generations their land sustained them. Sadly their livelihood today comes from the tourists who pay to watch them perform their tribal stories and show them how they foraged their land.

The Bushman people have suffered great injustice, losing the rights to live, forage and hunt off land where they have lived for generations.

Women were abused by white colonialists, their breasts a sort after pouch to hold the tobacco. Only a few hundred true Kalahari Bushmen have survived, their modern lives now plagued with alcoholism, TB, and HIV AIDS.

Dressed for a hunt. A thin chammy mask disguise blends into the dry yellow bush veld.

It was July, I was dressed in a winter jacket. We were surprised to be met by these small people wearing very little in these harsh conditions. One generation would never be enough to pass on their knowledge of roots, leaves, herbal medicines, and how to forage and hunt.

Fire, is the heart of survival. She blows the embers that have been ignited using a bow drill with precision.

She stood there like mother nature herself. She demanded respect, generations of wisdom exhaled.

I loved this cross-culture photo. Water is the life blood of the Kalahari and the over used iconic heart of modern culture.

I felt humbled by this tribe’s natural knowledge. I would not have the expertise to survive in this habitat, how can we expect this tribe to survive in ours?

The stories, danced out against the fire light. The Kalahari Bushman filled the night with their stories translated by dance and clicking sounds.