Day 3 - Drotsky, Okavango Delta, Botswana

After a wonderful quiet night’s sleep we were up at 6:30, despite the freezing cold. We really never thought it was going to be so cold at night and in the morning; everyone crept out of their tents moaning about how cold it had gotten at about four in the morning. I think we just don't realize how cold winter gets because we live in insulated houses with heating and hot water. Now I know how my poor dogs feel and why they make a bee line for the front door if anyone opens it just a crack during the evening. We are all going to really appreciate our way of life back in Joburg and Cape Town.

It was a quick cereal breakfast of guess what? - Muesli. We wanted to quickly nip down to the Lake to see if there was any water in it and then make for Sapupa falls for a proper brunch. Ernest didn't want to take the truck down that narrow little road as he thought that he might not make it because it is more like a hippo than a car and we were far too wide and the thorn bushes lining the road would damage the windows too much, besides we had seen Lake Ngami before, so the others went down the two kilometer road to see the Lake.

Apparently it was absolutely full ... wow what a sight, we have never seen it full but then it sort of works in opposites here; the  rain falls in Angola in December/January and only arrives in Lake Ngami in July /August after it has filtered through the Okavango delta.. Around the lake and up and down the main road there were a lot of people in tents and make shift houses and it sort of  looked like a refugee camp so of course our curiosity was tweaked and we had to find out what all these guys were doing there. It turns out they are fishermen that turn up from all over Botswana to fish in Lake Ngami when it is full. Then the Zambians come down and buy the fish so a whole thriving economy springs up around the lake and then dies away when it dries up again.

So we missed the full lake this time but the others really enjoyed seeing it. We then set off for Sapupa as everyone was starting to get hungry. Well it turns out that I had totally got my wires crossed and the falls were actually called Papa falls and they are 40 kilometers past Shakowe which was our target for the night. What a miscalculation so we eventually had to have our “brunch “at Shakowe.

It was a flat out drive of 230 kilometers on a very different road than the one we had been used to. It was very narrow and full of pot holes. Ernest was in his element avoiding the potholes and the trucks coming in the opposite direction while I strapped myself in to my seat and tried not to look at the road but if felt pretty much like a roller coaster. We were even caught for speeding along that road which was an achievement. After Ernest explained to the cop that he was a racing driver and raced the Botswana desert race he promptly halved the fine. Hell that is what you call the gift of the gab!

We also went through two foot and mouth stops, the dreaded place where they take your precious meat away from you. I so dread seeing that gate across the road that I am sure I pull it right in. It appears that they have had a breakout of foot and mouth in the area (my worst nightmare) and so this time they stopped us, made us get out of the car to go and disinfect our shoes and they spray the wheels of the tires. All the time I wait for the dreaded words of “we need to look in the car to see if you are carrying meat.“  I can even hear the guy saying it even if his lips are not moving (all in the mind). Anyway Ronel who wasn't quite with it heard Fritz say that we have to have our feet sprayed and so gets out of the truck with no shoes on. I tried to get her to get back in, get her shoes on and go stand in the poison mat with her shoes and then back in the truck while Ernest was trying to keep the guy distracted so that he wouldn't ask to search the car. It was a circus, with Ronel getting quite confused and really acting like a blond bimbo and actually just standing with her mouth open saying “but nobody has sprayed my feet!" I thought Fritz was going to pick her up and sling her over his shoulder to get her just to move! Funnily enough they did ask Ken and Rouvierre if they were carrying any red meat so Ernest keeping the guys mind off our truck paid off.

We arrived at the Drotsky campsite and were allocated site no 15. The one right at the end of this beautiful forest. The guy casually said we might not get there with our big truck but we must give it a go and see if we can get through the trees. What a challenge for these men. Fritz got on top of the truck, Steve and Kobus walked in front with a bow-saw and directed Ernest who was driving. Apart from Fritz getting hit by a thorn tree and was nearly left hanging in the tree by his shirt and hair,  we only had to cut a few branches and  "voila" we were parked on the edge of the Okavango river under the most magnificent trees ... wow what a campsite! We quickly cooked our “brunch" at two o'clock before the boys started to eat their shoes.

The afternoon was spent relaxing under these beautiful trees and I got real lucky as Sonja offered to do a facial on me. So we put down the picnic blanket with a mattress on top and I got the most fantastic facial ... what luxury! While I was having my facial the others were sitting along the river bank bird watching. There was a running commentary on trying to identify various birds by their calls. Fritz kept saying he thought it was a Swamp Boubou, then I heard Ronel saying “yes there it is, it is yellow" poor old Fritz he said "oh no a Swamp boubou is not yellow."  Anyway that was a "Toppie" that Ronel had seen - the wrong bird (there was the blond bombs appearing again- just kidding she is rather smart usually) eventually the Swamp boubou was seen and properly identified which redeemed our game ranger and he could puff out his chest again.

In the evening we went to the main building for sundowners. Oh what a beautiful setting, the wide river flowing past, the sun setting, the sound of hippos snorting in the water nearby and lots of comm and laughter. Steve was telling us how Andrea is very bad at navigating; of course all the men were nodding their heads and agreeing that woman can't navigate. My husband didn't dare open his mouth after the Sapupa falls that didn't exists nor should I say turned into Papa falls!  Not that men can do all sorts of things that woman CAN do without even thinking, who the hell cares about a stupid thing like navigating. So just to demonstrate how bad she actually is Steve told us he had been planning a trip to Mozambique and had been showing Andrea a map of the route they were going to take from Joburg. At this point Andrea sweetly asked if they could pop in on the way to say hello to her aunt who lived in Cape Town. Hell I never realized it was THAT bad. My navigation "booboo" was chicken feed! After that the ladies all changed the subject and talked about babies, sewing, knitting and cooking!

The rest of the evening was spent sitting around the camp fire. Kobus brought out his guitar and sang for us, we were totally surprised at how great he is with the guitar and I am afraid he now has his work cut out for himself for the rest of their trip with us- fancy having a traveling minstrel. It was a totally ideal setting, great company, lots of stories and the peace of Africa. Not too many stars however as the trees covering the campsite are too thick, not that anyone complained about that.

Oh, the surprise of the day!  This once again just goes to prove what a small world it is. The guy who manages the camp came wondering down to find out if we had made it through the forest without demolishing the truck. When he saw Ernest he said;
"I am sure I know you from somewhere, haven't we met before?"
Well it turned out they went through school together. My gosh strange how you meet old friends who have taken such different paths in life and then those paths cross so unexpectedly. It was great for them to catch up on what had happened to each of them since leaving school.

Till tomorrow, I am signing off!