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delta force
By Natasha Dragun.
Published in the July-September 2012 issue.
A visit to Botswana’s alluvial Okavango plains offers up pure wilderness coupled with understated luxury – not to mention one of the greatest gatherings of animals in the world.
HIPPOPOTAMUS!” exclaims Flame, our striking Botswanan tracker. On most occasions I’d be more than grateful for the tip – I see a speck on the horizon, Flame sees an infant malachite kingfisher; and that clump way in the distance that looks like shrubs? “Six – no, seven baby elephants,” says Flame.
But in this instance, the two oversized backsides blocking the road in front of us are rather hard to miss. Just metres from our open-top 4WD – and not dissimilar in size – the two hippos catch Flame’s gaze as he slides back into his seat. “Allergic to hippos,” he jokes under his breath. But the three-tonne mammals don’t seem to mind our presence one bit, and turn their attention back to hoovering fallen acacia pods like potato chips.
To come face-to-rear with these colossal creatures within an hour of touching down in the Okavango Delta is quite remarkable. Still, truth be told, I would have been happy hippo sighting or not – even void of animals, the scenery is truly mesmerising.
Nothing quite prepares you for the drama of the world’s largest inland delta – the juxtaposition of water and desert, grassland and palm forest, tiny islands and open skies. The channels, lagoons and swamps extend across more than 16,000 square kilometres during times of flood, shrinking to less than 9,000 in the dry. They’re punctuated only by elephants and zebras and a handful of eco-chic lodges, such as the one we’re headed towards.
Although Botswana is completely landlocked – between Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa – its two big waterways, the Okavango Delta and the Chobe River, keep the traditional safari animals in the country all year round. By the time we reach the andBeyond Nxabega Tented Camp, our accommodation for the next two nights, we’ve spotted three of the Big Five: elephants, lions and buffalo. We’re promised number four, leopards, first thing tomorrow. And five? Sadly, decades of poaching in this part of the delta has seen the rhinoceros population dwindle to virtually nothing, although andBeyond’s conservation manager, Les Carlisle, is working with local wildlife groups to translocate 12 white rhinos to the region – a prospect that may happen as early as November this year.
It is projects like this that make Botswana the pride of Africa – a country that, after its independence in 1966, has enjoyed economic and political stability and a government increasingly committed to its vast natural assets. Officials are cracking down on poaching in game reserves, and the number of tour and hotel operators permitted throughout the Okavango Delta is strictly monitored.
Those that are allowed in must build to specific environmental guidelines: andBeyond camps in Botswana – there are seven – are all constructed sans cement, which means they can be dismantled and carted away within a day if necessary. They all use renewable energy, have extensive recycling projects in place and are built around existing vegetation. Not that the sustainable development comes at the expense of style.
Our accommodations at Nxabega are, by definition, tents – they have canvas tops and canvas walls and each has a roll-up flyscreen door. But that’s about where the similarities end. Tucked under a canopy of massive ebony trees, the nine lodges – stilted to provide for the complete regeneration of the forest floor – offer colonial-style comforts: each has a king-sized bed with plush linens, a leather-topped work desk, cow-hide rugs and a teak-floored bathroom replete with a shower large enough for an elephant.
A huge jackalberry tree shades the camp’s public areas, including an alfresco dining room and swimming pool overlooking a lagoon and wall of palms. Inside the straw-roofed main lodge are comfortable sofas of textured ostrich leather and piles of birdwatching books; Bushman art adorns the walls.
Set in a private concession of 8,000 hectares to the southeast of the Moremi Wildlife Reserve, Nxabega’s real appeal is its intimacy. At night, the only sound I hear is the popping and crackling of cicadas and frogs. The next morning, I’m woken just before sunrise by hippos chortling in the lagoon like old men sharing a joke; on the way to breakfast, I notice that one of them has left his footprints on the sand track leading from my tent. I make a mental note to obey the house rule prohibiting guests from walking outside alone after dark.
Morning activities begin at 6 a.m. and might include a game drive or leisurely cruise through the reeds and around the Delta’s sand veldt islands. Before we set out for a day of exploring, platters of warm berry muffins and ginger cookies the size of saucers are served up with steaming mugs of coffee. As the sun begins to rise over the lagoon, a hippo grunts, signalling that it’s time to make our way to the 4WD.
“MARABOU STORK!” These giant creatures are known locally as undertaker birds for good reason. Standing a metre and a half tall, their skinny white legs stick out below black cloak-like wings and scabby red heads – bald, so raw flesh doesn’t stick to them during feeding. Small wonder that they’re considered one of Africa’s Ugly Big Five, along with the hyena, vulture, warthog and wildebeest. I decline Flame’s offer to borrow binoculars when we spot a mustering of them atop a bare boab tree.
Marabous aside, the Okavango Delta is one of the most remarkable bird-spotting ecosystems in the world. More than 500 bird species call the wetlands home, everything from malachite kingfishers – those tiny iridescent birds that Flame can somehow spot at great distance – and salty egrets to graceful bateleur eagles, which andBeyond stylises in its company logo.
We stop at regular intervals to photograph the animals, for morning tea – Flame’s hot chocolate spiked with Amarula liqueur, a bit like Bailey’s Irish Cream, is a heart starter – and, in the afternoon, for sundowners. An aide-de-camp has surreptitiously set up a makeshift bar beside a water hole and is mixing jugs of Pimm’s and pouring flutes of champagne by the time Flame has checked the bushes for wildlife and signalled for us to alight the 4WD. The sun sinks into the horizon and a sprinkle of fireflies begin to dance on the surface of the lagoon, as if on cue.
On our drive back to Nxabega we spot more lights dancing in the distance; this time it’s an alfresco dining room. The roaring campfire and lanterns hanging from the branches of an old boab tree are outshone only by the stars dotting the night sky. With the nearest town hundreds of kilometres away, I expected a lot of stars; I just didn’t expect this many. It’s like being tucked under a blanket of glitter.
Food at Nxabega, as at all the andBeyond camps, changes daily and might include fragrant baked tilapia (bream) or a rich venison stew. Tonight’s meal is a traditional braai (barbeque): pork, fish, beef ribs and platters of salad. While we eat, the staff hum traditional Botswanan songs that stay with me to this day.
“LEOPARD!” In truth, it’s not the cat but her kill that we spot first: the hoof of an impala hanging by a thread of skin from the branch of a sausage tree. Lone hunters, leopards often carry their kill to higher ground – they can hold twice their own weight in their jaws – and devour them away from other predators. Sated, this one is sprawled under the tree, the impala hoof swinging in the breeze above her like a pendulum. She yawns and rolls over in the long grass, oblivious to the fact that we’re parked less than a metre away. Scanning the flood plains through binoculars, Flame points out buffalo, elephants, waterbucks, eland, baboons and zebras – but no more leopards.
And then one of the rangers radios us: a pride of lions has been spotted near the airstrip. We reverse onto the road, throwing up a cloud of sand as we roar towards the strip – one of two that the lodges use to shuttle guests in and out of the Delta (the other is currently flooded).
We loop around overgrown fig trees looking for tracks in the sand; Flame points out paw prints leading to a sausage tree with a huge gash cut out of its side: “Itchy elephant,” he explains. Five long minutes later, we spot a pair of male cubs bounding up the road; the remaining nine members of the pride – all female – strut well behind, on the lookout for impala and eland that might not have heard the overzealous males. One lioness catches our gaze, her steely yellow eyes unfaltering as she scans the 4WD – and its concrete-still passengers. We follow her across floodplains for a good 30 minutes until she finally slips off into the long grass to escape the heat.
“ELEPHANT!” It’s not Flame yelling this time but the guests in the lodge next to ours at the andBeyond Xaranna Okavango Delta Tented Camp. It’s a two-hour drive plus a half-hour boat trip from Nxabega camp, but Xaranna feels a world away in terms of design. While Nxabega appeals to safari traditionalists, Xaranna is whimsical and fun and wouldn’t seem altogether out of place if it were beachside in Bali. Well, aside from the hippos splashing in the adjoining lagoon. And the pachyderm using our neighbour’s lodge as a scratching post.
Set in a private wilderness concession of 25,000 hectares to the southeast of Moremi, Xaranna is all bleached timber and bespoke furnishings. The nine lodgings are still tents, although as with those at Nxabega, the only giveaway is the canvas roofs. Four-poster beds of blonde wood squat on timber floors and each looks out onto a private plunge pool and sala (pavilion) perched over the lagoon. The ensuite bathroom is larger than my bedroom back in Sydney, with luxuries such as a claw-foot tub, indoor and outdoor rain showers, and a windowside chaise longue strewn with felt pillows in hues of lime and dusky pink. The minibar is stocked with sparkling water, as requested, as well as homemade rocky road and a leather Tiffin box layered with biltong, spiced nuts and dried mango. If I overindulge, there’s a handy basket containing DIY gym equipment: a yoga mat, free weights, pilates bands.
And overindulging is practically guaranteed. From the moment you brush aside the silky mosquito nets enveloping your bed, treats await. Juice and coffee are delivered to tents with early morning wake-up calls, and coconut-and-ginger cookies, fruit and muesli are lined up in the waterside dining room as the sun rises, pre-safari. Morning tea promises more baked goods; lunch might be a spread of salads or sandwiches; afternoon tea sees tiered platters topped with cheeses and cakes and sliders; cocktails are served with smoked nuts and homemade pâté…There are private bush dinners, lamplight drinks on river islands and walking safaris with alfresco picnics. It’s all I can do but roll into my mokoro (canoe).
“FROG!” Flame’s Hawkeye-like vision has paid off once again – he’s spotted a tiny painted reed frog clutching a bleached shaft, barely protruding from the water and practically at my eye level. Flame steers our mokoro with the expertise of a Venetian gondolier, propelling it through lush beds of papyrus and past islands that are little more than bulbous termite mounds; a hippo has crossed in the reeds in front of us, leaving a trail of flattened grass.
Traditionally, each mokoro was carved from a single sausage tree, but environmentalists now insist that they be built of fibreglass. The boat sits very low and glides almost soundlessly through the water, so clear we can see the roots of the lilies growing on the river bed metres below us.
It’s elephants and giraffes that are just metres below us as we depart Xaranna later that day, our single-prop Safari Air Cessna flying low over the Delta’s ribbon-like streams, shimmering like liquid mercury in the afternoon sun. I’m sure I spot a crocodile sliding into the lagoon as we begin our ascent to cruising altitude. Where’s Flame when you need him? •
Photography by Natasha Dragun and courtesy of andBeyond.
GETTING THERE
Under a code-share agreement with Qantas, South African Airways (SAA) flies direct from Perth and Sydney to Johannesburg. SAA also operates flights from Jo’burg into Maun, Botswana; from here, connecting Safari Air flights transfer guests to Okavango Delta lodges. 1300-435-972; flysaa.com and airsafaris.co.za
GETTING AROUND
Wildlife Safari offers guided tours around Africa.
1800-998-558; wildlifesafari.com.au
WHEN TO GO
Arguably, the best time to visit the Okavango Delta for game viewing is during the dry season, from June through October. If you’re an avid twitcher, you might want to time your trip to coincide with the wet season, December through March.
WHERE TO STAY
andBeyond operates seven very different lodges around Botswana, including the superb Nxabega and Xaranna lodges within the Delta. Both are all-inclusive, which means that meals and daily activities are taken care of. andBeyond.com
FURTHER INFORMATION
Check out the Botswana Tourism Organisation website for additional tips on travelling to and around the Delta. botswanatourism.co.bw
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