Waking up in my tent at 5:30 am was easy (this from someone who utilizes the snooze button to barely make it out of bed by 7am!) on my third day in camp – I was exhausted the night before from my full day in camp – the morning trek, the shower in the sun and the hippo search – and fell right to sleep – a good restful sleep without worry of being a midnight animal snack.
I was torn with spending the last trek of my three days in camp either walking to the village or going out to search for more animals. If I had another day in camp, I would have spent the time in the local village where my guide lives and meet his family but the call to the water was too strong for me. My guide would bring the village crafts to me so that I could bring home a souvenir or two for my family/friends (it had to be small to fit in the duffel)
Back in my mokoro for the last time, I was gliding on the water back toward one of the islands to begin the day. As I followed behind my guide, we again happened upon baboons coming down from their tree (we waiting until all had exited before moving forward) and then just walked without the sightings of the previous treks. One thing to remember is that you are never guaranteed a sighting on the treks or on any safari so with this in mind, I admired the fallen trees (the elephants eat what they want and then push tree down), the flowers that bloomed, footprints in the sand and bone remnants.
As I resigned myself to the walk and started questioning my decision to skip the village we saw zebras – lots of them in the field.
After one too many photos, we moved along only to hear animal noises of a kill in progress (I was ok to hear it and not see it). A few other guides/guests convened in the area of the noise and we came upon an impala who had lost the fight with the leopard (who was nowhere to be found). The guide explained that the leopard would come back later and drag the impala to his/her tree to hang it above to feast on it (I would later see this on my Kruger safari). The Bambi like impala just looked like it was sleeping on the ground (later that night at the new hotel, impala would be on the menu, but having experienced this today, I passed on trying the game meat). The circle of life was fully evident on our walk today – the prints, the bones, the fresh kill.
With my Okavango Delta experience coming to an end as we approached the camp, I was grateful for my time here – all of my fears (city girl in a tent, outdoor bucket shower, extra costs, the bush plane rides) were unfounded and I’m glad the travel agent convinced me this was a must do safari experience. As I moved onto the next two safari experiences, it would be the time at Oddball’s camp in the Okavango Delta with new friends that I will remember most.
