Our first major target was Maun and the Okavango Delta.
Maun is a major town in Botswana and the gateway to the Okavango Delta. With a population of around 200,000, it’s quite spread out. There are no traffic lights, just one large roundabout, and an international airport with flights from Johannesburg and other nearby countries—about 15 to 20 flights a day. The airport also offers scenic flights and helicopter rides over the delta.
As mentioned … in the part of the blog about the lost computer … Craig and I ( Mike) took the opportunity to have helicopter flight … it was astonishing … justified as very much doubt I will ever be back to this amazing place. All our photography was with the Goros
The town’s primary function is clearly to service tourists, including us. It is the largest center in this part of Botswana: hectic, dusty, but friendly.
Whenever we parked up, Mollie and Melissa were star attractions for both locals and tourists.
In Maun (more precisely, staying about 10 km out of town at Sitatunga Bush Camp) (https://www.booking.com/hotel/bw/sitatunga-camp.en-gb.html?aid=357029&label=yho748jc-1DCAsoJEIOc2l0YXR1bmdhLWNhbXBIM1gDaAmIAQGYAQm4ARfIAQzYAQPoAQGIAgGoAgO4AoiorbYGwAIB0gIkZDA0ZTEzOTEtNTdkZS00MGI0LThhYmEtNjFmMzg3ZjI3OGMx2AIE4AIB&sid=02196ccb8d20c53d337f5f5bc5f733d5&dist=0&keep_landing=1&sb_price_type=total&type=total&)
While there we took a day trip to the Moremi Game Reserve and experienced amazing sites … lions, a leopard, many, many elephants ( plus there destructive forces on the vegetation when there are to many ) many different antelopes and zebra galore.
The little Pirate looks a little worried
The Leopard we saw – Amazing – they are hard to find
The best way I have to describe the experience is the following morning …
I awoke … and checked emails etc
I awoke that morning in my tent in Maun, Botswana, to read a wonderful message from my old friend Wendy Sarkissian. She beautifully described her recent trip to Uluru, a place I have not yet visited. Wendy eloquently captured the wonder and awe of that experience. As an 81-year-old eco-feminist, born in Canada and having spent five decades living in Australia, she finally had the chance to visit Uluru on a recent trip back from Canada.
She expressed the wonder and awe she experienced and the deep connection to this important place.
I reflected on her story and recalled that when we experience these moments of wonder and awe, as Goethe (and likely others) have said, it is the highest state of the human condition.
A pride of lions – after a meal
Wendy’s writing is always beautiful, and my current travels reinforce my sense that those who are (and have been for millennia) immersed in nature are more likely to be in a state of awe, perhaps even permanently or most of the time. This state of wonder might indeed be considered a state of grace.
For most of us in the modern world, we get fleeting glimpses of these moments— and maybe small moments of grace.
However, I learned from a podcast conversation between between Josh Schrei ( from The Emerald Podcast ) and one of his guests – “that the winds of grace are always blowing; it is up to us to hoist our sails”.
If there is any truth to this and I think there is, then this is where the power and insight come from to help heal our planet.
And I was lucky enough to experience the Okavango… or at least a small part of it. I came within a few meters of lions, a leopard, many elephants, giraffes, and various types of antelope.
It was a joy. ..it was wonder and awe.
But what brought me just as much delight was the pure joy and delight of our guide, Gibson, who has been driving tourists into this park for 18 years. He worked with other guides via two-way radio to locate the “prize”—a pride of lions and a leopard—and explained some of the major challenges of managing this landscape. These include the effects of drought and climate change, neighbouring countries drawing too much water from the catchment, and the damage caused by an elephant population exceeding the landscape’s capacity. He also mentioned how a recent earthquake had altered the land surface, raising parts of the delta. Equally important was his joy in ensuring we met all the creatures personified in The Lion King.
This joy resonates deeply within me ( probably all the folks that venture to these parts to have this experience. It will stay with me for a long long time …. forever hopefully.
Hippo Skull – illustrating the drying climate and its effect on this part of the Okavango (maybe)