basto

Hi,
I am going back to Botswana in the second week of february. Will go on a private mobile camping safari with Unlimited Tours & Safaris with roughly the following itinerary:

Okavango Delta - 2 nights
Moremi, Kazinnkini - 3 nights
Nxai Pan - 2 nights
Makgadikgadi 2 nights
Kalahari 4 nights

I would love your input on mokoro in the Delta, should I go for one or two nights. What do you like more, one more day on game drives or another day out in Mokoro? What are your thoughts about Delta mokoro?

cheers,
Tom

Zambezi

I hesitate to respond to this question because my main visit to to the Okavango Delta was more than twenty years ago when my sister and I took a five day, four night camping trip into its heart from the western border at approximately Gumare (on the Michelin map). It was just us and five local men, fully catered with steaks, beer, and other food. The experience was one of the most memorable of my life, topped only by canoeing down the Zambezi on the same trip and visiting the orangutans in Tanjung Puting on Indonesian Borneo. Only wooden mokoros were used then and we visited villages where men were carving them. We saw villagers dancing around fires at night. There was a lot of sameness, but there was peace, quiet, and brilliant stars at night. We watched our crew catch fish and dry them overnight on slow fires. We did not see a lot of animals or anything else, but there were unexpected small pleasures. I would opt for two days and getting as far away from camp as possible. When I was in the Delta a few years ago and took a short mokoro ride, there was none of the feel or sense of adventure of that first trip, hence my advice: the longer the better, the farther the better. ZZ

KaliCA

It really comes down to personality. Do you seek sameness, slowness, quiet and fear because there is fear involved when you glide along on the same height as the resident hippos. Personally, I would go for one day only, since I prefer watching and observing land animals. Maybe you can find out what the likelyhood of seeing land animals is and what kind you may encounter. Usually, there are more birds found on water trips than for example lions, but again depends on where you are going. I think you may need more information in order to make an informed decision. Myself, I prefer sitting in a regular boat, above crocs and hippos.

basto

Thanks for answers! Zambezi your trip seems truly magic to me, sounds wonderful. Perhaps you are right that a one night mokoro might not take us far enough to really get the authentic experience we look for.

KaliCA, did not really think of the fear factor that way, but of course you are right about that. I really have no comparison since I have not been before, but I am not expecting much wildlife but really to see birds, beautiful flowers, experience peace and solitude on an island. I am sure with Moses we will see all the lions we need later on the safari, but then I start to think about wild dogs and how our chances of seeing them would improve with one more day... This is difficult ;-)

Very thankful if anybody else have some input on their experiences from the delta!

Zambezi

There is really nothing to fear. The guides are experts at spotting hippos and crocs well in advance of encountering them. The most threatening animals we faced were the mice that tried to get into our tent at night. Mosquito netting kept them out, but it isn't real pleasant to have them crawling up the flaps until the guides beat them off. Now, speaking of personal preferences, I, for one, cannot understand the attraction to wild dogs. They are ugly, mangy animals that look as though they should be put out of their misery. ZZ

basto

Zambezi,
good to hear, I will look out for the mice then ;-)
One of my best safari memories is spending a whole day with the Lagoon pack and seeing them interact. One of the dogs had been badly injured, probably by a leopard and the way the others cared for him was amazing to watch. They hunted in the afternoon and the injured one had a hard time keeping up, but then the pack somehow always had another dog staying back with him, making sure he caught up with them after the kill. So they may not be the prettiest, but in my book one of the most fascinating. But hey, we are all different and like different things, would be boring otherwise!