In Standard 9, I went on school trip to the Okovango swamps in Botswana. There were 9 of us packed into the back of a smallish camping van and we drove all the way up North to Botswana and Chobi and Victoria Falls. There was one very memorable night when our wheel came off our car and we were left stranded in the desert. I absolutely loved my time in Botswana and Zimbabwe and saw many new birds including "Jesus birds" than walk on water over water lilies, huge Marabou storks and brilliantly coloured Carmine bee-eaters.
Here is a letter I wrote about the experience
Thank you so much for the money which you sent for Christmas. I really appreciated your generosity. With it, I plan to purchase a light metre for my camera, an instrument which should greatly improve the standard of my photographs. I promise, therefore, to dedicate my first really successful photo to you and I will send you a copy of it!
We had a lovely peaceful Christmas this year. I hope you did too. As we have done in the past and since I can remember, we did it in traditional family style. Our grandparents came to our house in the early morning and we all opened presents together. It is always a very cosy and cheerful occasion and I love it. Then, in the afternoon, we went to friends and stayed with them for a delicious turkey dinner which I thoroughly enjoyed.
In my last letter, I told you that I was going on safari to the Okovango Swamps in Botswana and if you are wondering how it went, it was as fantastic as I had anticipated. There were twelve of us who went, just about all teenagers. On the morning of departure, we all crammed believe it or not, into a small land rover and left for the Swamps, a good 2000 miles away. Although conditions were a “little” cramped, they were enjoyable and we all soon became very good friends. The friendly spirit formed in the first couple of hours of traveling persisted throughout the safari.
As was to be expected, not everything ran smoothly. Botswana is very much a third world country and 90% of it is totally undeveloped. On many occasions we travelled for a good 24 hours without seeing any trace of civilization! On the third day of our trip, we were travelling through a particularly isolated part of the country when, horrors of horrors, the wheel and wheel cap of our vehicle came off! Needless to say, we were in a real fix. We discovered that new parts were essential for the vehicle’s repair and with no town within 50 miles of where we were, that posed a little bit of a problem.
It was 9 o’clock at night when this happened and so we were left with no alternative but to set up tents on the side of the road and sleeping there for the night, see what morning had to bring. It was pitch black and we could not see what we were doing so pitching tents was a real performance. We were right in the middle of doing so when someone remarked casually that he had felt something brush against his bare foot. I in turn said that now he had mentioned it, I had had a similar experience. Everyone grabbed for torches at the same time and general chaos prevailed. Eventually the ground was illuminated and the most gruesome awful sight met our eyes!
The whole place was wriggling and crawling in huge scorpions, each the size of a human hand and equipped with a deadly sting. We stood rooted with fear before charging for the safety of the vehicle. Here we put on shoes and trousers and then emerged for a great battle. In the ensuing struggle, 98 scorpions were killed and only one of our men was injured. He received a sting on his little toe. He had to receive serious medical attention with a twig between his teeth and 2 pretty girls holding his hands, someone set to work on his toe. It was sliced open with a sterilized blade and the blood (mixed with the poison) was made to flow out. Then a bandage was tied around it and pain killers were administered. We spent the rest of the night trying to keep scorpions out of the tents and our sleeping bags! Needless to say, we were relieved when day broke. The road on which we had broken down was, we were thrilled to discover, a main road and for Botswana relatively busy. Not that that is saying much! In the entire time that we sat on that road (+30 hours) only 5 cars passed us!
Ted, our safari leader, hitched a lift to the nearest town, the broken wheel under his arm and we were left to wait for his return. We had a rather uncomfortable day with temperatures soaring to above 1030F. Ted arrived back late that night, having hitched a lift from the town in a huge truck. After a struggle to get the wheel back on, we were on our way again. From here we made our way to the Swamps where we changed our form of transport from land rover to canoe.
We spent 3 glorious days here, exploring the huge network of waterways that make up the Okovango. The canoes took the form of dug-out tree stumps (but they were remarkably stable and we didn’t capsize the whole time). They were pushed along by the local tribesmen of the area who used long poles instead of oars. These traditional canoes are called Makuras, incidentally and have been used by the Tswana tribes as a method of transport for hundreds of years. Although they were primitive, they were extremely comfortable. Each held 2 people and 1 pusher.
Being pushed along in this manner is an incredible experience and one which you have to try personally to really appreciate. The makura moves so smoothly over the water’s surface and everything is so quiet and still that you are filled with a deep peace. You just lie back and try to take in the whole atmosphere. Above you, the majestic fish eagle soars and his wild cry fills the whole area, a cry which is appropriately called “the voice of Africa”. It’s all a really amazing experience.
On one such occasion, we were in the canoe, when it suddenly came to a jarring halt. Disturbed from our peaceful slumbers, we looked up at the driver, wondering why we had stopped. The normal complexion of the Tswana tribesman is charcoal black but we were amazed to see that now the driver was as while as a sheet. We looked around for the cause of his terror but could see nothing. The driver then managed to gasp the words “Puku, Puku” and he pointed straight ahead.
There was a huge splash and we could just make out the shape of an enormous crocodile as it submerged and swam under our boat and disappeared into the reeds. The driver then proceeded to get us as far away from this spot as possible in the shortest time imaginable. From that time onwards, we kept our arms well clear of the sides of the canoe.
The water of the Okovango is actually crystal clear and very clean and when we came to a shallow spot, uninhabited by crocodiles, we were able to swim. It was especially enjoyable playing “touch rugby” in the water and we did so with some of the Tswana teenagers of our own age. We didn’t have a rugby ball with us and so used oranges instead – needless to say they became very soft and squelchy after a while!
Anyway, all in all, I had a fantastic time and arrived back home safe and sound only 2 days before Christmas.
I hope you are well and that the awful weather conditions there are improving.
Keep well and God bless.
New birds I saw
Okavango
- African golden oriole
- Arnot's chat
- Arrowmarked babbler
- Bearded woodpecker
- Black cuckooshrike
- Blackchested prinia
- Blackheaded oriole
- Broadbilled Roller
- Burchell's starling
- Cardinal woodpecker
- Crested barbet
- Glossy starling
- Great White Egret
- Greater Honeyguide
- Greybacked bleating warbler
- Greyhooded Kingfisher
- Ground Hornbill
- Hadeda Ibis
- Hamerkop
- Hartlaub's babbler
- Knobbilled duck
- Lesser honeyguide
- Lesser Jacana
- Little Bee-eater
- Longtailed shrike
- Longtailed wagtail
- Marabou stork
- Meyer's Parrot
- Pintailed wydach
- Pygmy Goose
- Redbacked shrike
- Redbilled buffal weaver
- Redbilled helmetshrike
- Redbilled oxpecker
- Saddlebilled stork
- Scarletchested sunbird
- Wattled Crane
- Whiteheaded vulture
- Yellow white eye
- Yellowbilled oxpecker
Chobe
- African Green Pigeon
- Carmine Bee-eater
- Heuglin's robin
- Redfaced Mousebird
Savuti
- Lilacbreasted Roller
- Redbilled Francolin
- White helmetshike
- Woollynecked stork
- Yellowbilled stork
Victoria Falls
- Blackcollared barbet
- Collared palm thrush
- Golden weaver
- Gymnogene
- Namaqua Dove
- Redbilled Wodhoopoe
- Rock Pranticole
- Trumpeter Hornbill
- Whitefronted bee-eater
Zimbabwe
- Blackcollared barbet
- Whitefronted bee-eater
- Namaqua Dove
- Gymnogene
- Trumpeter Hornbill
- Rock Pranticole
- Collared palm thrush
- Golden weaver
- Redbilled Wodhoopoe
