Dazzled By The Delta

“Okavango” must be one of the most evocative words in travel. It’s easy to stay on the banks of the river or next to the Delta, but for the real experience you need to get your bum into a mokoro and spend a night on a houseboat.

- Toast Coetzer

It might be because his nickname is Seagull, but it takes a few minutes before I begin to trust my poler. But once I do, and I stop worrying about capsizing and becoming croc brunch, I can really begin to enjoy this classic

Botswana experience. Being in a mokoro on the Okavango Delta is a rare treat. There’s something reassuring about being propelled without the disturbance of an outboard engine. You get to appreciate other sounds, like the call of a fish-eagle or the snorting of hippos, which seem ominously close… And then, underneath it all, there’s the hypnotic, repetitive sound of the mokoro being pushed through the water; the pause between each pole stroke as important as the slushing of water that frames it. During that moment you glide forward stealthily, and the odd droplet might fall on your back as Seagull (real name Sesopo Ngoshi) lifts his pole high, gathering his muscles for the next powerful thrust.

By now you know that Seagull won’t tip you over. He’s at home here, as relaxed and capable as you are behind the wheel of your car. Behind you, the landscape swallows up the place where you pushed off into the water. Ahead, the horizon is a mirror reflecting the thin clouds above. Next to you, when you brush through reeds, you see an Angolan reed frog clinging to a stem. The surface of the water is constantly shaped and reshaped by ripples, broken by saucer-sized lily pads and white flowers like stars. Your eyes take photographs, even if your camera is just hanging around your neck.

The flotilla of mokoros – each one filled with two smiling guests – is headed for an island in the Delta. An “island” is typically a slightly raised piece of land where ancient anthills have formed a refuge for trees like wild dates, jackal-berries and sausage trees.