Africa Day Five - Flight and Chief's Camp

Back onto a bush plane for the short flight from Stanley's Camp to Chief's Camp.  Still in the Moremi Game Reserve, still in the Okavango Delta.

The scenery viewed from the plane of the Okavango is remarkable.  Strange pans and salt-encrusted islands...the Delta is one of the world's largest inland water systems.  Once upon a time it flowed into a lake called Makgadikgadi - the lake dried up a very, very long time ago, but the flooding of the Okavango continues, driven by rains in Angola.  The flooding waters travel incredibly slowly, taking nine months from the source to the very bottom of the delta, where the water drains into the Kalahari desert.  

When we were there, the waters were just arriving at Stanley's camp, near Maun and the very bottom of the Okavango delta.  At Chief's, they were also a recent addition to the landscape.  

Chief's Camp is located on Chief's Island.  Here are some pictures of what the view out of the plane looked like.

Below is an aerial shot of Stanley's Camp...

Giraffe!  Although I think they look like Brontosaurus.  "They're traveling in herds.  They DO travel in herds."  (Jurassic Park).  You couldn't help but think of Jurassic Park every so often while in Botswana.  I mean for one thing, Gavin was a dead ringer for Dr. Alan Grant.  For another, well, look at that picture below.  

After the plane dropped us off, we waited for it to take off safely again.  The planes don't have any way of communicating with the camps, so if we left and something happened they'd be out of luck.

Then we drove to Chief's Camp to check in, and eat something.

On the way we saw a lot of scorched earth - two weeks earlier they'd had a bush fire.  They were all rather glad for it, the fire cleared a lot of brush and will create more open grazing areas.  And it made viewing the wildlife a lot easier!  The camp staff said it had been a very slow-moving fire, so there'd been no fatalities, animal or human.  In fact, we found a few patches of underbrush still smoldering throughout the camp...

The fire revealed many things - including old bones.

Chief's Camp main lodge - this structure was a cut above the Swiss Family Robinson tent lodge of Stanley's, but I found I missed Stanley's Camp and its informality...

We stopped for our orientation meeting, and a cool drink...Chief's Camp boasted a very nice bar, a pool with pool deck, and this viewing deck near a small body of water.  When we came out our new hosts told us we'd just missed several lionesses drinking from the pool behind us.

And then we went to put our bags down in our...well the word "tent" is becoming less and less appropriate at each camp we visit, isn't it?

# 2 Sekyathole - home for the next few days.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

As you can see, our new accommodations were unspeakably lavish.  They included an indoor, AND an outdoor shower.  

Our "tent" had a mini-bar...

Sandy walked up to the main lodge...I can't remember why.  I stayed behind and checked out the tent more thoroughly.  And I went out onto the patio, and it was then that I met the first of the creatures we were sharing space with.

A green spotted bush snake.  It was the first time I'd ever seen a snake climb a tree in real life.  It doesn't seem possible, but they move pretty quickly, finding purchase somehow in the bark.  Wild.