It felt like cheating to sleep in until 7 at The Residence. We enjoyed a quick but very luxurious breakfast in the dining room before we left for Johannesburg's OR Tambo Int'l Airport. We had to go through South African Passport control and walk through the massive airport mall. Our two hour flight to Maun, Botswana was smooth and easy. When we landed in Maun, we had to clear immigration and customs and go back through security to wait for our charter flight to Xaranna (pronounced Garana or Karana).
The charter pilot's name was Dusty. His simple pre-boarding speech was "It's going to be hot, it's going to be bumpy, but maybe we'll see some animals." He was right on all counts. The charter flights in South Africa were much smoother, but we flew at 7,000 to 9,000 feet. The Botswana charters only went up 2,000 feet. The flight only 20 minutes, so it didn't really matter. We did see Elephants and Hippos on our short trip.
Flying over the Okavango Delta, we could see that the land of Botswana was radically different from South Africa. There was water absolutely everywhere, and the land was so lush and green.
When we arrived at Xaranna Okavango Delta Camp we were greeted by Paolo, the Camp Manager and the staff singing us a welcome song in Tswana. He showed us around the small 9-cabin lodge and our fantastic tent cabin with a view of the river (with actual water flowing in it). Every tent cabin at Xaranna has a private plunge pool. It definitely wasn't terrible.
Prior to our game drive we enjoyed iced coffee while looking out over the hippos in the river nearby. Our ranger was KD and the tracker was Elicious. We'd be joined by a British couple and a pair a friends from Jo'Burg.
Out on the game drive, we marveled at the natural beauty of Botswana.
We saw a new antelope species, the red lechwe.
There was a single bull elephant, but KD keep a healthy distance. Apparently since there is less exposure to people in the preserve, the elephants are a little less tolerant of the vehicles.
After our elephant encounter, we got to experience Pula (the Tswana word for rain....and money...and Cheers!) There was an amazing lightning show off in the distance, which made up for the fact that spotting animals in the rain was virtually impossible. Just when it seemed to rain heavy enough that we needed to head back, the rain stopped.
Instead, we were treated to the spectacular sunset. We have very beautiful sunsets in Hawaii, but there is something very special about sunset in the African Bush.
We stopped by a small watering hole for sundowners. Elicious provided a brief lesson in the Tswana language which is spoken in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Rob tried the local St. Louis beer (which was like Coor's Light).
Back at the Lodge, we met the Hospitality Manager, Seranne, who also happened to be Paolo's fiancé. We enjoyed a beef kabob dinner with potatoes and veggies served by Kenneth, our very hospitable butler. After that we headed back to our cabin. We needed to turn in before the generator kicked off at 10:30pm. Sleep was slightly delayed by some large spiders, scary looking-but harmless arachnids, who invaded the tent due to the rain. After battling the spiders, our security guard knocked on the door to because there was a large python on the walkway between the cabins and the lodge. Rob went out to get a closer look, while Devon pretended not be terrified. No matter, we had a comfortable bed under mosquito netting and a long bush walk to look forward to in the morning.
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