Boogacres: Africa - Namibia to Botswana, Tuesday, March 7

Pelican Point.

Packed and ready to roll this morning, but first we enjoyed a two hour cruise. A small catamaran took us for Le Petit Pelican cruise of Walvis Bay. I almost passed on this cruise so I could have an extra hour this morning. But our bags had to be ready to go at 8:00. What else did I have to do. So glad I decided to go.

Our Walvis Bay ride.

The bay is beautiful. Filled with wildlife. In fact, we had a special guest, a Walvis Bay seal named Stripes, who stopped by for breakfast shortly after we cast off.

Stripes, a young seal stopped by for breakfast.

Stripes kept us entertained with his shenanigans for quite some time. And then later, he followed in the boat's wake for miles. The strangest thing was, I never saw him move a flipper, yet he kept right up with the speed of our catamaran. After a while, he became tired and jumped up on the boat's ladder for a little rest.

Chow Time!!

I'm too cute and lovable. How about another fish?

It was the "Stripes show" for miles behind the boat.

After following us for miles, Stripes finally jumped aboard for a much needed rest.

After Stripes entertained us, two huge white pelican's came aboard. These magnificent birds wandered around the boat, making friends and posing for photos. One even gave the captain some instruction on where to go.

Hey Cap, how 'bout taking it a few degrees to the left.

I must say, this is the first Pelican I've ever petted. Their feathers were soft, yet felt sticky, as if they had oil on them. They don't have a pretty face, but their bodies and feathers were stunning. Their movement around the boat looked uncoordinated and clumsy, but when they took flight, they were definitely in control with an extraordinary amount of skill and grace.

Meet my pet pelican.

No... you can't come home with me.

Double your pleasure, double your fun with two pelicans!!

Not the prettiest bird on the planet, but still beautiful.

Looks like angel wings.

During our cruise we passed an area dotted with colorful buoys attached to under water baskets which produce the largest cash crop in Namibia ... oysters. Our second breakfast this morning consisted of oysters from the bay. I'm not an oyster fan, but these were fresh and delicious. I had two and that was enough. Although they tasted great when loaded with Tabasco Sauce and lime juice, the slimy texture turns me off. But I couldn't come to Namibia and NOT eat oysters. When in Africa ...

Oyster farm.

Delicious fresh Walvis Bay oysters.

Champgane and Oysters. The breakfast of champions.

After our delightful cruise, we returned to our jet for the short flight to Maun, Botswana. After clearing immigration, we boarded a small Cessna Grand Caravan 208B aircraft for a short flight to Vumbura Plains in the heart of the Okavango Delta.

The Okavango Delta is a huge, swampy inland delta formed where the Okavango River dead ends into a tectonic trough never allowing it to reach a sea or ocean therefore forming this vast flood plain. Conservationist are working hard to protect this beautiful area.

We checked into the fabulous Vumbura Plains Lodge.

We've grown accustomed to our big plane. This is scary.

AND ... no lie flat seats!!

Chris from Wilderness Safari picked us up at the air strip and we had a short game drive on the way to the lodge. We ran into a bit of rain along the way. But Chris was prepared with amazing ponchos to keep us warm and dry.

Stevie said Chris's poncho is far better than the NatGeo poncho that we have. Like taking a knife to a gun fight.

Okavango Delta. Stunning.

I've been blessed to experience some pretty nice hotels in my life. Some had exceptional views, while others had amazing amenities and experiences, and others ... well, they were just over the top luxurious. But Vumbura Plains Lodge was a truly unique and wonderful experience. I can't wait to come back here. I've never been to a place like Vumbura Plains!! My room is little more than a thatch roof hut with screens all around. But the sunken living room with local accents of hand made pillows and ottomans are beautiful in their simplicity. The room is equipped with a refrigerator/cooler. Looks like an ice chest, but it's electric and loaded with local goodies ... all complimentary. Moving on to the bathroom, my room has a "loo with a view."

One can get back to nature while answering the call of nature.

The toilet is open air to a fabulous view of the delta. No need to worry about spectators, the only spectators are hippos, or perhaps an elephant or a Kudu. The rooms are spread apart quite a distance but all connected with a series of elevated wooden paths. There is no tv, no telephone and no wifi. And this is NO PROBLEM!! If there is an emergency, we have a radio. If nobody answers the radio, we had an air horn and are instructed to blast three times and then turn our lights on so the staff can find our room.

I have a thing for beds with curtains.

Here's my room key (my hand). Pretty tight security here.

The "Do Not Disturb" sign is the rope across the path.

This little critter, a Striped Skink was hiding under my laundry bag. What a surprise. I almost jumped out of my skin.

The bed is surrounded by shear curtains and is soooo cozy. The room is divided with three beautiful hand woven tapestries. The tapestries are hung on three separate runners, so they stack behind each other until you pull them out to close off the living room from the shower area.

These hand woven tapestries act as the room divider when needed.

Close up view of the tapestries to show detail.

Speaking of the shower, the coolest part of the room is the shower. Free standing in the front of the room overlooking the delta, the shower is surrounded with white curtains that are beautifully held in place with raffia rings. When I took my shower today, the "rain shower" head doused me with hot water while outside, the thunder clouds were pouring rain on the delta.

The shower!!

My view from the shower.

Here's what I had to look at during my shower this morning.

I forgot to mention ... there is an outdoor shower, a pool and huge patio, all overlooking the gorgeous delta.

Looking across the living room out onto the deck and pool.

I'm in room 8. It's quite a walk as it's the furthest room from the lodge. The walkway to my room is elevated except for where the wooden pathway takes a dip for elephant crossings. My room is three elephant crossings from the lodge.

The 2nd elephant crossing going to my room. As you can see, they actually do use the crossings.

At night, we are escorted to our rooms by a guide. The first trip to my room, I was greeted by a huge elephant. This was like a Disney moment. I couldn't believe I was standing face to face with such a magnificent animal.

Ran into this fella on the way to my room. Don't see something like this every day, eh?

The people here are so friendly. When we arrived, each employee personally introduced themselves to us. And they've remembered my name the entire time!! That's a true gift. They seem incredibly anxious to please and always greet me with an infectious smile.

Enough about the room and lodge. Getting down to more serious business, happy hour was on a deck overlooking the water, while a family of hippos kept us entertained. The staff set up a lovely bar and camp fire for us as we watched the sunset on the delta.

Our outside bar on the deck over looking sunset on the delta.

Champagne upon arrival. How civilized.

Happy Hour.

There is a swing in the foyer of the lodge. Just had to try it out.

Stevie, Julie, Lorri, Jane and Jean on the swing.

We only have two nights here ... which is NOT enough time. I could spend a whole day just sitting in my room sipping tea and checking out the delta. Afternoon showers really add to the incredible beauty of the Okavango Delta. There is a family of hippos living in the water just outside my room. I hear them at night as they make their way out of the water to feed. They have an unmistakeable growl/grunt as they wander past my room. I was a little intimated by this at first, but they seem more interested in eating than disturbing me.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Sunrise on the Delta.

The "music" played by the delta is tranquil and serene. Birds sing the most melodic tunes I've ever heard. The frogs tune in at night and other animals chime in a well, like the hippo I mentioned earlier as well as hyena and even an occasional elephant trumpet.

The lodge is not "plush" luxurious, but beautiful in a simple and efficient way. Imagine the Swiss Family Robinson's tree house on steroids.

Today's game drive was quite entertaining. The Land Rovers have stadium like seating with each row of seats higher than the ones in front, which makes for exceptional game viewing. The vehicles navigate the soggy swamp and Kalahari sands like a tank. It seems nothing can stop it as we drove off the road and into the thick brush through water, over logs and grass higher than the vehicle. The Land Rover just kept chugging along.

One of the rivers we drove through. The water almost came over the windshield here.

We got quite lucky this morning running across a huge family of elephant. We watched as they stripped bark from a tree to eat the sugar beneath.

The elephant uses his tusk to rip off bark, then uses his trunk to grab the sugary fiber beneath.

This termite mound is right by my cabin. It's as tall as a tree. Unlike an ant hill, this mound is hard as concrete. The African people use this material to make their huts. The Queen termite is incredibly interesting. She has a gland that secretes a hormone to determine what kind of offspring she'll have. If she needs the mound enlarged, she gives birth to builders, or hunters to gather food, or warriors to fight. She can also reproduce herself when she's getting ready to die. But she lives up to 80 years!!

We found this beautiful elephant family first thing this morning.

No sooner had we begun the game drive, when we ran across a pack of five very rare Wild Dogs. Sometimes referred to as "painted dogs" because of their markings, these dogs are endangered and the crew was quite excited to see them. We also ran across Tsessebe and Red Lechwe and endless herds of Impala before returning to the lodge for lunch and a little free time.

I had a nice massage after lunch on my outdoor deck overlooking the Delta. What an awesome place for a massage!!

The guides were quite excited to find these wild dogs, also referred to as painted dogs because of their markings. They are rare and almost extinct.

Must be a distant relative of Scruffy's.

Tsessebe, a member of the Antelope family.

A family of Impala are checking us out.

Red Lechwe

I love the similarity of the antlers and the tree branches aligned.

Spotted Hyena.

Gray "Go Away" Bird. So named because their chirp sounds like they are saying "go away!" They spread their wings in the sunlight so the ultraviolet rays can kill bacteria and parasites.

This is what the Gray Go Away bird looks like when he's not "spread eagle."

Kudu right outside my door.

We made our way across the delta to board Mokoro, a canoe type boat propelled by a "poler." The guide pushed and guided us through the water with a long pole. The water in this part of the delta is only a few feet deep and loaded with lily pads and grasses. No big game here, just beautiful scenery ... although, we did see a Giraffe cross the river just ahead of us.

Exploring the Delta in our Mokoro.

Stevie and Lorri in the Mokoro.

A giraffe crosses the river while on our Mokoro cruise.

This beautiful delta is in danger of being destroyed by upriver dams.

Mokoro cruise with Brian, NatGeo representative.

Our Mokoro guide, Solly, made a necklace out of a lily for me and a crown for Brian out of a lily pad. We were named King and Queen of the Delta. (For today, anyway.)

It was a really cool necklace.

And check out Brian's crown. Neither of them lasted long out of the water. Neither did our reign.

We were "poled" a few kilometers before turning around to head back to our Land Rovers for more game viewing, but not before a little "Starbucks in the bush" break. The crew had a spread of tea, coffee, cookies, nuts and biscuits for us after the Mokoro ride.

Starbucks in the Bush.

Our game drive and mokoro guides.

We continued our game drive at 5:00 this evening, but didn't run across many animals after the thunderstorm. Just a few Zebra, a spotted hyena and a lone Giraffe.

On the way back to the lodge, our driver, Chris, stopped near an Apple Leaf tree - in the middle of the delta - where our staff had set up a beautiful "bush bar." They served happy hour drinks and hors d'oeuvres out here in the middle of nowhere! It was phenomenally fun.

The Bush Bar.

Happy Hour in the bush.

Pre-Game Drive Happy Hour at the lodge.

Then we returned to the lodge where the entertainment highlight of the trip began. We were directed down a path illuminated with oil lanterns to a corral. The corral was to keep critters OUT, not us in. The corral fence was made with tree trunks of all shapes and sizes standing side by side to form a wall approximately 10 feet tall. Beside a roaring campfire, under the light of a half moon and thousands of stars for a ceiling, a full bar set up and MORE hors d'oeuvres on trays in front of chairs circling the fire pit, the entire staff of the Vumbura Plains Lodge marched out of the hotel singing African folk songs. It was obvious and later confirmed that this group competes in a-cappella choir competitions. Their performance was incredible!! Being outside around a camp fire made the evening more incredible. It was a definitely a cultural experience that I'll never forget.

Every member of the Vumbura Plains Lodge sang for us tonight.

Dinner was exceptional again tonight. One thing is certain, the NatGeo folks keep us well fed. I'm coming home with more pounds than I left with. When I get home, I'll be hitting the gym for 2-a-days! My new friend, Midge says we should call these National Geo-get-fat expeditions instead of National Geographic.

Time for another feeding!!

Dinner tonight was served in these interesting little pots wrapped in insulated pouches. Very cute and kept the meal warm.

The lids come off to reveal the assortment of tasty dishes.

Ostrich Stew.

Our awesome chef, Jannel.

We travel all day, eat, and by the time I get to the room at night, I'm exhausted. I try to write a bit, but usually just fall asleep with my computer in my lap, which hasn't been an issue lately as there is no wifi anyway, so I can't post my blog entries. My blog has become more of a photo account than written word. Probably better as one picture is worth a thousand words, yes?

We'll get back to civilization soon and I'll get caught up.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

This morning, we are loading up again to leave Botswana en route to Rwanda. On the way to the airport, we had time for one more game drive and ran across a couple of interesting beasts.