Mokoro trip

The situation with my mattress turned out not to be a one-off. There is a tear in the fabric side of it, which is irreparable! So, we will both be using sleeping mats for the rest of the trip!! Despite us both wearing all the clothes we had in our overnight bag, it was still an extremely cold night! The temperature went down to 2˚C!! I couldn’t get my hands warm this morning, no matter how hard I tried! Packing up the tent was a struggle! Southern Africa is experiencing its worst winter in over twenty years, with nighttime temperatures being particularly low. It was snowing in Cape Town yesterday, and this morning, we heard there was snow as far north as Johannesburg!

We loaded everything back onto the cargo boat, and Laban and Henry set off back to Swamp Stop. We went with our local guides to join up with our mokoros and polers. It was a bit scary getting in them! We had a two-and-a-half hour boat trip through the delta in these canoe-like craft that carry two passengers and a guy who pushes it through the shallow waters using a long pole like a punt in Cambridge! I can’t say I found the experience all that comfortable! Despite the full sunshine, there was a stiff breeze, and the temperature remained low. We did see an elephant and some lovely birds. Halfway through, we disembarked the mokoros to have a nature walk on another island. The talk was very interesting, but most of us were too cold to appreciate the information we were being given!Read more