Khwai River camp

8 Sept
We left the hotel at 10am and drove into Maun to meet Modumo, our guide and driver for the Okavango Delta. Modumo's open safari vehicle had four rows of three seats with a roll-up transparent wind break in front of them.
The road north from Maun is unsealed and fairly rough. We stopped by the track for a sandwich lunch. By early afternoon the journey had turned into a game drive, slowing down, rolling up the wind break, and searching for wildlife. Modumo was an outstanding guide, with a great knowledge of animals and birds.
We saw (and stopped to see) beautiful birds, had a close encounter with a large bull elephant, saw a waterbuck and some blue wildebeests.
As we were approaching our camp around 6pm, Modumo stopped on a low bridge to view the sunset through the fork of a dead tree in the water.
While we watched (and photographed), two huge hippos had a fight right in front of us! Amazing.
When we arrived at what we expected to be a "tented camp", we were pleasantly surprised to find brand new bungalows spaced along a raised walkway that led to the dining area.
Apparently floods had inundated the tented camp. Arriving at the camp we were greeted by a group of staff singing our welcome, and damp towels to wash off the safari dust!
Every time we came and went during our stay the same group was lined up to farewell and greet us.
We were led to our room by a young man who proceeded to explain the purpose and operation of the room facilities (light switches, taps, etc) in detail. It was really lovely.
It was dark when we arrived and we were told we must not leave our rooms in the dark due to the danger from elephants and hippos. They weren't kidding.
When we were all being escorted to dinner we had to wait on the walkway until a bull elephant, metres away from it, had moved away.
Before dinner we all sat in a circle around a fire for a briefing. Anita's chair tipped backwards in the mud and she landed in the edge of a pond.

9 Sept
An early start today for a morning game drive, and walking to breakfast in the pre-dawn light was beautiful.
Khwai is in the Okavango Delta, where the waters of the mighty Kavango River spread out and evaporate our disappear into the Kalahari sands.
Just about every pond the size of a large farm dam contains hippos and crocodiles, and wildlife is abundant.
Highlights of the morning:
We found a herd of red lechwes, and watched a pretty serious fight between two males.
We saw a group of tsessebe, a large antelope that can reach speeds up to 90km/hr.
A family group of giraffes including a baby.
Back to camp for lunch and a rest before going for a canoe on hippo infested waters surrounded by big scary elephants.
On the way back to camp we visited a hyena den and watched the pack matriarch carrying for her two cubs as a number of pack members returned to the den. Very special.Read more