It was amazing. Once we were in the Mokoros (flat bottom canoes) it took over an hour for us to arrive at the campsite they had chosen for us. The polers then helped us set up our tents and basically did everything about setting up camp. They are really happy cheerful energetic people and nothing is too much trouble for them. We had two leaders on our expedition, Justice and Dreamer. All of the polers take other names, we do not use the ones there parents gave them i do not know if that is because we couldn't pronounce them or they don't want us to know them. On our trip we had Justice, Dreamer, Jessica, Monica, Bee, Shelly, Luke, Marcel and another girl we never knew he name, they all told us there name son the first night and they weren't mentioned again, we were lucky we remembered the amount we did.
The Polers use poles to move the mokoro's they do not have paddles or oars, just poles so can only operate in water that is not too deep for their poles.
On the first afternoon we went for a long walk, and we didn't see any animals, well we saw some Zebra, but they were a long way off and you couldn't even see their stripes, they had to tell us they were zebras. We saw some birds too and that was it. So I decided right then that I would not be doing anymore walking around the Delta. So when they set off the next morning at 6am for a 3 hour walk, I was not with them, neither was Narelle. luckily as they didn't see any game at all. same thing the next night and the next morning, nothing ziltch, so I am very glad I didn't hike all over Africa, huffing and puffing, for nothing. Apparently the water is too high at the moment for where we were, so we didn't see any game at all, and on a brighter note, we didn't get eaten by lions either. We still had to take all the precautions for leaving our tent in the night time etc, but no wild animals at camp at all.
We had a cruise in the evening yesterday, in the mokoros, but we didn't see anything then either. Narelle and I did have a relaxing time though and the Polers were great, they entertained us with music and dancing and games last night and it was a great evening. It was the first time I have actually seen Orealeo be relaxed and he was hilarious, I think he and his wife were both half cut, they had us in hysterics.
As Justice was bringing Narelle and I back to the Poler station, he showed us an elephant, our first sign of game on the whole camping trip and it was about 200 meters from the finish...
Today we got back to Maun about 12 pm and had lunch, we are back in the great accommodation, so a good nights sleep tonight I hope, the last two night were on hard ground, with a thin mattress that could not cope with my weight.
This afternoon we had a flight over the Delta, for an hour and it was brilliant. We saw so many animals it was amazing, so they are on the Delta, we just didn't see them. I tried to get photos, but as we were up 500 feet, it was hard to get any good pics, my camera is crap. Our pilot looked to be about 12 years old, he looked like he should be doing his homework, not flying planes, I was tempted to ask him if his mother knew where he was. But he did know his business and we had a great smooth flight. We saw all kinds of animals in our hour flight, it was well worth doing and only $90 Anmrican.
As we were heading to dinner tonight Narelle and I saw a goat at the crossing, waiting to cross at the red light, Some cattle going around the roundabout and some horses on the roundabout, we then spotted 3 donkeys crossing the road, this was all in the town and all within a 200 meter area. It was something to see. The animals run free here, even in the towns. Pumy told us if you hit an animal in the day, you have to pay for it, but if you hit it a night you don't, as they should be locked up at night.
We have had two really different days, neither of us was fussed on the camping sleeping, but we are glad we did it, the polers are amazing and it was great to see how they live and have them show us their country. We were honoured really.
Tomorrow we head for the Rhino sanctuary and on Sunday our tour ends and we fly out to Singapore on Monday.
That's all for now, I am too tired to write more
Cheers
Lones
sounds amazing xxx
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