Africa: Day 4 (Nata + Maun, Botswana)

Had a family of hornbills that decided 5AM was wakeup call in the tent this morning. Fortunately, that meant I got to watch the sunrise while the last of the elephants finished at the watering hole. Hyenas had been active overnight, but it seemed there were no casualties…at least on my short walk to the lodge.

Sadly said goodbye to the elephants, had breakfast and left Elephant Sands around 8AM, headed on a 4-hour ride to Maun.

It’s quite comical how long it takes to get anywhere on the highways here. Not because of the roads or the traffic or anything else, simply because every mile or so, there are ostrich or elephants or donkeys or goats crossing the road without a care in the world.

Did you know that ostrich lay communal eggs and the strongest female & male are the ones to sit on the nest? Females sit during the day, due to their lighter color that camouflages better, males sit at night where their black and white feathers won’t overheat the eggs and they hide in the night.

After a quick stop to refill our jugs of water and grab a bite to eat, we made It to a beautiful stay for the night called the Sedia Hotel. This place seems like an absolute dream after the last few nights; AC in the rooms, even a fridge to cool our giant 5L water bottles.

Relaxed for a bit before heading to the airport for our ‘scenic flight’ over the Okavango Delta. This was a really cool experience for a number of reasons (finally saw Zebra), but most importantly, it vave context to where we will be boating/hiking/camping to the next night. Miles and miles of lush greenland sandwiched between miles and miles of grazed and baron lands, sprinkled with every animal we’ve seen so far, I’m ready to get out there and experience it from the ground.

Amazing dinner with the group by the pool; Moroccan Lamb Tinga for me. Each person has amazing stories about the places they’ve been, the tours they’ve been on; feels like hours just pass by through storytelling. Never the less, we all had to head in for a good shower and to pack our day bags for the trip into the Delta in the morning. Sleeping bag, headlamp, bug spray…check, check, and check.

A once in a lifetime adventure awaits in a matter of hours. Until then!