Breakfast, then bushman's walk with Carstom. He showed us all sorts of bushman survival tricks including starting a fire with sticks, how to get juice out of a tuba bulb and how to set a trap for small animals or birds with a few sticks and a piece of string. Very interesting.
Carstom starting a fire
Carstom collecting a tuba bulb
Carstom drinking the liquid from the flesh of a tuba bulb
It was a very hot morning we were all glad to get back to camp for a light brunch. Headed off to the airstrip to catch another small plane to our next camp, Little Kwara in the Okavango Delta, about 1.5hours north of Tau Pan Camp.
Waiting for the plane
Departure lounge
Boarding the plane
We had to go in two groups so Terry and I went in one plane which was stopping in Maun to pick up another English couple. They had been held up in London due to snow at Heathrow and missed their stay at Tau Pan but were joining their niece for the next camp. Their luggage had gone missing due to the chaos at Heathrow and they had done some basic shopping in Maun (not a lot of choice!). They were seasoned travellers and not too stressed, just tired. They were dropped off at another camp in the delta but we'd meet up again at our last camp.
On the way to Maun
View of Maun township from the plane
We arrived at Little Kwara around 2. We were met by Master, our guide and Chester, our tracker. The rest of our group had already arrived and gone to their cabins. We were shown to ours, it was very hot outside and extremely stuffy inside the cabin. It had been closed up for a few days so took a bit of time to cool down. The water in the tap was like runny dirt which wasn't good.
Our room at Little Kwara
We put on our bathers and went back to the small pool to cool off and rest in the slight breeze near the mess hall. We told management about the water which they were able to fix, thankfully. You can't drink any water but it is needed for showering. After a swim and a cold drink we headed back to the cabin to get ready for our afternoon safari.
Had more food and a cold drink in the mess hall before heading off in the jeep at 4.30. Little Kwara is on a private concession so the jeeps can go "off road".
First attraction - 2 lion cubs and mum. The cubs were trying to attack a baby croc in high grasses. The croc was keeping them at bay snapping at them and whipping his tail about. We couldn't see all the action as the grass was quite long but it was fun to watch the cubs jumping about trying to attack the croc. The mum lion wasn't interested at all, just lazed in the grass close by.
Mother lion watching her cubs
Cubs and mum watching the baby croc in the grass
Then we had an amazing drive coming across giraffe, elephant, zebra, steenbok, impala, hippo, different birds - all within an hour or so. We were all just speechless. Terry snapped off 120 photos in no time.
Elephant
Tsessebe
Giraffe
Hornbill
Burchell's zebra
Impala
Pied Kingfisher
Flat tyre
Sunset at a watering hole with hippos making all sorts of noises. A G&T with a few nibbles... couldn't be better.
Hippos at sunset
Dinner at 8.30 with another 2 couples, one from Italy, one from Perth. Their last day in camp before moving up the delta to their next camp. Had a good chat about what everyone had seen.
The same routine here - an escort back to the cabin. Along the short walk Master said "snake" and of course Pam jumped, let out a small shout and hid behind Terry. Just the thing you're not meant to do! Thankfully it was only a small bush snake and slithered off, no doubt more frightened of us than we were of it.
Bed around 10, long day, but just amazing.
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