During most winters the Okavango Delta fills with water originating in Angola. It takes several months for the northern rainwater to flow to this part of Botswana. In early 2019 the amount of rain in Angola was lower than normal and so the Okavango water channels were much narrower and shallower when we visited in July.  Even though we were not able to explore as many waterways, we probably saw more wildlife because of a higher concentration of animals in the fewer areas with water.

We saw many elephants on our mokoro adventure. And this is not surprising since Botswana has the largest elephant population in Africa, with over 135,000 roaming freely in unfenced parks and open spaces. Below are three elephant stories plus three other stories of our most memorable Okavango animal experiences. 

Lunch Guest – As we started to eat lunch on the third day of our mokoro safari, we noticed a large bull elephant in the distance. (See photo above.) Throughout the meal the elephant walked closer and closer to our campsite, which was surprising since we assumed he would keep a significant distance away in order to feel comfortable or safe.  He walked right up to the edge of our campsite, spread his ears, picked up some dirt in his trunk, and then blew the dirt at us. Carlos, our guide didn’t seem overly concerned with the elephant’s behavior, which was reassuring. But it was still a bit unsettling to have such a large animal very close to where we were sitting. The elephant moved around to the side of the campsite near our tent, took another long look at all of us, and then walked slowly away. 

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Harvesting Coconuts – During the first two or three days of our safari we heard and saw palm trees being shaken in the distance. But we were unable to see the elephants in the dense bush as they shook the trees so the tasty coconuts would fall. One morning on a bush walk we were able to see the entire process.  The elephant pressed his upper trunk against the tree and then pushed four or five times to shake the coconuts loose. Fortunately the tree stayed upright since it probably would have landed right near us. 

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Just Munchin’ Away – The afternoons were warm and many elephants made their way into the water to get cool. Elephants eat about 16 hours a day, so we often saw them eating partially submerged grass while they stood in the water channels. Watching this elephant habit from a distance is entertaining and no cause for concern. However, one afternoon during a mokoro ride we were quite surprised as we came around a bend to see a large elephant eating in the water directly in front of us.  We stopped, watched, and of course took some photos plus a video. The elephant didn’t move away, but definitely kept his eye on us.  After about 10 minutes Carlos beat on the side of the mokoro with his hands. This encouraged the elephant to move to another spot so we could continue down the channel.

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Midnight Visitors – One night two female adult lions visited our campsite. They walked around our tent and the kitchen area before stopping beside Eric’s tent to eat out of a bag of uncooked rice and tear into a tent sack. Eric awoke when one of the lions bumped against his tent. He quickly unzipped his tent, which startled the lions just enough to move about 10 meters away and lay down in the grass. He awakened his fellow camp staffers who also got up to investigate. Between the loud voices and bright flashlight beams, the lions didn’t stick around long and disappeared into the bush. Somehow we slept through all of the excitement. We learned about our midnight visitors the next morning and saw quite a few of their footprints right beside our tent. 

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Breakfast Break – We heard two lions roaring during our last night of the trip. The next morning Carlos said the cats were on a nearby island and that’s where we headed for our bush walk. We trekked around most of the island’s perimeter and saw quite a few baboons, impala, and warthogs, but no lions. As we started to head back across the island we spotted vultures sitting in a couple of tall trees, a sure sign that a lion kill was nearby.  Just as we got near a buffalo carcass Carlos caught a very quick glimpse of golden fur heading off into the bush. From the size and freshness of the tracks he said two male lions killed the buffalo the night before and probably were not far away. The carcass was only partially eaten. Since the lions were likely to come back soon for more breakfast and Carlos’ only weapon was a stick, we didn’t stay there long. 

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We never did see lions on our mokoro adventure, but we did have a fairly uncommon and incredible animal sighting . . .

Canine Curiosity – Carlos and Alias were great at spotting animals off in the distance and we were fortunate to have both of them as guides for a late afternoon bush walk. After trekking from our campsite for about 20 minutes, Carlos saw small brown ears in the grass about 200 meters away. A quick look in the binoculars confirmed that the twitching ears belonged to a wild dog! And as we walked closer we saw more pairs of ears for a pack of five wild dogs laying in the grass. Of course as we continued to slowly move closer, the canines noticed us and stood up to see what we were. They walked towards the four of us and then around to our left. We moved closer and stopped on a small termite mound to watch.

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We wished we knew what they were thinking. They seemed to be undecided about whether to go off on their sunset hunt for food, observe us from a safe distance, or come closer in case we might be tasty or interesting. The five of them eventually formed a semi-circle around us and one came within about 10 meters of us for a few moments. Fortunately they never acted aggressively. After 5 or 10 minutes of curiosity and indecision, the pack trotted off into the bush. We were very fortunate to see so many wild dogs at once and so close!  Even Carlos and Alias were amazed. 

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