Okavango Delta a little piece of heaven

Okavango Delta is the world’s largest inland delta and it’s situated in the Kalahari Desert. The place teemed with life but the abundance of water made it difficult for us to spot any game when we traversed the delta in the traditional, but nowadays plastic, mokoro canoe.

The Mokoro Boat Station in the Okavango Delta 111010

Moving into the Delta

The mokoro canoe was a pleasant way of moving thru the Delta. Even if they were not optimal from a photographer’s point of view. You almost sat at water level and that made it difficult to see or shoot over the high reed beds.

The beauty of the Delta is truly magnificent. I really hope to go back there many more times. A dream would be to travese the Delta the Panhandle to Maun over 7-10 days stopping at different islands to make camp and conduct game walks. I am not sure if you will see a great diversity of wildlife, but it is more the wilderness experience than anything else.

We did a 1h morning flight over the Delta to see it from above. It was a spectacular vista from the air. We saw how widespread the animals where due to the amount of water in the Delta. I would recommend a game flight to everyone and if you can plan it then do a morning flight as water evaporates during the day making it harder to see the wildlife.

I must say that I felt that 1h was too long in the small and noisy Cessna. My suggestion would be no more than 45 minutes in the air and do bring your own ear plugs to dampen the noise inside the airplane.

If I go there another time I might book a flight by Helicopter instead of airplane. It would mean a smoother ride and a more stable platform to shoot from.

Photo Album: Okavango Delta 2011