Home » Botswana » Jul 22, 2004 Xugana Lodge, Okavango Delta, Botswana

Imagine an isolated island on a wide and vast delta waterway, surrounded by a gentle lagoon fed by narrow channels lined with papyrus and tall reeds. Imagine gently waking to nature’s alarm clock as, one by one, the birds greet the growing steel-gray of dawn with a fugue of disparate song melding into a beautiful symphony of the awakening earth. Imagine quiet afternoons, the sun dappled through the trees offering a play of shadow and light, rolling dreamily in the light breeze over the fern covered loam; the lagoon rippling in rhythm with the moving shadow. Imagine that same lagoon reflecting the burnt orange fire of the evening sun dropping to the horizon, the sky ablaze with color. <br />

Jul 22, 2004 Xugana Lodge, Okavango Delta, Botswana

Tom Schueneman
2006-03-27 15:38:52

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into our thatch and wood “chalets” with large screened sliding doors that don’t lock (why should they?), we were taken across the lagoon to enjoy the sunset over the delta. Sitting in the boat amongst the reeds and water lilies made for what could be some of the best sunset shots of the trip, though we’ve got plenty of opportunities left for some great sunsets!

This morning was my favorite activity, involving moving around using two legs as the principal means of locomotion – some call it a hike, as in “go take one!” We did! It was refreshing to have my feet on the ground while practicing being a bipedal mammal. It also helped to give me an admittedly vague sense of how it must have been like to be a bipedal mammal eons ago when one had little more than their own resourcefulness in living day to day in the wilderness; finding food to eat and refraining from becoming food to eat for the multitude of creatures that had little reason, at the time, to fear a large-brained animal walking on only two legs.

To that end, Alwyn and the local guide from the lodge took very seriously their role in making sure that we didn’t blunder into the mouths of waiting predator.

Taking a thirty minute early morning boat ride through a series of reed and crocodile lined waterways, we ended up on a relatively large (though still pretty small) island named “Palm Island”, apparently due to the two or three palm trees visible on the horizon. Upon disembarking from the boat, I promptly headed off down a path looking for trees to take pictures of. I was quickly rounded up by the local guide and asked to return to where most of the group was standing around Alwyn. I had no desire to be a troublemaker, so I complied.

Alwyn reminded us that we were still in the African bush, full of dangerous animals just waiting for a chance to get at a fleshy human outside one of those infernal Land Cruisers. While Alwyn talked, the local ...