Kubu Queen with Greg

Some of my friends have complained about my "skimpy" photo selection from the last trans-Okanvago safari.  Below are some photos from the first part of the trip with Greg on his houseboat.

Ellen and Alicia had private cabins below.  Katy and I stayed on the back of the upper deck in two twin beds open to the elements.  They were gorgeous!  At night the moon reflected off the water and we heard barbel splashing against the bank.

After lunch Greg would drive the boat upstream to a new spot and we'd all lounge around reading and chatting.  The view from my bed was spectacular.  The sun was deliciously warm and made napping very easy.

The river is luxuriously wide here.  After only a day of making speed down the river with Mike we got into narrow tunnels of papyrus that cocooned his narrow boat.

Looloo and Feefee with cows

Cows come to drink at the river in front of my house.

Looloo likes to nibble on my dress.  

A Long Weekend at the Cabin

I just spent a weekend at the family cabin with my cousins and brother.  We hiked through the woods just as the leaves were all turning fluorescent colors.  We took a sauna every afternoon with many jumps in the frigid lake to cool off.  The boys (tried) to fish.  Lots of reading.  Lots of catching up.  All in all it was lovely.

A sidecar by the fire before dinner.

This is me on the fishing boat at 6:30 in the morning before Katy and I asked John to take us back to the cabin.  It was very cold.

We all enjoyed some s'mores by the fire.  

More Photos from the Trans-Okavango

Arriving at camp with the hazy smoke from our awaiting fire.

Three hooligans

Mike, our trusty guide, clears the prop.

The best spot on the boat.

Snake in the Storeroom

This morning my gardener, Mopipi, found a olive grass snake dead in my storeroom.  It had crawled into my berry netting, got stuck, and strangled itself.  We are pretty sure that this is the same snake that's been sighted near my compost in the past few months.  It's not too venomous, and only causes some pain and nausea to human victims.

All the animals were quite interested in the snake as Mopipi worked to cut it out of the netting.  Looloo and Feefee both came over to sniff and got a bit frightened.  Pepper kept on sneaking closer and closer to the dead snake and Looloo would herd her away which I quite liked.  It's taken the goats five months to accept the cats and I'm quite pleased Looloo feels so protective over Pepper now.

I actually suspect that the snake was chased into the storeroom by my cats.  It had a large wound near it's tail that they probably made.

Looloo is almost all healed up.  Her wound is no more than a small scab now.  I vaccinated them over the weekend and they are totally healthy.  My neighbors have reinforced their fence so their dogs are fully contained within their yard and I had a nice chat with someone who agrees with me that they are totally nuts.  All in all I feel pretty ok with leaving them again while I'm in the States.

Fishing with Greg

This catfish weighed 10 lbs!

Trans-Okavango 2010

I just got back from our annual trans-Okavango river safari.  We switched things up a bit this year and started in Shakawe on the loveliest houseboat in Botswana.  I fished so hard but only managed to bag one barbel and one tiger fish.  After two nights on the houseboat we met our trusty guide Mike and he pulled along side the Kubu Queen and we just threw our bags aboard and then hoped on the River Raptor.

This is our third year and even though the idea is always the same – traverse the Okanvango Delta in a 14 foot long aluminum boat with Mike – every time feels different.  I can’t even begin to provide a proper synopsis here but I shall try to give a condensed outline. 

First there is a very big river.  Huge crocodiles lie all over the banks.  We see one every minute.  Then we enter a very small papyrus channel where we all lie flat on the boat as reeds and papyrus wack us on either side.  After that we enter Xo flats, which is open and wide and very, very shallow.  Then there are lots of lagoons with lily pads.  Then there are high reeds with small, deep channels.  We see lots of elephants here.  Then it’s a proper small river with banks and we finally see cattle and goats and then we know that Maun is near. 

We spent five days on the boat swimming, fishing, listening to music, watching Ellen down Liquifruit like it’s her cocaine (she has her habit under control, just barely), watching Alicia turn an enviable shade of brown (SPF 4), watching Katy apply sunscreen every half hour (her freckles are gorgeous), and amusing Mike with our fabulous antics.