Have you ever wanted to camp in the bush and photograph African wildlife in a vast green and lush landscape of water teaming with all kinds of animals? Then take a canoe safari in the Okavango Delta. Recently, a small group of us went on a canoeing safari to photograph wildlife in the Moremi Wildlife Reserve, where some of the greatest variety of wildlife and best-protected delta environments in Africa are located. Often described as “the river which never finds the sea,” the 1300 km long Okavango River forms a massive delta, in northwest Botswana, in Southern Africa. The river eventually disappears into a labyrinth of shallow channels, lagoons and islands, forming lush, swampy wetlands that would cover an area the size of Massachusetts. Having spent the previous two weeks camping in the deserts of Namibia, my partners and I felt that we had found an oasis when we first saw the dazzling green vegetation and the brilliant clear waters of the delta.
On the evening we arrived at our Okavango base camp, we were greeted by a South African named Victor. He was a mirror of this wild world, with a gentle easiness in his movements that seemed to reflect the pace of life around us and red-clay skin that told of much time spent under the African sun. Part of his job was to alert all visitors going out on the Mokoro Trail of the dangerous perils we could encounter.
“There are any number of potentially fatal situations you might find yourself in,” he said, his speech thick with an Afrikaans accent. “You must be vigilant at all times. If elephants come into the camp tonight, which they will, don’t startle them. Leopards too –we just saw one here last night. If you meet one on the trail, just stand still they will get confused and go away. Never, ever run — from any cat. If you run, consider it your last run!”
We listened attentively as he continued with the whole list, which included black mambas, puff adders, hyenas, crocodiles and hippos, the most dangerous animal in all of Africa.
“There is so much life here. Don’t be afraid. Enjoy everything that this place has to offer — there is so much to see and appreciate here. One woman came here and everyday she’d go out looking for lion and everyday she came back disappointed when she didn’t see any. She noticed nothing else. ” He shook his head. “And she left here never seeing a lion — never seeing anything.”
“The way of life here is slow, but it has a very soothing rhythm — something that western societies seem to have lost. Try to fall into this rhythm, to become for a short while totally in tune with nature and its daily ebbs and flows.”
The next day we head out with our guides in the mokoros, which are hand hewn wooden canoes and we drift slowly through the clear delta waters. These wetlands are filled with reed, papyrus and water lilies as well as acacia, leadwood and sausage trees, which are used to carve out the mokoros. The shallow dugout canoes appear precarious, but are amazingly stable and ideally suited to being propelled by a pole through the shallow waters.
Wildebeest and red leechwe keep their eye on our slow progress through the marsh grasses and an Africa fish eagle swoops down from its lofty perch to scan the waters for a meal. A few white egrets and a great blue heron prowl the reeds along the shore as I dip my cup into the fast flowing channel for a sip of the cool clear waters. Victor assured us that the bilharzia-free waters were safe to drink. The waters have been naturally filtered through miles of grasses and reeds and tested many times for bacteria content. He hadn’t heard of anyone ever getting ill from drinking the water.
As the sun grows hot, our guides edge the mokoros onto the grassy bank.
“You swim now,” Gobolya announces.
“Right here?” We ask.
“Yes, here. It’s OK.”
My sweaty companions and I survey the water, each of us wondering who would be the first one in. Though it looked tempting, I recalled the guidebook warnings we had read back at base camp: “Swim only where your guide recommends. Be the last one in and the first one out. If a croc gets you, go for the eyes with your thumbs. And never go anywhere near a hippo. Good luck.” African humor at its best. With no crocs in sight, we took our chances and jumped in. After not having had a shower for two days, the water had a wonderful cleansing effect on us. And the thrill of swimming where danger lurked gave us another tale for fireside reminiscences.
This is a magical place, full of wonderful images of the enchanted waters of glistening blues and shimmering greens and mystical sounds of life drifting through the marsh grasses and the scent of moist earth, wild animals and distant rain.
Go explore the Okavango with all of your senses and you’ll have the experience of a lifetime, as well as innumerable photos as your prize.
Relaxing on a deserted Tongan Island
Who hasn’t dreamed of escaping to a deserted island? A palm tree drenched spit of sand surrounded by gleaming “too blue” to be real water and absolutely no one else around. I’m sure you probably have. But unlike Tom Hanks in “Castaway” you don’t have to get shipwrecked or have your plane crash to find these deserted islands. You just need a few intrepid friends, a great sense of adventure and a bareboat charter.
A bareboat charter is basically the hiring of a boat, in my case a sailboat, where my friends and I would provide the crew and captain. Many island countries of the world have charter companies, which provide sailboats to clients who are certified captains and the rest become the crew. The charter companies stock the galley with a list of provisions of your choosing, including alcohol and you do all of the cooking.
It all started when a sailing friend of mine mentioned she was part a flotilla of 2 sailboats going to the Tongan Islands. I immediately said I wanted to go along. She said all we had to do was to get 6 more people, including one experienced skipper and we could add our boat to the adventure. Well, as luck would have it, a good friend of mine had been a captain for over 20 years, had owned her own sailboats and had her 100-ton license. We were all set, so off we all went to the Tongan Islands.
Tonga is comprised of 170 islands and about 1/3 of them are uninhabited and unless you have a boat or know someone who’s got one there’s not much chance of getting the experience of being on a real deserted island.
Bareboat Chartering
We booked our charter through a company called Moorings, who has bases all around the world where you can rent bareboat sailboats. We picked a 46-foot Beneteau which was quite roomy with 3 berths and 3 heads and a large main galley area. And then with minimal introduction to our new home away from home we packed up our supplies and headed off from the dock to our first uncharted island.
Hiring bareboats has become increasingly common as part time sailors are finding it easier and cheaper to vacation around the world on a rented boat and still get the experience of seeing the place they are visiting from the water. The unhurried pace of our floating hotel and restaurant made it easy to relax, cook, swim, scuba dive and visit with the locals. I found it was a more engaging way to visit a place. We became travelers rather then mere tourists. We’d pull up to their dock or take our dingy to their beach and walk in our bare feet to their huts or cafes nestled in the palm fronds and find places that you can’t reach by roads. A girl could get used to this life.
Bareboat chartering offers the ultimate in freedom, independence and a different way of seeing a country or in our case a group of islands. In the Tongan Islands for the most part we enjoyed line of sight cruising with only a few hidden reefs to worry about. Steady breezes, ample sunshine and palm-lined islands with white sand beaches beckoned us wherever we dropped our anchor. I had finally found my deserted islands and also a bareboat yachting paradise.
Moored in a remote Tongan Bay
One morning on our voyage, a silver haired woman with large round sunglasses quietly breast stroked over to the stern of our sailboat where I was sitting writing in the early morning light. As I looked up to see her she called out to me, “Is this the bevy of beauties I’ve been hearing about?”
We were something of a spectacle and we made a grand entrance into every port we entered, so it seemed our reputation was spreading fast. You see were 3 sailboats of 6 women each all with a woman captain at the helm, and our ages ranged from 31 to 73. We were a sight to behold.
The local Tongans we met were very curious as well & the typical question from them was, “Where are your husbands and children?” They actually laughed along with us when we answered them; ” Oh we forgot them at home!”
There is something magical the first time your sails fill with wind and you find yourself gliding through turquoise blue waters. There is nothing more peaceful, relaxing or more empowering than being in charge and at the helm of your very own sailboat.
This is our new blog format and we hope you’ll enjoy the stories, adventures and treks that women are taking from around the world….This is meant to be a gathering place of ideas, inspirations and motivations for all women. We are here to help propel you to get out there and do something adventurous in the world….
Photo: Rob Griffith / AP
Watson docked at the city’s iconic Opera House, bursting into tears and gasping in relief as she stepped off her yacht and into the arms of her parents. She hung onto her father and brother as she walked slowly and tentatively along a pink carpet rolled out in her honor — her first steps on land in 210 days.
“People don’t think you’re capable of these things — they don’t realize what young people, what 16-year-olds and girls are capable of,” Watson told the raucous crowd, many wearing pink clothes and waving pink flags in honor of her yacht, Ella’s Pink Lady. “It’s amazing, when you take away those expectations, what you can do.”
Her parents’ decision to let their daughter attempt such a feat was highly criticized.
“I don’t think any of us would ever doubt Jessica Watson again,” said New South Wales state Premier Kristina Keneally, who was waiting at the Opera House to welcome the teen.
“I’m completely overwhelmed. I just don’t know what to think and what to say at the moment,” Watson said, her voice trembling, in an interview broadcast live on a screen outside the Opera House. “It’s all a bit much, but absolutely amazing.”
Watson, from Buderim, north of Brisbane in Queensland state, sailed out of Sydney on Oct. 18. She traveled northeast through the South Pacific and across the equator, south to Cape Horn at the tip of South America, across the Atlantic Ocean to South Africa, through the Indian Ocean and around southern Australia.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd greeted Watson at the Opera House with a grin and a hug, dubbing her “Australia’s newest hero” — a description Watson dismissed.
“I’m actually going to disagree with the Prime Minister,” she said, as the crowd laughed. “I don’t consider myself a hero. I’m an ordinary girl who believed in her dream.”
Though she sailed nearly 23,000 nautical miles, some sailing enthusiasts have also argued that Watson didn’t travel far enough north of the equator for her journey to count as a true round-the-world trek as defined by the record council’s rules. Watson’s managers have dismissed those claims and argued she doesn’t need to adhere to the council’s rules anyway, since they won’t be recognizing her voyage.
The route took Watson through some of the world’s most treacherous waters, and the teen made it through monstrous storms and suffered seven knockdowns.
Read more at SF Gate >>
