Days 52-54: Okavango Delta, Botswana

Travelling in Africa teaches you patience. There are frequent delays and stops in your travel, and nothing happens as fast as it should. A 120km stretch of road can take 2 hours one way, and 4 hours coming back. A border can take 5 minutes or an hour and 5 minutes. Add in flooded roads, random police checks, arbitrary shop closures and getting around can be a real challenge in keeping your cool.

The thing is, it's always worth it. And I got a real lesson on this point when we travelled to the Delta. I was a bit hesitant about the journey- we had seen so much wildlife already, and nowhere can measure up to the standard set by the Serengeti. It takes 2 border crossings and a 5 hour truck ride to get there, 3 of which are spent bouncing over dirt roads at a frustrating 30km/hr. When we finally arrive, we have to cart 3 days worth of gear down a sand road and load it into makoro dugout canoes, as the only access to our camp site is across water.

As soon as we set off in the makoros I felt embarrassed for my frustration. This is amazing. The makoros glide across the water, drifting through natural channels, and at other times carve a new path through the reeds.

Having spent so much time on the visual hunt for the big game, you can get a bit obsessed about the famous mammals and forget about all the other life that exists in Africa. And the Delta is teeming with it. As you punt along flicking through the reeds and branches, you are constantly peppered with an endless stream of critters- tiny frogs smaller than a fingernail, a dozen types of spider, praying mantises, crickets and myriad insectoid bric-a-brac.

In the distance you hear a roar- hippos. Later, a thunderous clarion call as elephants emerge from the bush to crash their way across the water to better feeding grounds.

We set up a bush camp on tiny island, a mere 300x500m outpost which only exists when the flood waters are at their peak. Snakes fall from trees and swim by our canoes, hippos call to each other, warthogs snort outside my tent. Termites, spiders, ants, birds- a dozen for every inch.

The island is breathing.