Pushing off

Sit low. He does the rest.

You are on the floor of a narrow boat, a hand's width above the water. Behind you a man stands with a long pole, and the bank lets go.

Scroll, and he poles you on. Stop, and the Delta comes to you.Move down the page to be poled on. Press Stop here, and the Delta comes to you.

The lily pads stop rocking. Now you can hear it: birds, insects, and water going nowhere.

Some of what you find along the way can be kept for your plan.

From the bow of a mokoro, among water lilies

In the flood

This water fell as rain in Angola, months ago.

It arrives when the land around it is at its driest, and everything alive walks towards it. He lifts the pole when he sees something. You will not have seen it yet.

There. A red lechwe, up to its knees in the flood, looking straight at you.

From the bow of a mokoro, among water lilies.A red lechwe in the floodwater, Okavango Delta. Sightings are never certain.

Late afternoon

They cross ahead of you, and you wait.

Two elephants in the channel, shoulder deep, in no hurry at all. He holds the boat off among the reeds. It was their road before it was yours.

Sit still, and they carry on as if you were not there. You find you are holding your breath.

Elephants in the channel, Okavango Delta

Sundown

Then the sun goes into the reeds.

Another boat stands black against it. The water turns to brass, then to slate, and the first frogs begin.

Hippo, off to the left. Heard long before it is seen, if it is seen at all. He turns the bow a little away, and gives it the whole channel.

From the mokoro at sunset, Okavango Delta.

After dark

Now it is all sound.

The light goes quickly here. You come home by ear: the pole, the drip from it, and the reeds brushing the side of the boat.

Stop, and the frogs take the whole night for themselves. Nobody says a word.

A poler at dusk, Okavango Delta

A poler standing at the stern of a mokoro with two seated passengers, crossing open blue water in the Okavango Delta, another mokoro far ahead

When would you come?

The water is here from June to October. Choose a month and see what it brings.

Come and sit still.

Plan your journey Back to your journey
Crossing by mokoro, Okavango Delta