Arrival - Page 1
After landing at Xaxaba airfield, an hours' boat ride took us northwards along the Boro to Tchau Island on the edge of the Ramosanyani flats. Northwards of this is a huge area bounded by the dry land of Chiefs Island to the east and the Sandveld Tongue on the west. In the center lies the Xo flats and the various channels of the Boro. Most of the area had been hunted until recently, but even so this is a region in which wildlife truly abounds. The scenery varies amazingly! On the eastern side of the Xo flats there are open plains. This is in complete contrast to the dense, thorn thicket bush of the islands in the Ngabekka region. And at Xligera, huge islands with spectacular Hyphaene forests abut directly against flooded scenery where the only dry land is lawn fringed termite mounds. At Tchau camp we were met by Alistair, the manager. and we transferred our equipment directly into the two mokoros that were waiting for us there. He introduced us to our two polers, Jimmy and Olay, and then rushed off to sort out the camps broken water pump. Jimmy, slight of build, turned out to be rather a serious individual. He never laughed and only occasionally smiled. His bush-craft was amazing, and his eyesight unbelievable. Olay was the joker of the pair and although his English was limited, he was the chatty one. Both of them also had unbelievable stamina, for they would pole their dugouts from dawn to dusk and then get restless when we insisted on resting for an hour on an island at midday!
On that first day we travelled Northwards, for 10 kilometers without any pause for rest or refreshment! Jimmy and Olay poled the mekoros hard and fast up the Boro, crossed over to the Eastern side and then struck off through the flood-plains. These were vastly different from the other parts of Jau we had visited on previous dugout safaris. For a start it was much more open and instead of streams, the floodwaters seemed to be moving in sheets across wide, plains-like scenery. This was not permanent swampland, rather it was seasonally inundated and the waters of the Okavango were only now pushing in to the grasslands......TO PAGE 2 >