Our second day started with a good breakfast. I dont remember what fresh joice we had that day but i do remember that each day it was a new one. It might've been passion fruit juice that day.
After breakfast it was time to walk around the forrest looking for various monkeys that live there. We already saw squirrel monkeys and howler monkeys on the trail that brought us to the lodge on the first day. And today we were looking for 3 remaining types of monkeys.
Unfortunately although our guide thought that he heard capuchin monkey, we were not able to find them that time. We did see howler monkeys up close again.
After few hours of hiking around rainforest and enjoying the nature, we returned back to the lodge for our lunch and a bit of rest.
The second part of the day we spent on the lake looking for Giant Otters and Black Caymans.
As we came down to the pier to get into our boat, this was the first time we saw a glimpse of Coco, the neighborhood friendly Black Cayman
After a bit of paddling around the beautiful lake, we saw a family of Giant Otters fishing. Unfortunately they kept their distance from our boat.
We watched them for a while as they were getting fish for their pup.
As the sun started to set, we moved to the other side of the lake. After watching beautiful sunset in the middle of the lake in the middle of the rainforest, we started looking for Black Caymans. We moved along the coast in a pitch black, using our flashlight to look for the reflections from Cayman's eyes.
It was not hard to find a Cayman.. (it was much harder to take a good picture of it in the dark) But we got too close. We got so close in fact that i think we might've spooked it. It jerked, hit our boat and went into the water. It almost flipped our boat (which would not have been good). But at the end, we were only slightly wet from all the water it splashed into our boat.
After this interesting encountere, we returned back into the lodge for yet another nice dinner.
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
2 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.