We woke up early in the morning for an optional bird watching tour. Of course I took the opportunity! ;) The weather was still raining, but it was not a downpour like yesterday. We got to see more river dolphins!! They were pretty common around in this area. There seemed to be an adult and juvenile this time. The little one was more active and chased after its prey at the top of the water. We did not see a large amount of birds, because of the rain. We also saw a two toed sloth hanging on a branch, slowly looking around. There was a tanager nearby and the sloth actually was looking at it hop around the canopy, which was interesting to view.
After breakfast, we went to a community center to visit a school!! The community parents were painting the buildings and fixing up some sections of the center. All of the kids were playing soccer or other social games. Some of our group members played soccer too! I brought a lot of bouncy balls for people to play, so another tourist and myself were handing out bouncy balls to the kids. The kids looked at us and the bouncy balls. When I bounced one and showed them how to play with it, their eyes grew large! Then everyone wanted to play with a bouncy ball. They were very happy and were still playing with the toys when they lined up to continue with classes.
An active classroom!
The local community helping with painting and building projects.
Everyone playing soccer during recess.
Empty classroom!!
In the afternoon, we were given the opportunity on the boat to do some cooking. We were given a short class on how to make empanadas. Each of the tourist people had to make one on their own! Everyone did a great job making cheese empanadas, including my Dad and myself.
Making empanadas.
Having juice with our empanadas!!
In the evening, we went on a sandbar excursion. We were looking for more birds and animals on this large island sandbar. Some of the sand sank underneath us when we were by the shoreline, but we were given boots so we would not worry about getting muddy. We were walking towards the vegetated section of the sandbar until our guide, Avel, quickly pointed out a small ringing noise coming from the sand. He dug a hole with his hands and captured a mole cricket! This cricket looked like a cross between a mole and a shrimp. It sort of reminded me of Animal Crossing! We released the insect and it started to borrow again. On the sandbar, we encountered many parrots and parakeets squawking above us as they roosted in the trees on the sandbar. We saw many capybara footprints and saw egrets with a few pied plover. This excursion was very cool and it was optional. When you travel on these trips, there will be many free mini excursions. If you were not tired from the daily tours, I would definitely suggest you taking the mini excursions.
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
1 day ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.