Everything looks better from the air

So, while home in the UK a month or so ago I had my birthday. Now presents between Malc and me are always a little tricky as we are limited to what we can use and store on the road, we have done most of the activities out here and we are both generally unhelpful with offering any suggestions to the other. That said, Malcolm delivered a winning present in the form of a foam airplane toy with a message inscribed which said “Everything looks better from the air- exchange this for a flight over the Delta”.

The Okavango Delta in Botswana is one of the largest inland deltas in the world and is home to the biggest migration of animals worldwide. It’s always a popular stopping point on our trips with most people (myself and Malcolm included) who opt to do the 2 night Mokoro canoe excursion which entails being poled through narrow waterways to a remote patch of land which you make your camp for the 2 nights while spending the days on bush walks, relaxing reading a book or messing around in the canoes.

               

There is also the option to do a scenic flight over the delta yet the opportunity never really arose for me to go, cue Malcolm’s present…

So armed with my foam airplane which I could exchange for a flight we hunted for other willing passengers to bring the cost down. Given that the guys off our truck were on the canoe trip we thought this may be a little hard, but much to our surprise a lovely British couple David and Tish bumped into us and were also looking for willing passengers. (If you get chance you should look them up www.bigorangebedford.com they have some awesome travel tales and an equally awesome truck) So quick call around and we were booked onto an hour long flight in a 3 seater plane.

The flight was amazing for showing the vastness of the delta, the water level is low right now but you can still easily see the waterways and the distance they stretch is as far as the eye can see. We got lucky and saw a lot of wildlife including giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, hippos and crocodiles. I managed to catch this pic of a huge group of water buffalo in a big group all going for an afternoon dip. 

               

We also saw hundreds of elephants on the flight which was great but whenever we spotted them the pilot would swoop down causing my stomach to do backflips and causing me to look fairly pale by the end of the flight!!! Still it did mean we could get some cool photos…

              

               

We’re now in Victoria Falls, which is the opposite of the delta and is actually high water right now!

Grace x