Mike Carter writes about his time in Botswana with Journeys by Design for the Financial Times’s Life and Arts section in Water World.
Traversing the Okavango Delta, technically a desert which, due to the particular positioning of a tectonic fault and Angola’s heavy rains to the North East, is also one of the most fertile swamps on the planet, Carter’s story takes place by speedboat, helicopter, mokoro and on foot, in one form or another.
Described by Carter as part Eden, part Jurrassic Park, along his 160-mile journey, from the panhandle in the north to Maun he is hosted by the Byrons who know the Okovango intimately from each blade of grass, to the mega-fauna and geologic structures of quartzite schist called the Tsodilo Hills, sacred to the indigenous San. ‘Simon [Bryron] would find us spots to swim’, Carter tells us, ‘and you realised that, out there, without guides such as Simon, our life expectancy would be pretty low’.
Do have a read for the rest of Carter’s adventure or, if you’re interested in a luxury safari holiday to experience the Okavango Delta by helicopter, speedboat, mokoro or on foot, please get in touch and one of our destination specialists would be happy to start the conversation.