Feature:
Where The Wild Things Are
“OKAVANGO DELTA, BOTSWANA- I’m
jolted from sleep by a deep & rolling roar & what sounds like the
slithering paws of a large cat trawling through my cabin.
‘Oh my God, I think something’s in
our room,’ I whisper, waking up my friend & roommate…
…as we lay in our dreamy cabin in
the great wilderness of Botswana’s
Okavango Delta, we were truly snoozing where the wild things are.
Finally I picked up the phone beside
the bed…
‘Something is in our room, we need
help,’ I stuttered… She alerted the safari staff on patrol. They discovered an
elephant had been roaming around all night on the deck that lined the lodge
perimeter…
That drama-filled last night of our
safari was a fitting end to what had been a week of pure magic & wonder.
We landed in Botswana…after
48 hours with no sleep, traversing time zones on 2 back-to-back overnight
flights & another 4 flights. The safari began as soon as we got to Pompom
airport in Muan, Botswana. We jumped in a 4 by 4
after being greeted by 2 guides from our safari company…
Minutes into driving deep into the savannah, we were shaken out of our
bleariness by the sight of vervet monkeys swinging through tree tops, herds of
impalas prancing by,
&
graceful woodland kingfishers with fringed, bright blue wings sweeping through
the cloudless sky…
We drove through the vast expanse of
sun-drenched land, sprinkled with acadia trees, bulbous baobab trees, &
towering termite mounds, steering over & through bushes. We turned a corner
& spotted a pride of 6 lions sprawled in the grass, lounging in the
blistering afternoon sun in post-kill splendor. Their lolling yawns revealed
formidable fangs & hinted at the hard work that goes into ruling such a
fine kingdom…
The big cats are among more than 100
species of mammals & 400 species of birds that call the delta home. This
diversity found amid the lily-speckled marshes, blue lagoons, & picturesque
woodlands make this place, set along the banks of the Okavango River, one of
Africa’s richest game-viewing destinations…
A 5:30 AM wake up call began another day of exploring where zebras,
hyenas, water buffalo, elephants, & giraffe coexist & roam free. We
left the wilderness of the delta to head to Chobe National Park, the
third-largest game park in Botswana & one that boasts one of the largest
concentrations of game in Africa, including the biggest herds of elephants…Just
after entering the gates into the lush terrain, we were greeted by a journey of
giraffes munching on the acacia trees that dot the plains. Our guides imparted
this interesting fact: As a defense mechanism, once the acacia foliage is torn
by a forging giraffe, the plant emits an airborne gas, ethylene, alerting
nearby plants to increase tannin production, which giraffes don’t like. The
animals then move upwind to dine on plants that failed to catch the drift.
…We jumped into a boat & cruised
down the Okavango
River, where we saw elephants
frolicking in the water alongside their adorable offspring, glimpsed a hippo
bobbing in & out of still water, & staked out a crocodile, hoping to
see its jaw snap…”
Charmaine
Noronha
ASSOCIATED
PRESS
The Montreal Gazette
Nov. 2/2013
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