My Chariots Await...

While in Botswana I utilized some interesting modes of transportation. The below vehicles (along with your legs) are literally the only way to get around most of the country. Traveling by these means certainly adds to the overall feeling of adventure on the safari.

The Cessna 6 seater plane:

The 4x4 Land Cruiser:

And finally our mokoro, a canoe made out of a large dug out tree:

For 7 days these were my only means to get ANYWHERE.
And now a brief geography lesson:
   About 70% of Botswana is covered by the Kalahari Desert. The Okavango River runs into Botswana from Angola and spreads over the northern part of the Kalahari into what is known as the Okavango Delta, the world's largest inland delta. The water levels in the delta (swamp) fluctuate during the year, however the water is usually at it's highest in June/July. This year they are predicting the highest water levels EVER recorded and that's reflected in the following videos - I was there in mid-May and the water was already incredibly high, that's why the vehicles shown above are the only way to traverse most of the country.

Here's a video I took from our 'mini-plane' while flying over the Okavango Delta. At about the 1:15 mark you can spot the landing strip and then watch as we land at the Mapula Lodge airstrip.

Here's our Land Cruiser at work during one of our game drives. Remember that 9 months of the year what we're driving on is road, but with the water so high we got this (there were literally fish swimming in the road):

Finally, this is a Dave's-Eye view of a mokoro ride. I'm sitting in the front of the 'canoe' as my guide, Papiu, steers using a long bamboo pole while standing in the back. It can be quite unnerving when you hear & see hippos and elephants around you while traveling in the flimsy mokoro...