From Maun, another transit drive took us to Etsha 13. Etshas are communes set up by Angolan refugees who escaped the conflict in their own country by fleeing into Botswana. Their villages are to be found along our route, and we took advantage of one for parking Malaika in a compound for three days.
We were required to pack really lightly again, as we had done before for the Zanzibar trip, and were then picked up by an ungainly 4-wheel-drive Afrika Korps truck which was able to negotiate the deep, drifting sand en route to Guma Lagoon Camp, a small corner of The Okavango Delta, a vast area of many thousand square kilometres. By a huge slice of luck, we were the sole occupants of the site. Splendid; this made the lovely loos and showers even more attractive. No need to feel the slightest bit rushed. On hand to greet us, making a bit of a mess of the pile of T-shirts for sale at reception, was Ducky, the domesticated owl. Ducky loves to be chuckled behind her ears, much like a Cocker Spaniel.
Mike did fish 'n chips for dinner. Bream, though, rather than cod, plaice or haddock. With veggies. Not a mushy pea in sight. We had been told to watch out after dark for hippos roaming the grounds in between tents and buildings. On the way back to the tents after dinner, Urs did an impressively accurate hippo impression, causing one or two co-campers' hearts to miss a beat.
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