Botswana
Oddballs Lodge
Oddballs Lodge - Okavango Delta
Oddballs Lodge near the south of Chief's Island in the Okavango Delta, named after the first camp manager 'Oddball'
Oddballs offers a wilderness experience -- with a personal guide we set up camp on an island away from the main lodge. Morning and evening we would track animals on foot and by mokoro (canoe)
Normally the rainwater from the Angola highlands will flood the delta from May to August. My visit was during the drought of 2019. The guide had only seen water this low once in his lifetime, growing up in the village near the lodge
Lioness perching her head up when she noticed our movement
I enjoyed watching giraffes run. They appear to be in slow motion, a long leg big body illusion
With many of the waterholes dry, the animals needed to stay close to the river for water. We saw elephants, giraffes, hippos, zebras, crocs, wild dogs, impalas, warthogs, baboons, monkeys, and on the fourth day a lioness
KG getting the mokoro ready in the morning
We cooked our meals over the fire at night, the lodge would bring fresh meat by jeep when running low
A mother elephant flapping her ears wide, not too happy that our campsite selection is on her normal walking route to the river
The guide did not carry a gun, instead keeping us at a safe distance. His rule was "only run if I run". We ran one time the entire week and that was from buffalo
Sunset from the Lodge