The Kalahari and The Okavongo Delta

We're in Botswana now - Kasane, Botswana. It's hot and dry here... it feels like the freakin' Kalahari! Wait, it is! We woke up before dawn this morning to go on a game drive in Chobe NP. It was wonderful. We had a great guide who took us out an hour longer than planned because he kept trying to get us to see lions and leopards (which we kept missing - oh well). But we saw tons of hippos and crocs and and elephants (Chobe is known for their elephant population - they have over 40,000 in just 18,000 sq. km) and we saw sable antelope (probably the prettiest antelope) and baboons with their little babies and black-faced impala. It was a good drive. This afternoon we are going on a riverboat game drive for 3 hours and we're told that's supposed to be even better. Since we last had access to the internet we spent a night in Maun, Botswana and then we headed into the Okavongo Delta - the highlight onthis trip so far. We drove into the delta and then got into these traditional canoes called mokoros. There were 2 people and a poler who drives and steers in each mokoro. Our poler's name was Oates. He was the best! He stopped at his village on our way to the island we were going to be camping on, and invited us in to meet his family. It was wonderful. Everyone in his village grew up there and they are all polers. Oates learned when his father made him his own mokoro when he was only 6. Then he took us to a small island where we set up camp, and that afternoon he took us to a place he said was safe from hippos and crocs (ok?) so we could go swimming (we swam in the OkavongoDelta!!!) and then he let Michael try poling the mokoro, so we zigged and zagged our way in and out of the reeds back to our island. That night they took us on a game walk, and while we were still on the mokoros we were charged by a huge bull elephant. All the polers were really scared so they all scattered and hid us in the reeds. That night all the polers sang and danced for us around the camp fire. The next day we went for a game walk again in the morning, and then the polers took us back to the mokoro station. On the way back, a hippo came up out of the water and knocked the mokoro next to us, almost tipping it over. No one fell out and no one was hurt, but they say we were all crazy lucky b/c that hippo could have done some serious damage and killed us all!