Have you ever heard of the Okavango Delta?  It's a geological oddity -- an
inland river delta -- a Mississippi delta without New Orleans or the Gulf.  Odd
really, but magical in its ability to one-up man.  In this century an
earthquake has awakened a river that had been dormant for hundreds of years, a
lake nearly the size of Erie has dried up (taking with it 500,000 head of
cattle), and a growth of reeds has blocked the passage of every attempting
vessel except one.  It's still a wild place, perhaps one of the few left on
earth.  It's a place where man must be careful because, though he's firmly at
the top of the food chain, he's not safe.  There are crocodiles, hippos, water
buffalo, elephants, lions, and more, and each is quite willing to dispatch
tourists, guides, and hunters alike.  Don't run from a lion or you will die.
Run from an elephant or you will die.  Don't get in between a hippo and it's
water or you will die.  Don't fall out of your boat or you will die.  Don't!
go anywhere near a water buffalo or you will die.  Our host at Oddball camp in
the Delta gave us all a terse lecture upon arrival.  Each set of animals was
classified so as to fall into one category among ({very, very, very dangerous},
{very, very dangerous}, {very dangerous}).  We were urged to _always_ check
under our tent platforms and to walk in twos at all times.  We were shown the
electric fences surrounding camp and saw that they would only prevent Elephants
from wandering through.  We were told of leopards hanging in trees, black
mamba's sharing sleeping bags with guests, and water buffalo charging ablution
block occupants.

All this seemed a bit over-enthusiastic and worrisome to me.  I'm firmly in
touch with my mortality but I wasn't terribly worried.

That lasted until the first time I was charged by an elephant.  You do not want
to get charged by an elephant.  To be clear, allow me a repitition.  You do
not, under any circumstances, ever ever want to be charged by an elephant.
Elephants are really really big.  They're so big that they look a like UPS
trucks -- the big ones.  They're strong too.  We learned that they like palm
nuts, little brown fruits that live near the protruding fronds of mature palm
trees.  On a walk in the bush we revisited the site from which the elephant had
charged.  Prior to our meeting it had been eating and on our return we
discovered that it had ripped down a 60ft. tall pine tree just to get at the
nuts.  I threw myself against the nearest equivalent palm.  It didn't waver.

I had 3 days in the Delta which by my estimation was about 1 week too short.
We took a short 20 minute flight in because that's the only way to get to the
good camps.  We spent one night listening to hippos snort and lions roar before
heading out to a bush camp in guided makoro's.  Makoros are little wooden boats
made by hollowing out a large tree and are piloted by a single person with a
long pole in the back.  At bush camp it became immediately clear that we were,
as one of my fellow travellors eloquently put it, "in the shit".  Baboons
scampered away from the tree over our selected camp site.  13ft. long
crocodiles slid into the water as we nosed onto the bank of the river.  Lizards
scampered around our feet.  Elephants crunched in the surrounding grass.
Hippos snorted and bellowed a short distance away.  The Delta was alive with
noise and motion, and we were scared.

The next installment will include:  a near death encounter with a puff-adder,
more details on the elephant charge, how to survive getting  marooned up a tree
by hippos, and why not to even consider wearing blue while walking through the
bush of the Delta.

So long for now.

Frank