The location of the camp site was really nice on the banks of the Okavango delta. It is one of the most expensive campsites costing 50 USD per person per night. When I was booking the camps I avoided booking here as I felt it is kind of looting. People say that what you pay for is for the location. I had been in equally good campsites in other NP’s in Africa and I never paid so much amount anywhere. The camp location is beyond doubt very good. But like any other campsites all you get for the money is a place for pitching your tent and an ablution block. They don’t have any power points, but I don’t find it absolutely necessary. Honestly, I didn’t see any justification for the high rates they charge for camping. But we as tourists have no other option, do we? And they know it too. If you want to enjoy the delta then either you pay of just stay at home!
It rained heavily last night. I was worried about the road conditions towards Third Bridge after the rains. We had the breakfast at the sides of the delta where our camp is. But the beauty of the nature was disrupted by the pestering of the vervet monkeys which was trying to steal food from the car or us. In the end we lost only some peanuts and sugar.
Once we packed our tents we drove in the direction of Xakanaxa camp. The tracks were little bit difficult right from the beginning. Since we didn’t see any game in the main road we decided to try one of the detours towards the Khwai river in the north. That turned out to be a big mistake. The track conditions were worse than we expected. There was water everywhere and at some places the mud was so deep that I thought we are going to be stuck again. Once again I had to shift my driving style to that of a rally driver than a normal safari drive. I had to drive much more harshly than yesterday in the marsh. It was really tough drive and I got exhausted from the drive within minutes. At one point I even thought that the shock absorbers might have damaged. The car had absolutely no grip and was floating all over the dirt at some places. By sheer luck we managed to get back to the main road. But it was not over yet. We still had to drive around 20 kms to reach Xakanaxa gate.
The drive to Xakanaxa gate was again challenging with lots and lots of mud pools in the road. The pools stretched the complete width of the road that most of the time I had to drive blindly through it with the hope that it is not too deep so that the water will get into the radiator. When we finally reached the Xakanaxa gate I was completely exhausted. The colour of our originally white car was beyond recognisable. We stopped at one of the mobile camps to wash down the windscreen as it was no longer visible.
The road from Xakanaxa gate to the Third Bridge was more tolerable in comparison. But it started raining heavily on the way. It was a sandy track, so the rains helped in making the drive less hard. On he way we hardly saw any game other than some occasional giraffe or impala We registered at the Third Bridge gate and took a break at the campsite. It is an interesting place in the delta. The name of the campsite “Third Bridge” comes from the wooden bridge across one of the tributaries of the river. And there are other bridges named First, Second and Fourth nearby. The Third Bridge itself is drivable only when the water level in the river is low. Even when we were driving through it part of it was under water. They say at times of high water level in the delta the bridge is at least a meter under the top surface of the water!!!!
When the rain settled we went for a drive towards Mboma Island which is on the North west side of Third Bridge. Our plan was to take the round trip to the North West end of the island where there is a boat station and drive back to Third Bridge. That was a relaxing ride. The Lady decided to drive most of the route as I was completely tired from today’s drive. We saw a side stripped jackal, ellies, Kudu, Giraffe and a lot of Impalas as usual. We didn’t find the boat station and afterwards my GPS said that we are already in the return track. A few kms before the Third Bridge we came across a pack of wild dogs. One of the most elusive species and I have never seen a wild dog in my life. We were extremely luck see them. After all the struggle that we had to go through today I think to be able to see the wild dog was pretty rewarding.
We camped at the Third Bridge campsite and we had to share the campsite with an old couple from South Africa. There was some bureaucratic confusion and we didn’t have any problem to share the campsite as there is enough space for everyone. They lit a campfire and as we were sitting around it and chatting we had a hyena visiting our camp, of course to steal the food!
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