"The Okavango Delta is located in Botswana and is the worlds largest inland delta. It is a labyrinth of lagoons, lakes and hidden channels that can be traveled by motor boat or mokoro."
The Okavango Delta
The best ways to see the extent of the Delta's beauty are by mokoro, or by air. Lucky for me, my lodging was in the middle of nowhere, and the only way to get there was by plane! As much as I love to travel I hate flying, and riding inside a small plane scared the living daylights out of me. We were given two plane options, a 5-seater or 10-seater. Psychologically, I thought that the bigger the plane the better, so I opted for the 10-seater. When we got the call to head to our plane my jaw dropped when I saw a 5-seater plane in front of me. I had a bit of a panic attack, but I was continually saying to myself, "I can do this, I can do this!"
Since I was the only solo traveler I got the front seat with our pilot James, who was probably thinking to himself, "Great, so they stuck the girl who went straight for the barf bag to sit next to me!?!" Dear James, I wouldn't want to sit next to me either.
To block myself from thinking about my nausea, I started distracting myself and began using some deep breathing techniques. I got a nudge on my shoulder from James, only guessing he was nudging me to ask me if I was feeling alright. I nodded yes and told him I'd be okay, however he nudged me again. I then look up to see him pointing to the airstrip, and to my surprise I see this....
I can't say I've ever experienced a delayed landing before due to an elephant on the runway. Because of the elephants impeccable timing we weren't allowed to land, and we had to wait for the Elephant (and a few of his friends who were just meters behind him) to cross. I was giddy with excitement, but it quickly died down when I realized I had to stay longer in the air. Don't get me wrong, I loved the experience, but if you are prone to motion sickness definitely take pills before the flight!
So we waited, and waited until the Elephants finished crossing. Thankfully they decided to move their welcome party to the side of the air strip.
A few days later when it was time to head back to Maun, we had to take the plane again. This time I had mentally prepared myself, and ate a light breakfast to decrease my chances of experiencing an upset stomach. Animals must love this air strip because this time we had a pack of wild warthogs hanging out with us.
WANTED: Pumbaa & Family
Not only did they follow my friend to watch her relieve herself in the bushes, but they found some of our bags laying around and almost pickpocketed us! If you are a Lion King fan like me, chances are you are singing to "Hakuna Matata" with my mention of Pumbaa. I hope it gets stuck in your head as much as it is stuck in mine.
Despite my body's dislike of the flight, it was definitely worth doing while in the Delta.....
Date Accomplished: September 21st, 2010
5 comments:
Sounds like fun and what a wonderful experience. How cool to see elephants on the run way! I would also be feeling rather queasy on such a small plane! You appear to have been on some great travel trips:-)
CECe-Love your story, that experience sounds incredible and I would have been just as excited to have elephants on my runway! The part that I really loved though, is hearing that there is another lover of travel out there who shares my distress in flight! People next to me usually hold my hand and tell me how 'brave' I am. I don't know about that when I'm sitting there sweating and crying like a little baby but I am so obsessed with travel there is no way I'm letting a little thing like flying get in my way! And I too agree that the bigger the plane the better!
Thanks, I have been! It is an understatement when I say I got bit by the travel bug hard!
I hate flying more because of how sick it makes me feel. I always look like I was a hit by a bus after a long flight. I remember one time when I was coming home from NYC we we were landing and I got the sudden urge to hurl (I couldn't find the barf bag). I jumped out of my seat and ran to the bathroom. The stewardess yelled at me to get back to my seat. In front of an entire plane I yelled, "I am about to just hurl all over this plane!" She says, "Oh okay, please go ahead."
The small planes make me feel sick plus nervous because it seems much more unstable.
HAHAHAHA!!!! I used to LOVE to fly and I have 4 theories as to why I suddenly became a lunatic- they include a car accident, sky diving, bad karma, and a marriage proposal! I don't ill, I have panic attacks and can't breath, I'm in a near heart attack like state....I'd prefer the nausea! Dannie said she doesn't like to fly either---I'd really love to see the 3 of us on a plane together!
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