Day 7 We said goodbye to Gweta Lodge and continued our trip by driving on to Maun. We spent a short time in town buying a data SIM card to put in our mobile router so we could have WiFi….we were advised to get an orange sim card…ummm!…what a waste ……it worked in Maun but nowhere else. I had booked us into Maun Lodge for 4 nights. It was expensive at around £96per night B&B  but then Maun is the 5th largest town in Botswana and the ‘Gateway to The Okavango Delta’. I hadn’t booked any activities in advance as it was our first time in Maun. When we got there I googled Safari companies because the hotel’s activities desk was very expensive. We hired a company called Moonstroll. They were very professional and Monametsi who owned the company met us in our hotel that evening and talked through our requirements. 

Day 8 We liked the fact that Monametsi turned up at 5.30am and took payment once we were on the Safari vehicle. They only took cash US$ or he would have taken Rands and he appreciated we weren’t going to pay in advance as we didn’t know whether this unknown person would pitch up or just take our money …… it was his idea to do it this way to give us confidence….they provided us with rugs, breakfast and lunch and a snack plus soft drinks and loads of water…We were off to Moremi Game Reserve and on the far side a place called 3rd Bridge which is the only place to get a boat from, at this time of the year, to go out on the Okavango Delta……..it cost US$1000 for the day………was I excited or not!!!! My dream was about to come true…I’d always wanted to do this from the age of 24 when I first visited Africa….but it is so expensive I had never been able to justify spending this sort of money on one of my ‘Must do before I die’ wishes.

Wrapped up warmly we headed off towards Moremi Game reserve. The start  of the road is tar, which we speed along for about 40 minutes and then a further 30 minutes on a gravel road and then an hour and a half on very soft sand road. We saw a variety of wildlife and birds as we got closer to the Southern gate of Moremi.

On arriving at the south gate we used the washrooms and sat and ate our breakfast before embarking on a three hour game viewing drive through the reserve before getting to the boat station at Third Bridge. 

Here we met Captain Moses and boarded his flat bottom, pontoon like boat, along with our Safari guide Kennedy. 

Once all our picnic hampers, drinks, cool boxes, camera bags etc were aboard we set off through the narrow canals of the Okavango Delta. Our first spot was a malachite kingfisher which set the standard for seeing many other fantastic sights such as African Jacana, hippos, wattled cranes, fish Eagan’s, elephants, red letchwe…….to name but a few.

The waterways were littered with floating islands of pampas grasses, papyrus grasses( which they use for basket weaving), massive beds of water lilies and loads more vegetation. 

We watched with fascination as Fish Eagles swooped in and out of the water…..sometimes successful and sometimes not…. their huge wing span moving the air above our heads as they soundlessly went about their usual activities.

Our 3 hour trip went far too quickly. It was nothing short of magnificent, awesome, breath-taking, eye-opening…….it really was the stuff dreams are made of. 

We made our return journey to the gate at high speed arriving a few minutes before closing time at 6.00pm. The rest of the shake, rattle and roll homeward bound trip was in the dark and we finally got back to the hotel around 8.45pm. 

A wonderful long tiring day. Thank you Moonstroll Safaris for turning dreams into reality …….Thank you John for saying it’s ‘A once in a lifetime experience’ so we won’t worry about the cost. I loved every minute of it.