I think I need a BIGGER Boat!

On any visit to the Okavango Delta in Botswana - regardless of the kind of trip - you are likely to end up in a Mokoro, (a boat carved from a tree) in the flooded waterways. On my recent trip, I took a single engine Cessna from Maun over the amazing Okavango Delta; a flight lasting about forty five minutes to a village called Serongo, which is in the handle of this pan shaped flood plain. Once in Serongo, I boarded a truck that took me to a remote location where my Mokoro and polers awaited. (A poler is a person who pushes the boat along with a long pole he or she shoves into the floor of the waterway.) My poler grew up on this land and in these waters. He and his crew expertly balanced these boats making it seem easy but it isn’t – it is a talent for sure. These guys also knew the water and its inhabitants quite well including the one inhabitant I was scared to come in contact with; hippo!


Mine poler was Kendro. Right off the bat I made it clear to Kendro that I did not want to come close to hippo for a photo or any other reason. I made him aware I was very afraid of them and he did a great job of respecting that fear; keeping me as far away as possibly. Sometime it wasn’t possible to keep as far away as I wanted but Kendro tried, giving the hippo a wide berth when we came upon them.

We rode the mokoro to a remote camp where I stayed for several days enjoying the quaint, quiet beauty the Okavango offers. But soon it was time to board my mokoro again with all of my belongings to traverse the waterways back to Serongo. These boats, when going long distances in the shallow waters of the Delta, follow paths in the reeds made by hippo and elephant. We were following such a path when the lead poler began to shout, “Mr. Elephant. Hello. This is Tobias speaking. I respect that you are strong and dangerous but we need to get by.” The elephant that was in our path moved on. I was quite impressed with the communication between human and animal.

Photo Courtesy of Dr. Andreas Frank

We proceeded forth. The reeds became very tall where I could not see what was beyond the next curve. Suddenly the line of mokoro stopped and again Tobias began to shout, ‘Hello Mr. Elephant. This is Tobias. We need you to please move as we need to get by.” It worked once so I was expecting it to work again when suddenly all hell broke loose. I heard what sounded like a hundred elephants stomping in the water. The polers began to shove their poles into the floor of the waterway in reverse, each moving their mokoro quickly backward towards my mokoro. The elephant trumpeted. I had absolutely no time to even contemplate what was happening until it was over. We had been mock charged by this huge male elephant that by no means cared he was in our path or that Tobias was speaking to him; only that we were in his path and he was not happy about that fact.

He stopped charging and as quickly as it began, it was over and the elephant went about eating. At that point, I could hear the elephant splashing as he moved through the tall reeds but still could not see him. The polers, feeling the danger was averted, began again to proceed forth down the path. My heart raced and breathing stopped as we approached the bend in the reeds that was close to the giant mammal, me sitting two inches from the water level in this vulnerable wooden makeshift boat looking up at this huge elephant. It wasn’t until we were way past him that my heart slowed and I began to breathe again.

Humble pie is what I ate that day. In that situation I knew I was not in control of my destiny. Control was given to the poler, the elephant and the powers that be.

I have had several close calls now in the waters of Africa. I have said before that I was not going back in the African waterways with hippo and now I can say with elephant either, but I do seem to always end up back there. Now I believe I have truly pushed my luck. Maybe I will go in the water again with hippo and elephant but like in the movie Jaws; I think I need a BIGGER BOAT!!!!!