Botswana: Eagle Island

Orient Express Hotels operates a series of camps in Botswana. The first one we went to was Eagle Island. After a grueling series of flights (Cape Town --> Johannesburg --> Maun --> Eagle Island) we settled into our deluxe "tents" and started our first mokoro journeys.

Pictures:

• Botswana By Air -- the something I didn't realize at the time is that everything green is actually water. The water, by the time it flows down to Botswana, is really salty so that there is a very clear break between water and land.


• Eagle Island Tents -- these had air conditioning, bathrooms, showers, netting and a fridge.


• Mokoros -- these are traditional hollowed out trunks that they use as canoes. They are very shallow, so can glide over water that is only inches deep. The use poles to push the canoes around.


• Frog On Reed - these little frogs hold on tight. They climb the reeds to avoid being eaten by other critters. The guides have remarkable eyes, being able to see this 25 feet off.


• Crane Taking Off - One of the many birds in the area. They are really skittish, so this is only one of the few images that turned out.


• Wildebeast - Wildebeast are also skittish. This herd was on on the actual Eagle Island.


• Elephants From Helecopter - we did a nice helecopter (I was really freezing up there that morning) ride and saw a lot of animals from above. The noise of the helecopter was so loud we couldn't get close to anything else.


• Evil Croc - These critters lie in wait, still like stone. Their eyes are really creepy.


• Sunset On Water - one of the many stunning moments over the water. (One of my best photos)

Our guide was named Mighty -- as in Mouse. The smallest guide of the bunch, he was able to pole around two of the biggest guys in our group when we got stuck in the marshes.

Sleeping was unusual - there were tons of noises outside our camp. For example, the hippos would splash and grunt right outside our tent. The lions would track and kill something off in the distance -- and the noises would keep M. awake. I, of course, slept through everything.