Mokoro Trips on the Okavango Delta

Sunlight slanting through nodding stands of papyrus, the brilliant flash of jewels as a malachite kingfisher whirrs its way upstream, the splash of a surprised otter or baby crocodile...

The most relaxing, and indeed authentic, way to experience the Okavango Delta is to be gently poled down a quiet channel by a guide in a mokoro - the local version of a canoe. Traditionally hewn from a single tree and, depending on the size of the tree, capable of carrying anything from two to six people, a mokoro is a narrow vessel, without a keel and only a shallow draught. It is usually poled like a punt or gondolier and, given that there's only a few centimetres of freeboard, it offers its occupants a view of the Delta not much short of actually floating down the river yourself. Most Okavango Delta accommodation offer a mokoro trip as part of their activities and it gives the traveller access to places unreachable by other modes of transport: quiet backwaters, floodplains and shallow sandy channels. The silence of the mokoro means you can get close to wildlife - hold still as the elephants cross the river in front of you...or drift slowly towards that basking crocodile.

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