When I look back on those five days, it seems like a dream.
I'd long dreamt of visiting the Okavango Delta in Botswana and with my 70th birthday just gone and my sister's soon to come, we seized the opportunity to go.Our camp manager, Joshua, was there to meet us at Maun airport and take us on the two-hour 4x4 journey to Tuskers, a former hunting safari lodge in a private concession just outside the Delta (hunting was banned in Botswana in 2014).
We arrived to the magnificent sight of herds of elephant and giraffe gathered around the waterhole in front of camp. In the evening, we sat around the fire with our Pimm's No 1s, watching the sun set and the skies come alive with a million stars. There is nothing so brilliant as an unpolluted African night sky.
After dinner - an exciting array of flavours introduced by the chef and served by friendly staff - and more admiration of the sky, we were escorted to our tents with a warning not to exit before daylight - there are no fences and game roams free.A hot bucket shower prepared us for beds kept warm by hot-water bottles, until we were roused at 6am for a game drive.
After two nights here, our journey into the Delta proper began. Five hours by 4x4 into the Moremi Game Reserve and two hours by motor boat brought us to Xobega Island and a warm welcome from camp staff.
Camp manager Innocent could not do enough for us - everything was "not a problem". A sunset cruise on the Delta was perfect, the setting sun mirrored in the still waters of the large lagoon.
After a delicious dinner and chat around the camp fire, we were again escorted to our tent. We had been told that elephants visited the island at night but not to be concerned as the camp staff knew when they were there and moved them along.Next morning, we were about to sit on the side of the channel when we noticed the tiniest crocodile sunning itself on the bank. It was about 30cm long and such a perfect miniature. We changed our minds as we thought its mother might be within striking distance.
Another trip by motorboat and makoro (dugout canoe) along the channels lined with reeds, papyrus and pampas grass took us up close to elephants swimming in the channel as well as crocodiles and hippos. Pied kingfishers swooped low for their prey.
The makoro trip was exciting, being so close to the water, but not so much when three men in one of the makoros shifted the balance and the canoe turned turtle, tipping them into the croc-infested channel. Their navigator was not impressed as he watched his pole drifting away.
They quickly righted themselves on the channel bank. Fortunately there were no hungry crocodiles in the vicinity. My sister and I retrieved the pole and we were on our way again...