Day 13: 27/4/2011 - Okavango Panhandle

Oops, sorry about the typo on yesterday’s date – I just lost 10 days. If it weren’t for the blog, I wouldn’t know what day it was.

I am passionate about the education of children on “saving the earth” and teaching them to appreciate their environment. I have a group of 50 little bunny huggers at school and I am very proud of their commitment to the Paw Print club.

Gray and I have tried hard with our own kids to make them aware of and appreciate the environment and to look after the earth for future generations Gareth loves the bush and for many years had aspirations of being a game ranger. With Kirsty, we failed dismally, she is queen of the concrete jungle and would much rather be shopping in London, New York or Sandton City to being stuck in the bush. However, it is her choice to join us for her mid year holidays as she would “love to see the migration”, Gray thinks it’s all a pose on her part and there is some bush chic in her.

However, with Robyn we have created an eco monster. Robs and I went off to wash the dishes this morning. There was some mud in the basin that I started to rinse away; I got severely kakked on for wasting water. I tried to explain that the water came the river 20m away and it would return to the same river, which just so  happens to be in flood and about 6m above its normal level and rising. My normally polite, level headed daughter, still would not see my reasoning in this, so as punishment I took a really short shower (the water was luke warm, so I was keen to get out anyway but I won’t tell her that).

We have had the most relaxing day so far, I almost feel guilty. We literally moved from the camp site, to the deck, to the pool and back again. We read, played games and sorted out our accommodation and route for the next few days. It was good to recharge our batteries.

The water on the banks of the river were particularly noisy this evening. There were very few hippo sounds but a 4m croc was spotted in the shallows today. Robs decided we needed an evacuation plan: she hops onto the bumper, then the spare tyre and is on the roof rack of the car in 2 steps. Can you just imagine Gray and I attempting the same manoeuvre, if we managed to get to the top, with the car intact, we probably would have pulled one of the major muscle groups in the process.

So while she ate her dinner on the top of the car, we braved it around the camp fire and enjoyed the sounds of the bush.

9 o’clock and we are off to bed – another great day in Africa.