The Flying Fish

What does peace mean to you, and where do you find it? Is it lying in a hot bath with a good book and a glass of wine, or doing yoga? Losing yourself in your favourite music, or going for a walk in a park. Climbing a mountain, going to the beach, or perhaps taking a drive. Or is it the wind in your hair as you explore tar and gravel on a motorbike? For me, I am at peace when I am in the air. It doesn’t matter what I’m flying; all that’s important is that I am flying. The problems of the world just disappear as soon as the wheels leave the ground. It’s invigorating. But today I found a different kind of peace. It was a sense of peace with the world, a sort of serenity, beauty, and complete relaxation. I didn’t have to be in the air to find this peace, no, I found it whilst in a mokoro, navigating one of the many thousands of water ways of the Okavango Delta. Upon arriving at Nxabega Tented Camp for a night stop, I asked if there was any space on the game drive. There wasn...

It's one thing clearing animals from runways before landing, or loading clients with elephant trundling throw the bushes in the background. But it's quite another when a snake decides to make your plane it's new hiding spot. I landed at Piajio airstrip and went to offload bags and freight from the Airvan pod. When I opened the pod door I felt something against my leg, and before I knew it a snake had seemingly leapt into the pod. Thank goodness I was at the Caracal Biodiversity Centre in Kasane recently, where I had the opportunity to handle snakes of various shapes and sizes, otherwise I probably would have freaked out. We determined it was most likely a sand snake, but I still removed the bags with care in case it decided to strike (nevermind the fact that it was this tiny little thing, you can never be too careful). When I had all the bags out, we coaxed it out with two sticks, where it promptly tried to get back IN the pod. Quite little guy, it's an Psammophi...

On the morning of 29 April, I was fortunate enough to go on a morning game drive. This doesn't happen often, as we normally take-off from camp around 10:30, which means we're at the strip an hour before, and we can't go on the morning game drives as they generally only get back to camp around 11:00. But for once, I had an afternoon departure, and I grabbed the opportunity to go on a game drive before "work" with both hands. Wake-up call with some piping-hot coffee: A cool, misty morning promises a great day! Our first stop was a hippo kill not too far from the camp: Feeding-frenzy! A hyena gets tired of the vultures and comes over to inspect our vehicle What do you do, when there's a hyena right outside your door... block your nose, because they STINK! Vultures tucking in Hyena getting annoyed with the vultures Face-off: Hyena vs Vulture On the way back to the camp, we were told by another guide that ther...

Friday, 20 April 2015 Today was one of those early ones. I was up at 0515 and at work by 0615. For a 0800 take-off – a freight run to Nxabega. They always tend to bring the freight while you’re in the middle of your pre-flight, so I like to get there extra early to make sure I get all of my things done undisturbed. At the last minute, one of the guys from the office asked if he could come with on the flight so that he could see how far the water was. It’s quite amazing to see rivers flowing where, just last month, there were only dry riverbeds. While we didn’t get a lot of rain this season, the water from Angola has transformed the Delta. I’ve spent over 300hrs looking at the Okavango Delta, and it still takes me breath away every time I see it. After touching down at Nxabega I looked to the right and saw a game vehicle. Curious as to why they were there, I slowed down as I rolled past them, and saw that they were looking at two huge male lions lying in the grass about 1...

Kings Pool Linyanti, Okavango Delta, Botswana Wilderness Safaris I have stayed in two Wilderness camps so far; Vumbura North, and Kings Pool. At Vumbura I stayed in the pilot room, but at Kings Pool I was fortunate enough to stay in a guest room, and I was blown away. But my favourite thing about the camp wasn’t the room (which is kitted out with a massive shower, small pool, and outside bed), but the hide... View of the camp from the hide A crocodile silently slips into the water and makes its way across to the opposite bank, barely causing a ripple. Birds sing their tune and lizards rustle in the reeds.   Clouds and blue skies are reflected in the still water. The peace is broken by hippos waking up on the far side of the river, their call, somewhat reminiscent of a laugh, carrying over the water. I can't see them from the hide, but I can hear them surfacing and spraying water everywhere. Cumulonimbus clouds build in the distance towards Kasane....