MOKORO!!
Trip Start
Jul 26, 2008
1
19
41
Trip End
Nov 27, 2008
Maun, Botswana
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Our reason for coming here was to do an overnight Mokoro (old fashioned wooden dug out canoes) tour in the delta, but Chris got sick and we couldn't go on an overnight trip (he found our his reason for feeling sick was taking anti-malaria pills without eating first for a few days in a row). We had a day just hanging out in a coffee shop and using Justin's lap top. Which came in very handy!
The next day we left on the $80/person tour. It started with a 40 min motor boat ride to where the mokoro's were. We thought we were going to be paddling the canoes, which is why we thought it was funny they said Justin could ride alone. Instead we had a guy in the back pushing us along with a big stick. This went on for a few hours, it was relaxing riding through all the reeds and lily pads. We even heard a herd of zebra running in the water. It was extremely loud, but unfortunately it was also very far away. I couldn't believe how much noise it made! It was really interesting to see the zebra running in the delta even from a distance.
This is where the tour turns for the worst. We arrive at land and we go on a 2 hour game walk from 11am to 1pm with no shade anywhere! What were they thinking! They also told us we were going to "stretch our legs" so we had on shorts, flip flops, and no water. It was very hard and annoying walking through hard, sharp, dried grass. And we were dying of heat and dehydration all the while we had water in the boat! We did see a herd of elephant which was pretty cool. From there we took the canoes to a spot for lunch, which we had to bring and some for the guides too. Food not included for $80! We ate pears and pb&j sandwiches and had 2 hours to kill before we left. With nothing to do, we actually dragged one of the canoes to a shady spot and slept in it! Then we had a painful boat ride back as we had sun stroke by this point. Give us some umbrellas or something!
Probably the most fun part of the trip was the motor boat back to the hostel. We got free water and the guy drove really fast and crazy. All in all I think that tour ranks as the worst possible value in all my travels. Sure it was pretty and relaxing for a while, so maybe if it was $15/person or something it would have been worth it. We gave them $240!! not including tips for the guides. We did meet some people who did the overnight mokoro tour and enjoyed it . . . so who knows about that one.
