Quote Originally Posted by Sherwood View Post
I think we share some experiences. I lived in both Namibia and Botswana. In my experience they are joint #1 for wildlife/safari experiences. Regarding your Botswana experience I think you mean San rather than Pygmy. The dugout canoe is a Mokoro. I visited the Okavango on several occasions. It is quite phenomenal. I had a similar experience and we may have had the same pilot. Are you sure he was South African and not Australian? You would have flown into the Okavango through Maun airport.

Do you remember the camp you stayed in and when did you travel?
Yes, the airport was Maun, and now you mention it the 'dugout' was a Mokoro.

I used the term 'Pygmy' as a lazy shorthand to describe Daniel's stature - he wasn't very tall, about 5 foot or maybe a bit less. I bow to you superior knowledge that he might have been San (in general, are the San short in stature?).

You ask if my pilot was South African, rather than an Australian. To the casual listener the two accents can sound similar, but I can tell the difference. Later in my trip, I stayed in a hotel near the South African border, where at the weekends South Africans would come up to party. All I can say is they lived up to their undesirable stereotype with their attitude and demanding nature!

The camp in the Okovanga was called 'Delta Camp'. There were about a dozen chalets situated in an unenclosed clearing. When I arrived, they asked me if I was afraid of heights (?). I said no, to which they replied "Oh, that's alright as we have put you in the tree house". Yes, one of the accomodations was a very well appointed tree house. At the top was the double bedroom, with a verandah allowing one to sit out in the evening to watch the wildlife, which was nearby and would sometimes walk through the camp. On the 'floor' (or branches) below was the shower and toilet. Nowadays, tree house holidays are not that uncommon, but this was over thirty years ago and it was certainly a new and delightful experience to me.

Later still I went on to Zimbabwe and stayed at the Victoria Falls Hotel - sampling Edwardian elegance, before crossing over the bridge to visit Zambia.