TRAVEL|TAKING OFF

Travel perspectives

Different ways of looking at the world

Birds on the Sua Pan, in the Nata Bird Sanctuary, Botswana. © Ron Smit, 2019

I am always very aware, when we travel, that one can look at the same scenery, from different points of view. Both physically, and mentally. Look at my header picture, which may appear to show a dusty track leading past a drying-out lake, with dead grass and dying trees.

Well, the track is dusty and the grass is dry, but this is a scene with a lot of life: All those birds in the far background are flamingoes and they are standing in this salty pan because it teems with algae and shrimp.

Not so dead, after all.

My images are from a trip that we took through parts of Botswana, in mid-2019. The next picture shows a small part of the huge wetland that is formed seasonally when the Okavango River flows into an inland delta, and seeps into the soil. This river never reaches the sea, nor does it flow into another river.

A small part of the Okavango Delta, as seen from the air. © Ron Smit, 2019

From time to time, we could see small groups of elephants and other animals near the water. Too far to photograph properly, since the pilots taking tourists on tours like these, are not allowed to disturb the animals by flying too low. But you can see animal tracks everywhere.

A map of the Okavango Delta, clearly showing how the Okavango River, flowing from the Northwest, spreads out into a delta, and.. disappears. © Ron Smit, 2019

This map suggests that the Delta is a lake of blue water, with some green islands in the middle. Not really, the blue just indicates the maximum area that could flood, once a year.

We were lucky enough to see the Okavango Delta from another perspective.

We had also arranged a day of walking through some dry parts of the bush, and took a trip with a mokoro through the channels.

Being punted through narrow channels between the reeds, in our mokoro. © Ron Smit, 2019

Even within that one image, there are a few points of view possible:

• “Rich” foreign tourists, being taken through a scenic area by a “poor” local person;
• Foreign tourists, supporting the economy by employing local people to act as guides for a day;
• Learning about the particular interesting geography, plant and animal life of this region; and/or
• Being somewhat worried about what to do if we chance upon an irritated hippo bull, who might not like us in his domain!

Having seen these images, what would your own reactions or perspectives be?

If you want to read about another “perspective” gained during the same trip, have a look here:

Magotho madness!