Dispatch from the Okavango Delta: My biggest fear

Canoeing in the heart of the Okavango Delta PIC: THALEFANG CHARLES
Canoeing in the heart of the Okavango Delta PIC: THALEFANG CHARLES

Mmegi’s intrepid Staff Writer THALEFANG CHARLES is once again deep in the Okavango Delta exploring the wilderness with National Geographic on an 18-day transact research expedition across the Delta using mekoro. This is his first dispatch from the Okavango Delta

‘Aren’t you afraid?’ I have received this question many times ever since I started crossing the Okavango Delta with mekoro (dugout canoes) in 2015. But, I do not really remember answering it with any ounce of second thought. All the time, it was met by a half-smile, half-laugh coupled with an emphatic “No!” But sometimes, I have responded with a question, “What should I be afraid of?”

Many people who inquired about my fears wondered if I am not afraid of: drowning in the water, tumbled up by territorial hippos, eaten by large crocodiles, stomped down by elephants, mauled by lions, gored by buffaloes, bored into by river leeches and stung by the ‘chicken-sized’ mosquitoes. I genuinely never thought much about these dangers. To me they are just normal dangers like riding a vehicle, flying an aircraft, walking through the city or even eating – people die from eating everyday.

Editor's Comment
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