MAUN is not the Delta, though it claims to be its gateway. Back in 1979, Maun was nothing but a dusty village of dusty mud huts, dusty people and dusty streets littered with refuse.
Luckily it was about 10km out of town that De Beers had a house for the use of its employees.
As we approached, the caretaker and his minions sprang to attention. They had been warned that we were coming, but had obviously got the wrong end of the stick.
Corrie said it looked as if they were expecting the Messiah in a blue Land Rover, but I thought it more likely that the jungle drum language lacked signals for middle management and had promoted Corrie with a couple of extra bangs.
Mike and Wendy, whom we knew only slightly at that time, were also staying at the house. Well, De Beers called it a house – and even went so far, on occasions, as to call it a fully equipped, three-bedroomed house.
The three bedrooms were there all right and one of the fridges ‘sort of’ worked, but the pump didn’t pump and the water heater didn’t heat.
As for the rest of the equipment, it must have grown legs and walked, because all we could find was a kettle, three saucepans, two bent knives and a frying pan without a handle.
We were glad of the kettle and pans, though, because Mike managed to fix the pump and we could all have baths. First the Turkish variety in the kitchen while the water heated on the stove and then a plunge in luke-warm mud in the bathroom.
We completed this rigmarole in time to be relaxing on the patio when the sun went down and it had been worth all the travelling and dust to see our first Okavango sunset.
There’s an odd thing about a Kalahari sunset in winter. The sun goes down and the sky darkens. Then, about 20 minutes later, a bright orange glow lights the whole western sky and the sunset is repeated.
I am told that it is the sun setting over the Atlantic, reflected in the dust layer which hangs over the desert in winter. It was an impressive enough phenomemon to see in Orapa, but with the river in the foreground, it was magnificent.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
For news straight to your phone, add us on BBM 58F3D7A7 or WhatsApp 082 421 6033
