Okavango River, North-West District, Botswana

5389glenne 5:00 PM Nov 22, 2014

Incredible!!
This was an incredible and unique experience. We were in a party of 8 people........4 had never camped and were terrified. We met our guides who took us on a 45 min ride in canoes through the water lilies and past some elephants.....they are not called canoes but I cant remember what the locals called them......we stopped under a massive tree on an island and camped for 3 days. In the evenings we would go walking and see the local wildlife. The sunsets were stunning. During the day we swam, fished and ventured out in the 'canoes'. On our last night we got a bit close to some hippos. We were not in danger but our guide told us that he lost his uncle to a hippo 2 months earlier. At night we lay in our tents listening to the wildlife. We had a ball with the guides. They were fantastic....some of their stories were very sad.......I have nothing but the greatest respect for them.

4Krzysztof K 5:00 PM Jun 6, 2017

MOKORO TRIP CAN BE DONE CHEAPLY.
HOW TO DO IT? You can easily bypass he exorbitant prices offered by the lodges and agencies. The standard price range offered by providers is 680-900p (68 - 90USD). If we (a couple) did our overnight trip with our lodge, we would have paid 360USD. Instead we paid 70 USD. Instead of going with intermediaries, we went straight to Okawango Kopano Mokoro Community Trust, paid 6.8USD pppd (per person per day) fee. Next day we picked up one of their emploees in our car. He showed us the way to Mokoro Village. We were introduced to a poler there, whom we paid 20 USD per day per group, another 5 USD for having our car looked after and 2 USD pppd for mokoro seat rental :). You will find OKMCT easily, it is in the same yard as the Helicopter Horizons (marked on google maps). In terms of revenue, we left much more cash with the community, than we would have if we went with an agency (we would have done only a day trip for their price). The agency pays mokoro polers the 20 usd per day per group and your entry fee. The rest is transfer, in some cases food, and above all, a huge profit margin. IS IT WORTH IT? The no-intermediary price- definitely yes. 360 USD- not really... If you've been to Caprivi Strip, you'd have done something similar, but having seen loads of hippos, crocs, buffaloes... Here the area is huge, reeds are dense, wildlife is scattered. We saw zebras and ostriches and only heard the hippos. Sleeping in the wilderness, the sky full of stars, the mokoro ride itself - a beautiful experience, but for a long term traveler, definitely not worth 180 USD PP.