Above: Luxury Safari tent at Mma Dinare lodge. Below: Relaxing poolside with the ellies.
“
I whiled
away the midday
heat with dips in
the swimming
pool, sharing
the view with
elephants doing
likewise in the
Gomoti River
“
the squelches of the buffalo after which
the camp is named (dinare means buffalo
in Setswana) as they crossed the marsh
outside. That iconic safari sound, the cry of
the African fish eagle, pierced the canvas
too. And instead of an alarm clock, the
wonderful waitress, Keokopile Ditshupelo,
spoilt me with a gentle wake up call of
“Koko!” and a tray of coffee the following
morning, minutes before the sun rose.
A typical day was filled with sensational
sightings and, in addition to snapping
everything (my digital camera was the only
device I couldn’t let go of), I found game
drives the easiest way to put nature first.
With such a show before me – cheetahs
playing with their cubs, a porcupine scuttling
across the road, red lechwe leaping – and
guides helping to interpret the performance,
the only application I needed was sunscreen.
Returning to the lodge was the only time I
missed sharing the excitement with family
and followers back home. Without a phone
to keep my thumbs busy, I paged instead –
through a book for the first time in months
– and whiled away the midday heat with dips
in the swimming pool, sharing the view with
elephants doing likewise in the Gomoti River,
and rediscovering the joys of a guilt-free siesta.
There’s a line I’ve seen (ironically, on the
internet somewhere) that goes “you have
to disconnect to reconnect”, and that’s
certainly true here. The lodge sprawls,
and plenty of wilderness separates each
tent, but the communal spaces and lack of
screens certainly facilitated more human
Left: A leopard gives a master class in the art of relaxing. Below: An absence of
electricity and abundance of nature makes the Okavango Delta an unforgettable experience.
communication than any social media.
Instead of ending the day with Netflix,
guests gathered around the fire. Strangers
from all over the world were forced into
conversation, flames warmed the evening,
and wine heated our dialogue until we
retired to our beds, well fed and bidding
one another “Good night, sleep tight!”
like old friends.
Wifi is difficult and expensive to
connect in the Okavango Delta. Let’s
hope it stays that way. Logging off
showed me how important it is to switch
off the mind and relax – though I’ll
admit I Instagrammed it all as soon as I
reconnected at Maun Airport.
I’m only human.
MAKE MEMORIES FOR LIFE // 39