(This drive happened on January 21. I’ll work through similar events to catch us up on this topic)
So, I have some books on the flora and fauna of the Delta. Some more specific, that I grabbed or downloaded in passing, like on scorpions, birds, or snakes, one giant technical book on the flora.
I have a good friend who’s a Prof at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein and who has a particular interest in the aquatic life of the Delta and we’ve chatted about her specialty, parasites.
Plus I have a truck, as I keep proudly saying.
So I ordered some small fishing nets and stuff online.
Off we go, looking for water. The drive to the buffalo fence (which separates the Delta from the town) is about 15 – 20 miles from my house.It’s always a beautiful drive. There’s no deep sand on this route
Pass villagers on donkeys
Happy, fat cows
And one giant termite mound per field
Same one
Another
The village of Daonara, close to the fence
This is one of two entries to the Delta I use. It’s more casual and today there’s no one in attendance to sign me in
He’s probably in his tent
After a few miles into the Delta, water along the car tracks
But it’s muddy, and if you cant see the fish you can’t catch them
So I thought we’d go back and explore around Daonara, at one point crossing this bridge, the longest I’ve seen yet. The bridges are narrow and creaky, so I go slow
And finally find this perfect spot. That’s my net, the one with the longest telescoping handle
Here, just maybe 15 miles from Maun
And after a while I net a fish
It’s a beauty, about 1 1/4″ long. I put it, with some water, into a jam jar, take a few pics, and put him back into the small lagoon
I find it in my fish book at home. It’s clearly this species, despite the lack of blue in the body, by eliminating the other 3 species of Micropanchax in the Delta
