Doing About the Neighborhood

Terry on the prowl. 

Today was spent learning our way about town and visiting some easy places. This morning we headed out for the Okavango River Lodge, which is, however, on the Thamalakane River. No accounting for naming conventions, I guess.

We found the lodge easily and found the bar nearly empty. We picked a table as close to the water as possible and set up camp with a soda, a cider, and our birding/photography equipment. We passed about tw hours watching the birds and sipping our drinks. Relaxing and refreshing.

Two Hamerkops having a nap by the river. Apparently, they know that there is no threat from a crocodile.

Upstream of us was a brand sandy area where a donkey family came to drink and, later, a small herd of cattle.

A small herd of cattle came down to the river to drink. This one walked well out from the edge of the stream to drink. Although it is not so noticeable in B&W, the cow is surrounded by bits trash.

After we tired of the scene there, we packed up and moved upriver a bit to a properly named lodge: the Thamalakane River Lodge (no doubt the Okavango lodge cam after this one). Here, the scene was similarly bucolic in a riparian kind of way.

At this stop we ordered lunch. E got a ham, cheese, and tomato toastie and I get herb and mozzarella focaccia. Actually, what I got was more nearly a pizza crust with a bit of cheese and parsley toasted. At any rate, it was good and filled the empty spot. the interesting thing is not that the food was uninspired: it was cheap. If you went to a restaurant in the US, sitting on a beautiful river shore and ate outside near the water, you'd expect to pay $20-$30 for most anything, good or bad. We paid about $12 and brought home the half we didn't eat to be part of our dinner. 

On a related note, we went to some shops, obviously for the tourists, near the Maun airport and found interesting stuff at prices that were not really inflated at all.

After lunch, we went shopping and found the Woolworth's (which has food, for those of you new to the southern African version of the store) and the Spar (a genuine grocery). Dinner is smelling quite good as I type.