Nata

Driving from Maun to Nata is always exiting. You might see a stray elephant at the side of the road, one that forgot it’s supposed to stay up north. We don’t encounter a stray elephant. We do encounter a herd, huge Matriarch and all, fabulous! Whether it is the abundance of water everywhere this year, or the growing overpopulation up north we don’t know, but we sure enjoy meeting them.


We are prepared for a difficult drive because the roads around Gweta, halfway to Nata, were flooded. By now the road is dry, but there’s loads of water left and right. Annette got excited when we saw many storks, preparing for migration, while driving up to Maun. Now Maud gets all excited, because we see real ducks. This is very promising for the pans in Nata Bird Sanctuary, where we are going to camp.


For people who live in the desert, this year the pans are even more breathtaking than last year. Even more water, even more real waves; it’s much more exciting to go swimming than to spot pelicans and flamingos.