Savuti to Pom Pom

Pom Pom was our last stop. Then we’d head back home. Again we boarded one of those tiny flights. This time we had a couple who were with us at Savuti and the woman was someone with bad air sickness. The ride was a bit bumpy and we had to make a stop to drop them off at another camp before we headed to ours. There were wildfires ablaze in the Okavango delta. Apparently it was a dry delta due to lack of rain. 

But we loved getting a glimpse of the delta from up above. The planes don’t climb a lot so you can see things pretty well. The ride was about 40 minutes. Must say that I wasn’t still totally happy with the tiny planes but ‘gotta do what you gotta do’ 

As usual our guides were waiting to pick us up from the airstrip. This time there were two Tabo (and different one, plump and short) and Jonas. He was the tracker.

Pom Pom camp is an island. But because of dryness this time there was no water. That also meant we couldn’t do ‘mokoru’ rides. It’s a luxury camp. The main area includes the sitting, reception, dinning and camp fire. It’s open to the wild and the wilderness. Animals if they chose to can walk right through the main hall. 

Then comes spread to left and right are the camps. The entire place occupies about 12 -15 people. The camps are more like luxury cabins. Built on stilts since on water, the structure is made of wood and then the walls are all made of material. The shower is an out door one. So we realized there was no way to shower in the night because the temperature drops so much and even though it might be hot water you’d catch a cold in a hurry and I was having a really bad sore throat. 

In the night you can hear the sounds of hyena, elephants and all kinds. Unlike in Savuti this place is in the middle of the park with no fences or walls. So you truly are at the mercy of the park. We clearly heard elephants just around the tent we were in. Here the escorts were only in the night. In the morning we had to walk by ourselves. One day we found leopard footprint right along the path we were walking. On a previous day there was a bush buck carcass was left on a branch of a tree couple of tents from ours. So we knew a leopard was on the premise. It was half eaten. Must say a few minutes walk felt like forever. 

I think we really liked this place because it was the closest to nature and the animals we could get. As scary as it was I might do it again, given the chance.