Facing fears on the Okavango

Creatures of nature that scare me the most are sharks, crocodiles and snakes.   The rotto swim I wouldn't say conquered my shark fear but at least was a small step towards taking back some power (well in my mind anyway).  

Travelling along the crocodile infested Okavango river in a tin boat during lighting storms with hippos very willing and able to tip you out of your boat if you threaten their territory covers off on my crocodile fear.  

The houseboat we stayed on for two nights was comfortable and compact.    The bathroom size would be similar to airplane toilet and the handbasin and shower was an all in one so it was easy to achieve showering and cleaning your teeth at the same time.

I am  forever grateful for the low water levels when we travelled along in dugout canoes with the locals.     All the instructions about what to do if tipped out of the canoe by a hippo were not required to be put into action as we didn't see a hippo.  The key message I took was if you were tipped out of your boat by a hippo is to swim to the nearest shore line.  When the question was asked about crocodiles when in the water, the response was "you are having a very very bad day on the river if you are tipped out of your boat by a hippo and taken by a crocodile".

Not only were we lucky enough to avoid becoming hippo or crocodile kill, we saw four elephants cross the water just ahead of us in our canoe.  Wish this kind of luck would translate to lotto winnings.

My snake fear was tested on the island accommodation when I opened the door, dropped my bag and noticed a cord in the floor next to the window.   As I approached to investigate further, the cord slithered and moved away so I  stepped backwards, shut the door behind me leaving snake still in the room.    I now just needed to find someone braver than me to remove the snake from my room .  As it turned out the  snake was harmless, which they discovered after they killed it , so when less than an hour later when I nearly stepped on the snakes sibling I should have had a less degree of panic.   I followed the same routine of running away and letting someone else deal with the snake.