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An entry to our 2019 Writing Competition, Luke O'Brien travelled on our 'Botswana's Desert & Delta' tour.
If you're a light sleeper like me, you might be used to occasionally waking to the whirr of distant traffic, the screech of a flaring bin-top tabby cat, or perhaps the low rumbling clatter of your washing machine? So, in a place where things the size of 20 washing machines roam through the night in one of the world’s last surviving wildernesses, you'll want some tips on how to hit the hay softly and soundly.
As the Delta begins to make its transition from day to night, it won't be long before scores of amphibians begin to sound. No bigger in length than a toothpick, I've known less appreciative travellers to get unnecessarily irate by the jugular jingles of the Angolan Reed Frogs' call. Here’s a tip: instead of imagining a host of small hands incessantly tapping on a restless rack of wine glasses, imagine fairy trinkets being shaken awake from their deep slumbers in little jars.
Perhaps if you only received a light scattering of this nocturnal magic, you may re-awake to the strange sensation of sleeping your way through a time capsule. If you welcomed the power of the World Wide Web into your home during the 1990s, then you'll remember the doom-laden rhythms of an internet dial up system. Don't be dismayed, this is no brazen attempt for a homesick camper to dial their way into their unchecked emails, but rather, the whirring and churring of the mystical, Fiery-necked Nightjar.
Once you've broken the illusion of being surrounded by 20th century commodities, your mind will empty again, and you may begin to hear something a little more unsettling: a cry that seems uncannily both primal and intelligent. Ghost-like, you will convince yourself that your guide MUST have precariously planted a tape recorder reeling spooky sound effects in a nearby tree. Fear not. The calls are real, but they belong to the living, and camera trap footage of reflecting eyes investigating your tent will reveal that you were simply visited by a pack of harmless hyenas (a relaxing and reassuring sight at breakfast the next morning).
Now, given that life in the Delta revolves so heavily around the complex river system, chances are you are likely to be based near water. If so, you can expect to drift into the peace and serenity afforded by a lake-side camp, that is, until you are woken to the sensation of being tossed around on water. This may feel slightly disconcerting, and the reality might seem more unsettling at first: night-time is when Hippos become their most active, wading downstream to find the best feeding grounds, which it turns out are often right in your camp! Don't panic though. Hippos are mainly short grass eaters, and there's actually nothing more graceful than the soundtrack of a hungry Hippo munching and belching its way through a green banquet right on your patch.
Back home, particularly if you live in a town or city, you may be familiar with the concept of being kept up by all-night parties in the neighbourhood. Baboons are definitely the party animals of the bush, and you may start to be left with the feeling that keeping you awake for hours is all an elaborate game. Rest assured, these Baboons are actually looking out for your safety; the last thing they would want is for a group of fellow primates to be camping underneath unsteady trees. Therefore, as you lie in your camp bed listening to the thrashing of branches a few metres above your head, know that highly necessary checks are being carried out to ensure your safety.
And now for the biggest challenge you will face: if staying in late October, the heat will be swelling; a breaking point in the sky will begin to feel inevitable. It often comes at night. When it does, be prepared to be shaken by what feels like fists of thunder, flashing whips and riled up rain, all combining to send a pulse of electricity to a primal part of your brain which has probably been dormant since birth. At this blood beating pandemonium, all there is to do is lie small and still, trying not to wet yourself as you feel at the mercy of the king of all beasts out here: the weather.
If none of this advice helps you to get the sleep you are seeking, then simply embrace the theatre. When you return to your home and wake to the sound of a faint rumbling from below you in the kitchen, all those electrifying pulses will come back to you, and you will be glad you let the wilds of the Delta into your ears.
You may want to bring a set of ear plugs though!
Read more about our 'Botswana's Desert & Delta' holiday.