It was an early Saturday morning in mid-February. Trudy Reed, Grant's wife, had invited us for an afternoon braai at their newly-built house on the banks of the Thamalakane river just outside of Maun.
The ringing of my phone on my bedside table woke me up. I lifted the phone and looked at the screen. The incoming call was Grant Reed. I answered, trying my best to sound as though I'd been awake for a while but I think that just did the opposite.
‘Hey Stu!’ boomed Grant's voice from the phone, ‘Do you want to join Mike Hill and I on a fishing expedition into the Delta?’
I hesitated, ‘What about the braai this afternoon?’ I asked
‘We will be back by then’ he chuckled. ‘We will pick you up in front of your place on the river in about half an hour!’
I turned to Kim to explain. ‘I heard’ she said, ‘its best if you get dressed, I will pack a quick lunch box.’
The timing was perfect. I just stepped onto the side of the river when Mike and Grant appeared downstream on Grant's newly-acquired second-hand boat. There is just enough space for me and my cooler box that Kim had packed. The boat had 4 fiberglass seats that formed part of the hull. The 50 horsepower Yamaha outboard motor was an overkill on a boat this size and this could be felt in the acceleration that pinned me to my seat as we set off up the Boro River. After about two and a half hours the river opened up into a big Lagoon. Mike asked Grant to stop for a while, he wanted to cast in and see if he could catch a fish. Nothing, not a bite.
‘There's a cross-flow from the Channel coming in from the left’ said Mike’ ‘the fishing here is supposed to be amazing!’ Mike stated.
Grant started the engine and we continued for another hour upstream. Again the river widened into a larger Lagoon and Grant stopped and turned off the engine. Mike and Grant cast in and in a short space of time they each caught a fish. Then nothing. We sat in the boat and chatted for a while. Grant was quizzing us on what birds we had seen on the boat ride up the Boro, and into what appeared to be the middle of the Okavango Delta. I was more interested in the animals, particularly the elephants and the pod of hippo we just passed over.
‘We need to move," said Mike. "Let's catch a few more so we can at least have lunch.’
Grant turned the key to start the engine and nothing happened except there was a smell of burning wires and smoke from the engine cover. Mike quickly loosened and pulled the live wire from the battery terminal. Grant removed the engine cover and passed it down to Mike and he passed it to me and I put it on the front of the boat. The wiring harness that was secured to the engine block burned and the wire cores no longer had insulation to separate them.
‘There's a small island about 150m to the east of us!’ said Grant, ‘We need to get onto solid ground and look at our options from there.’ he continued.
Without saying another word he stepped off the side of the boat and into the water. Then with one hand holding onto the side of the boat he started swimming towards the island. He saw Mike and I taking off our shoes and pants and he asked us to stay in the boat.
‘There's no need for all of us to be in the water’ he said ‘I've got this’
But that was not gonna happen and Mike and I slipped into the water and with one hand holding the boat started to swim towards the island. After a few minutes my kicking feet broke the surface of the water with a Splash.
‘Do not break the surface and stay quiet’ snapped Grant ‘The Deep Waters are angry!’
I felt a bit stupid having let the side down and I instantly knew what he was referring to. The deep Waters had the big crocodiles in and anything moving and splashing on the surface would attract them. We were relieved when we got to shallow water and could drag the boat through the water plants and the reeds and along a hippo path to the island. I sat on a log and put my pants and shoes back on. Grant and Mike just picked up their fishing rods, waded back into the water and resumed their fishing.
I took my Leatherman and started to take an in-depth look at the outboard motor gently separating the wires and trying to follow them to get an understanding of their functions. I had been busy for about an hour and decided to take a break. I called to Grant and Mike and told them I was going to collect firewood to get a fire started. Grant called back ‘Be careful and don't move too far.’
The island was smaller than I first expected, only about 100 m squared. The centre of the island was a huge termite Mound and next to that large palm trees, to the north of that was a patch of trees and shrubs. I headed my wood collecting efforts in that direction. What happened next was a first experience that formed part of a greater understanding of the universe. My head was filled with outboard engine solutions and my body was just picking up bits of dry wood. A rasping cough alerted me to a slight movement in the bushes about 8m ahead of me. The first thing I focused on was the penetrating eye, then the snarl and I could clearly see his teeth and nose. As I had now suddenly become acutely aware of my surroundings, the male leopard I was face-to-face with was clearly not happy that we were on the same Island. My blood ran cold. I stood up slowly and still clutching the wood I had gathered began slowly walking backwards away from the bushes. I also did not maintain focus on the leopard because they rely on camouflage as a defence mechanism and if that was now a problem he might attack. Instead, I moved my focus to a nearby mangosteen tree and only kept his position out of the corner of my eye. I heard movement in the water behind the bushes and I glanced back to the point where the leopard was. He was gone. I took a deep breath and decided that I gathered enough wood for now. When I got back to where the boat was, Mike had already lit a small fire and I put the wood I had collected onto it. I went to the boat and collected the sandwiches and boerewors that Kim had provided. Grant and Mike cleaned and prepared the fish. I took the time to have another look at the outboard motor.
We shared the sandwiches, boerewors rolls and fish and lunch was most satisfying, but it was time to start heading back home, and after a little while we were ready to give the boat a go. I took the rope that was used as an anchor from the nose of the boat and used it as a pull-start cord on the flywheel. On the third attempt the motor started at full revs, switching it off did nothing. Mike quickly disconnected the fuel supply line and we waited for it to run out of fuel. We had now learnt two things: firstly we were going to operate at full speed and secondly our only switch off was to disconnect the fuel hose. Putting it into gear was a manual operation with the Leatherman on the side of the motor. Time had flown by and it was now late in the afternoon. The sun was almost at the tree tops and the shadows of the Lala Palms were long. We packed our cooler box into the boat and Grant did a quick walkabout inspection to make sure we left no evidence of us ever being there. It was part of the safari operators Creed to preserve the wilderness in its absolute pristine state. We waded the boat into the Lagoon and pointed it in the direction of the Boro River towards Maun. Grant took his position at the steering wheel, Mike sat next to the motor, Leatherman in hand and ready to jolt it into gear and I wound the Rope around the flywheel for the pull start. Again it took three attempts for the motor to start and when it did it was at full revs. Mike jammed the Leatherman forward and the boat lurched from underneath me. I almost completed the full somersault before splashing into the water. By the time we had got the motor started we drifted into the deep water and I now found myself treading water in the middle of the Okavango Delta. The boat was hurtling away into the distance. It appeared that time Stood Still, I was aware of every movement in the water, the elephant on the far bank was the least of my concern and the sun was now disappearing behind the tree line.
The only way to stop the boat was for Mike to unplug the fuel line, then wait for it to run out of fuel. It felt like an eternity before the boat was heading back towards me at full speed. Mike timed the fuel cut off well and I caught the side of the boat and got pulled on board by Mike and Grant. The feeling of relief palatable.
“Okay, this time Stu, throw yourself onto the front of the boat as it starts and try hang on.” Said Grant, “also your weight on the front of the boat will help with balance.”
Again it took a few attempts at winding the rope around the flywheel pulley and pulling it hard before the engine fired up. I so nearly lost my balance and ended up in the water again but somehow managed to flop into the boat and crawled forward into position.
It was 19h00 when we passed the vet fence at full speed. “Only an hour and we should be home” Shouted Grant above the noise of the screaming engine. It was dark, and I was super grateful that he knew this river like the back of his hand.