When Andrew was visiting, we all made our first mokoro trip into the Okavogo Delta. The journey is somewhat complex.
First we boarded a van to haul us to the boat launch only 3-4 km away.
From the van, we got into a nice size, maybe 20-foot, aluminum power boat.
An hour later we arrived at the buffalo fence, which marks the entry into the delta itself.
We piled into a mokoro, a long narrow traditionally wooden boat that is poled, not paddled, through the delta and apparently has been for many, many years.
A lot of mokoros are now made of fiberglass, but Brenda's and mine was hewn from a single log and did not leak one drop, despite that there was no apparent sealant on the hull.
After 2+ hours of steady poling, our guide, Mr. T, got us to the camping site.
I'll tell more about the camping in another post, but in helping unload the boats, I spied three fresh-chopped sections of something that looked like a poplar tree, about 5 inches across and maybe 14 inches long.
Along with the 3 pieces of tree trunk was a small adze, a piece of rebar flattened at one end, and pointed at the other, and an impressive heavy file.
An hour so after landing, Andrew's guide, Seekoo M, sat down on a log and began to whack away at one of those pieces of green wood. In about an hour or less, he had rough hewn a small mokoro replica.
A while later and it was almost completed. He then took a piece of broken glass and scraped the wood smooth. The next day, he used the piece of rebar to burn a neat decoration in the outside of the hull.
That boat carving reminded me of one of Brenda's testimonies. She describes herself as a rough piece of marble that G^d is steadily chipping away. G^d is the artist, we are the clay.
First we boarded a van to haul us to the boat launch only 3-4 km away.
From the van, we got into a nice size, maybe 20-foot, aluminum power boat.
An hour later we arrived at the buffalo fence, which marks the entry into the delta itself.
We piled into a mokoro, a long narrow traditionally wooden boat that is poled, not paddled, through the delta and apparently has been for many, many years.
A lot of mokoros are now made of fiberglass, but Brenda's and mine was hewn from a single log and did not leak one drop, despite that there was no apparent sealant on the hull.
After 2+ hours of steady poling, our guide, Mr. T, got us to the camping site.
I'll tell more about the camping in another post, but in helping unload the boats, I spied three fresh-chopped sections of something that looked like a poplar tree, about 5 inches across and maybe 14 inches long.
Along with the 3 pieces of tree trunk was a small adze, a piece of rebar flattened at one end, and pointed at the other, and an impressive heavy file.
An hour so after landing, Andrew's guide, Seekoo M, sat down on a log and began to whack away at one of those pieces of green wood. In about an hour or less, he had rough hewn a small mokoro replica.
A while later and it was almost completed. He then took a piece of broken glass and scraped the wood smooth. The next day, he used the piece of rebar to burn a neat decoration in the outside of the hull.
That boat carving reminded me of one of Brenda's testimonies. She describes herself as a rough piece of marble that G^d is steadily chipping away. G^d is the artist, we are the clay.
Isaiah 64:8 says, "But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand."
How true, at least for folks willing to be sculpted into His handiwork.
First of all, what a beautiful piece of art! and Secondly what in the world is Mr. T. doing, poling a boat? Did he still have on his heavy gold necklaces?
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