Maun to Guma Lagoon, March 2022

Guma Lagoon was a true oasis on our travels. Not the easiest of drives to get there but not overly difficult either with a trustworthy 4×4 like a Hilux. Guma Lagoon is one of the twelve major lagoons found in the Okavango Delta. It is located north-west of the Okavango Delta just before the historical water course begins to fan out. The lagoons are typically full year round which allow for fishing, game watching and other activities at most times. We have now been travelling for about a week and want to stay a full week here.

The Okavango Delta is filled by the Okavango River via the seasonal run-off from the Angolan highlands which generally arrives in March each year. It then takes around four months for the captured rain-fall to spread throughout the almost fourty thousand square kilometre area. By winter time the whole of the Okavango Delta is an oasis for many of the parched animals in the surrounding lands.

Directions to the camp on their website is as follows:

Access to Guma Lagoon Camp is strictly 4×4 only! It is a very thick sand road. It is important to deflate all tyres and drive in 4×4 low range, and preferably in second gear. Please arrange for an escort from the camp if you are not comfortable driving in thick sand. Not for the faint hearted!

http://www.guma-lagoon.com

After having been stuck in the mud just a few days ago we decide to stop over in Gumare for the night to give the rain waters another twenty four hours to dissipate. This will also allow us a full day of sunlight to tackle any situations we find ourselves in. The road to Guma Lagoon is the A35. At the time of writing it is a fairly sketchy road with the tar road often disappearing to be replaced by corrugated sand roads. The entrance to Gumare was hilarious with trucks, taxi’s and cars having to drive up on to the sidewalk to avoid the lake which had taken over the centre of the road. Not knowing what might be lurking in the lake we duly followed a truck onto the sidewalk.

In Gumare, we stay in a comfortable enough accommodation called Semo Hotel which is cheap, fenced and has a security guard in place all night. It is the best place we found in Gumare. The next day we try the local Shoprite supermarket for some fresh vegetables but again pickings are slim with the current fourteen unacceptable vegetables ban.

The directions given to us by Guma Lagoon are followed carefully and after a short while we are at the turn-off. We dutifully reduce the air pressure in our tyres once leaving the main road but don’t take them all the way down to one point five bar as advised. We travel through Etosha Six township and reduce the front tyres to one point five and the rear tyres to one point eight as we have a lot of weight in the back. We don’t want to run the risk of popping one of the tyres off of the rim. We became more comfortable in reducing tyre pressures further as our trip through Africa progressed. We also engage low range at this point. My best buddy Hilux prefers third gear in low range.

We have no problems at all barreling through the sand track. I keep the vehicle going at a speed of just under thirty kilometres per hour and no more. The momentum keeps us above the sand and staying in control. The back end of the car slides a little on corners even at the reduced speed.

It is about twenty kilometres to camp and the scenery is excellent. At the beginning it is very traditional Botswanan villages with their agricultural land surrounded by very high walls of branches and thorns to keep the elephant and antelope out from the crops. Healthy herds of subsistence cattle grind their teeth watched by the ever present herd person. This soon gives way to open lands broken by islands of forest. Secretary birds saunter through the grasses on the hunt for reptiles. The marshes appear and banks of papyrus reeds double the height of a person phalanx our route to the east.

Within a half-hour or so and we have arrived. It is one of the best campsites I have ever stayed at. Each pitch is large with its own ablution, the ground is relatively flat and springy from green grass and the barbecue area is designed so that you can both cook and have a campfire to gaze at through the evening. The restaurant/bar area has a massive deck from which you can gaze at the lagoon or fish from as you wish. There is a large and well-stocked communal kitchen which can be used also. Fishing and sight-seeing tours by boat are available on request. The boats head out of the lagoon and enter meandering streams within the trunk of the Delta.

Before entering our pitch we are told by the owner of the camp that they first have to remove a tiger snake which has just been found in our ablution. We spend a few moments watching the camp staff try to shoo the snake away. It doesn’t seem to want to go.

We are again budget conscious and so opt for lazing on the deck and cooking on an open fire each evening. I do some fishing and am unable to catch anything on lures from the deck but am able to pick up two decent size barbel when I switch to chicken and worm bait.

We relax on the banks of the lagoon for five nights and leave finally fully rested and ready for our next adventure.