Dithlapi Lodge
Dithlapi Lodge is in Shakawe. Shakawe is in Northern Botswana. At the very top of the Okavango Delta panhandle.
This place is wild. Deep Africa. Way deep.
Dithlapi Lodge view north towards Namibia 
Okavango canoer has to deal with these huge animals daily 
An Okavango hippopotomus lurks in the shallows 
The Okavango is a peaceful place, until the hippo roars. This is the exact piece of water that the showdown in the story refers to 
Dithlapi Lodge 
Dithlapi Lodge is in Shakawe, right at the top of the panhandle 
The Okavango Delta as it rolls down towards the south and Maun
But you can get there. In a normal car. The roads are cool, there are little airports everywhere, and Shakawe get’s you right to the point where the perennial rains ifrom Angola surge water into Botswana. From here the biblical amounts of H20 threads is way into the Kalahari Desert, where it just simply runs out.
In Maun?! At the extreme south part of the delta system.
This contrast of conditions, the dry Kalahari, and the sumptuous Okavango Delta, is where it all goes down.
Elephants just kind of rule the roost. And their ever exploding population (we should be eating elephants, not stupid cows), is the cause of concern for towns like Shakawe, and on the eastern side, Kasane. The elephants basically are taking over, marauding through vegetable patches and croplands, and interacting violently, sometimes with deadly outcome, with the local populations?! We really should be eating them, they are delicious! And make the best biltong ever.
But that is how far out there, and on the edge, you are, in Shakawe and Dithlapi Lodge.
You can read all about a wild hippopotamus encounter right at Dithlapi Lodge right here.
But for the most part, it is peaceful Africa. Very peaceful. Almost slow-motion peaceful, as nothing, ever, happens. Aside from the wildlife, there is literally, nothing to distract you.
You could load a boat with a cooler and go fishing. This is again, tigerfish country, and where your dream 20 pounder just might be swimming along as you cast your last cast of the day.
Sunsets on the river are really special.
The birdlife is right out of the raptor age as fish eagles and all sorts vai for attention. It literally can be called a cacophony as the sun rises and the bird population exclaims their survival of the night to each other. With vigour.
Crocodiles cruise the rivers too. We never heard any lions during our stays there, but they live literally a few miles away!
Right, if you find yourself in Shakawe, get in touch with the good folks at Dithlapi Lodge in Shakawe, via their Facebook page below.
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