A mokoro is a dugout canoe, poled from the stern like a punt, and it is the Okavango Delta's oldest and still its most magical way to travel. If you only do one thing beyond the game drives on a Botswana safari, make it this. Here is what a mokoro actually is, what a trip in one is really like, and the honest answers to the questions everyone asks.
For generations the people of the Delta, above all the Bayei, who brought the craft south with them, carved mokoros from single hardwood trunks, ebony and sausage tree among them, and used them for fishing and getting about the waterways. Today's mokoros keep the exact shape but are made of fibreglass: lighter, easier to manoeuvre, and it means no more slow-growing trees are felled for hulls, a small conservation win you are sitting in. Your poler stands at the stern and drives the boat with a pole around three metres long, reading the water as they go. There is real craft in it: too shallow and you ground; too deep and you lose the pole, and, more to the point, you cannot see what might be lurking beneath. Learning to pole properly takes years, and as one Delta poler told us, being taught to swim first was lesson one.
Mokoro trips go out in the early morning, while the light is soft and before the heat builds. One of the Tribes team described her trip like this: a short drive from the lodge to the water's edge at half past seven, and by eight she was gliding upstream in complete silence. That silence is the whole point. With no engine, the wildlife barely registers you, and you slip past like driftwood: game coming down to the water's edge to drink, elephants crossing the channels at certain times of year, jackals on the banks and more birds than she could count. After an hour her poler moored under a sausage tree opposite drinking giraffe and produced a flask of tea and biscuits from a cool box, and she maintains to this day that she has never eaten a biscuit in a more exotic location.
The other thing that trip taught her is how remarkable the Delta's polers and guides are. Hers had worked the Delta his whole life and could not only name every bird and insect she pointed at, but give her its diet, habits and life story on the spot. That depth of knowledge is normal in Botswana, and it turns a gentle float into the most quietly educational hour of the trip.
Mokoro trips are offered by camps in the wetter parts of the Delta, where water levels are reliable and the polers have the right expertise, and by some camps along the Khwai river. Because the Delta floods in the dry season, the best water is usually from around June to August, but it varies by area and by year, so if a mokoro trip is on your must-do list, say so and we will build your trip around camps where the water allows it. The strange story of why the Delta is fullest in the driest months is told on our when to go page.
The classic combination is water and land in one itinerary: a couple of nights at a water camp for mokoro trips and boat rides, then dry-land camps for the big game. Mokoros also pair beautifully with walking, since polers often ferry you to an island and lead a walk from there. The craft itself is part of Botswana's living culture, and there is more on the people behind it in our guide to the tribes of Botswana.
Your poler's skill is the safety system. Polers read the water constantly, keeping to channels shallow enough to see and avoid hippos, and they know their patch of the Delta intimately, often having worked it all their lives. Trips run in areas and at times the camps judge safe, and you should always follow your poler's guidance.
You sit low and dry, though a splash is never impossible, so keep cameras in a dry bag. As for poling, guests who ask are usually, and kindly, told to sit back and enjoy the ride: it looks effortless and takes years to learn properly. A few camps will let you try in safe, shallow water if you insist.
It depends on water, not the calendar. The Delta's flood usually peaks between roughly June and August, when most water camps offer mokoro trips, but levels vary by area and by year. Tell us mokoro matters to you and we will choose camps where the water reliably allows it. Our guide to the flood on the when to go page explains the Delta's back-to-front seasons.
None. You simply step in, sit low and let your poler do the work. Mornings are calm, the ride is gentle and stable, and it suits almost every age and ability. It is about the least strenuous thing you can do on safari.
Tell us a mokoro trip is on your list and we will plan your Delta days around the water.
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