I wake up, press myself onto an elbow and look around. My guide, Letsaamang “Arnold” Kelaotswe, is blowing life into the fire. He takes a dry bit of elephant dung, pulls it apart and adds it as kindling. If this smoky, herby smell was a cologne, I'd wear it every day. I'm in paradise! I smile to myself, then notice that Arnold is wordlessly pointing at something: two giraffe on the other side of the water.
It's early May, just before sunrise. There's a fresh bite in the air, but it will soon become another brilliant, warm Botswana winter's day. The giraffe pause their browsing to check me out, where I stir like a giant mopane worm in my bedroll.
I met Arnold around midday yesterday, at the Daunara poling station. Daunara is one of a handful of communities that make up the Okavango Kopano Mokoro Community Trust (OKMCT). The trust was founded in 1997 to co-ordinate mokoro trips into the Okavango
