Press Articles
Prince Harry's African Queen
Publication: The Sunday TimesDate: November 1, 2009
Author: Brian Jackman
Brian Jackman, one of the most experienced Africa-philes in travel journalism, explores the heart of the Okavango River aboard the Kubu Queen, a 40ft long double-decker houseboat moving every day from one idyllic mooring to the next, with an outboard-powered skiff in tow for birding and fishing expeditions.
Through my mosquito net I watched dawn break over the Okavango flood waters. I had been awakened by the sound of hippos harrumphing in the river. Now as the coucals cried from the reed beds, I looked over our stern to a horizon so flat and so wide I could sense the curve of the earth as it rolled through space to meet the rising sun.
No wonder Prince Harry loves this wild African river. And no wonder he chose to explore it aboard the Kubu Queen. We cast off in the late-afternoon, cold beers in hand, and drift downstream on the swirling current, over amber depths so crystal clear I can see the bottom 12ft below. We spot a cluster of bee-eaters balancing on a swaying reed stem, and a fish eagle in a dead treetop. As we chug past it flings back its head and utters its wild yelping cry – the authentic voice of the Okavango.
Every day towards sundown we moor up for the night under the jackalberry trees. A campfire is soon glowing on the river bank. Now's the time to listen out for the fishing owl, a local rarity that attracts birders from all over the world.
Next morning, we skim down a quiet backwater in the skiff, it's an extraordinary spectacle. Where cattle normally graze, wild duck are swimming and trees stand up to their ankles in water. We putter for miles across this strange drowned land, forging through fields of water lilies. It is so inexpressibly beautiful that, when at last the sun goes down, we can hardly bear turn for home.
