At the end of January/beginning of February 2010 I had the opportunity of going to the Mahango Game Reserve. The Okavango River was in full flood and the flood plains were covered with water. This made the birding all the more exciting. In places the water was right next to if not on the road. This made for some good viewing of sometimes difficult to see birds as usually they are far away on the flood plain. Birds falling into this category of which I had a close up view included African pygmy-goose, slaty egret, goliath heron, wattled crane and yellow-billed duck. As expected no African skimmers or pratincoles were seen as all the sand banks were covered with water.