My first stop in an epic journey across Botswana is an open-doors helicopter ride over the iconic Okavango Delta. The Delta is legendary—an oasis in the heart of the Kalahari Desert created by seasonal rains flowing from the Angolan Highlands over a thousand kilometers away. This unique river ecosystem is one of the few in the world that doesn’t reach the ocean, instead nourishing the earth and bringing life to the desert. In just 45 minutes of flight, my friends and I saw some spectacular scapes of the of the Delta in golden light, spotting hippos, crocodiles, elephants, giraffes, and an enormous buffalo herd of over 500. This experience connected back to my childhood memories of watching my first wildlife documentary on the Delta, sparking a lifelong interest for wildlife.