The 4.30am alarm is now pretty standard & our body clocks are starting to anticipate it & wake us up a few minutes before. Today we cross out of Zambia & into Botswana, but only for one day. The purpose for this extremely short visit is the Chobe National Park, Botswana's first national park. It's a huge attraction in Africa & arguably has the highest concentration of wild Kalahari Elephants in Africa with an estimated 50,000.
We arrive at the border and go through the Zambian exit with little fuss. Some of the locals can be quite rude & will constantly push in rather than wait behind a line of tourists. This is something we've seen at every border crossing. After this we take a ferry across a crocodile infested river & get stamped into Botswana. The entry formalities into Botswana are very quick & well organized. Our Visa is free, yay! We arrive in Botswana at 9.19am.
The country has only 2 million people who live in Botswana though it is about the same size of Kenya. HIV is a huge problem in Botswana with the belief that finding a virgin to have sex with will cure the virus. This is obviously not the case & the population in the last 10 years has dramatically declined from 4.5million to 2 million. A huge government effort has been made to educate the citizens & AIDS medicine in Botswana is provided free by the government. It is one of the least corrupt country in Africa.
Once we cross the border we drive a short distance to Thebes river safari campsite for a toilet break & a quick lunch. While going to the toilet I notice 3 other ATC trucks & our guide says that the people doing the same route but from opposite end (Cape town to Nairobi) meet up here & then again at Victoria falls to do the changeover. We find our friends from Mackay, Australia who we knew were doing the trip & surprise them! I run up behind Ryan first and surprise him by kicking him, a few minutes later I find Jess doing some washing and cover here eyes while demanding "guess who?" haha, she guessed it was me.
Unfortunately we don't have a lot of time to catch up with Jess & Ryan, we sacrifice 20 minutes of our lunch to have an extremely quick debrief before we have to go.
Our first encounter with Chobe was on a boat cruise safari, an extra optional activity we paid $50 US each for. The word cruise was very misleading, it was a large tinny with a canvas roof & seats. We were not disappointed by the wildlife, instantly we saw a large solitary Elephant bull in the distance & 8 bull elephants together in a group our guide called a 'boys club' swimming & crossing the river to graze on the island. The guide estimated their ages by their size as being 19 - 35 years of age. Some bulls get kicked out of their family herd at the age of 10, by the matriarchal female of the herd. They are very social animals & can join 'boys clubs' or wander around by themselves. They have 6 sets of molars that are replaced roughly every 10 years. They die once the last set have been worn down & they can't eat, normally after the age of 60.
Because of this, the elephants have to be fussy about what they eat & commonly can be seen washing grass in water or flinging it around to remove the rough sand. Chobe is bursting with birds & being on the river we saw a lot.
Some of the ones we saw & identified were the ibis, fish eagle, yellow bill stalk, white head duck, Egyptian duck, pied kingfisher, maribou stalk, grey heron's, blacksmith plovers & hornbills. Tom has now made it his mission to photograph a hornbill, or a 'zazu' from the lion king which is what we've been calling them.
We saw very large herds of mixed sex & bachelor Impala, female Kudu & bachelor male Kudu & 4 water buck. Of course there was crocodiles, our first sightings were 3x 3 meter crocodiles estimated age of 45-50 years old lying on the bank. 1x small crocodile estimated at 8 years of age & 1 x large swimming crocodile next to the boat. After this I stopped recording them, we saw around 30 in 3 hours while on the river. From a distance we saw an outcast male hippo sleeping in grass, he most likely lost a fight with another male, which is his reason for solitude.
Later, we would also see 3 more lying together closer to the waters edge & boat. There was a scary moment when a round, flat & very still piece of water next to the boat was revealed to be a hippo who was angry from being disturbed & jumped out of the water at the boat but missed & we accelerated away.
We saw 3 Water monitor lizards, 1 of which was very close to the boat & easily photographed. We saw wart hog in the distance, but none super close to photograph.
There was 1 Buffalo sitting on the river edge, very close. We treated him with the respect & space he deserved. There was a large herd of buffalo in the distance as well. As we got closer to the island inside the river, we saw a large herd of elephants, approximately 40 all playing in the mud, all females & babies ! Some of the babies were so tiny & could be seen running between their mothers legs & playing. They have floppy trunks when they are young & it takes them about 5 years to gain full control of it.
Just after the big herd we saw 1 x large solo male standing near the waters edge eating & another 4 solo males in or around the water. We stopped the boat to admire one male swimming & playing as he crossed the river to the island.
We had 3 hours in the boat & were very happy with what we saw, now we had 3 hours of jeep safari & an overnight camp in the Chobe.
It started off with a sighting of banded mongoose running around toilet block at the park entrance to Chobe. We saw lots of wart hogs, most of them running away at the sounds of the jeep. We continued to see herds of Impala & Kudu, as well as Giraffe. I estimate we saw at least 40 giraffe in the 3 hour game drive. Most excitedly we saw literally hundreds of elephants coming down to the river for one last drink or coming back from the island.
It was on this game drive we got some excellent photos of elephants close up with their babies. We saw young bulls play fighting & heard them trumpeting to each other across the river. It was really magical & emotional to see so many wild & free.
After the elephants, a huge highlight for us was the sighting of 4x African wild dogs, also known as painted dogs or African hunting dogs. I didn't see them last time I was in Africa & really hoped to see them this time. Unfortunately they are endangered & with only an estimated 3,000 - 5,000 left in the wild. We enquired about them at the start of the game drive & were told how rare they were & that they don't come this far East into Chobe. I was resigned to the fact we wouldn't see them, then 20 minutes later BAM! There was 4 of them lying in the shade of the tree next to the road. In the distance we could hear baboons sounding the alert about the dogs.
We saw lots of baboons playing in trees & running across the road. We finally saw some Warthog that are close enough to the road that we could photograph them.
And finally we saw a pride of 6 lioness' with 4 Cubs partially hidden in a cluster of bushes. They were really hard to photograph but it was still really nice to see them! Once we realised we couldn't get any digital proof, we just relaxed and focused on watching the cub's playing in the bush's and annoying the lioness.
In between the animal sightings & photography, we couldn't help but notice our safari jeep was having mechanical difficulties. It sounded like there was a low gear missing & that it was idling wrong. Every time we arrived at a deep section of sand & he shifted down gear, the car would stall & it was difficult to get going again. At one point we had to get out of the truck & 3 guys, including Tom pushed it out of the sand. At each time it stalled, it became a greater effort to start the jeep & then get it moving.
It was being revved at full capacity & we could smell something burning in the engine & feel the heat. We must of stalled at least 50 times & it was getting dark. Some people decided to be dramatic & negative about the situation, saying things about dying or freezing to death. Thankfully a lot of the group was very positive & encouraging, drowning out the ridiculous comments.
I cracked open my bottle of pinotage wine, freshly bought this morning & passed it around. This increased the mood a lot & created lots of cheering & singing.
The last 500m was covered in a fast downhill sprint, we could see the lights in the distance & knew our camp was close. As the car finally roared to life for the last time that night, we all cheered & started yelling/singing eye of the tiger, a song that was started by Simon & myself that we had been singing while playing uno over the last few days.
We realised only after this that our drivers name was Rocky, Haha!
Despite the problems with the jeep, We arrived only about an hour late to our camp in high spirits. Dinner was ready & our tents were set up in a bush beautiful camp site with a fire.
During dinner we had a honey badger visit our camp to attempt a scavenging mission. Such an unusual animal that I didn't realise was in Africa!
After dinner we all retreated to our tents to sleep & listen to the animal noises.
- Alli
We arrive at the border and go through the Zambian exit with little fuss. Some of the locals can be quite rude & will constantly push in rather than wait behind a line of tourists. This is something we've seen at every border crossing. After this we take a ferry across a crocodile infested river & get stamped into Botswana. The entry formalities into Botswana are very quick & well organized. Our Visa is free, yay! We arrive in Botswana at 9.19am.
The country has only 2 million people who live in Botswana though it is about the same size of Kenya. HIV is a huge problem in Botswana with the belief that finding a virgin to have sex with will cure the virus. This is obviously not the case & the population in the last 10 years has dramatically declined from 4.5million to 2 million. A huge government effort has been made to educate the citizens & AIDS medicine in Botswana is provided free by the government. It is one of the least corrupt country in Africa.
Once we cross the border we drive a short distance to Thebes river safari campsite for a toilet break & a quick lunch. While going to the toilet I notice 3 other ATC trucks & our guide says that the people doing the same route but from opposite end (Cape town to Nairobi) meet up here & then again at Victoria falls to do the changeover. We find our friends from Mackay, Australia who we knew were doing the trip & surprise them! I run up behind Ryan first and surprise him by kicking him, a few minutes later I find Jess doing some washing and cover here eyes while demanding "guess who?" haha, she guessed it was me.
Unfortunately we don't have a lot of time to catch up with Jess & Ryan, we sacrifice 20 minutes of our lunch to have an extremely quick debrief before we have to go.
Our first encounter with Chobe was on a boat cruise safari, an extra optional activity we paid $50 US each for. The word cruise was very misleading, it was a large tinny with a canvas roof & seats. We were not disappointed by the wildlife, instantly we saw a large solitary Elephant bull in the distance & 8 bull elephants together in a group our guide called a 'boys club' swimming & crossing the river to graze on the island. The guide estimated their ages by their size as being 19 - 35 years of age. Some bulls get kicked out of their family herd at the age of 10, by the matriarchal female of the herd. They are very social animals & can join 'boys clubs' or wander around by themselves. They have 6 sets of molars that are replaced roughly every 10 years. They die once the last set have been worn down & they can't eat, normally after the age of 60.
Because of this, the elephants have to be fussy about what they eat & commonly can be seen washing grass in water or flinging it around to remove the rough sand. Chobe is bursting with birds & being on the river we saw a lot.
Some of the ones we saw & identified were the ibis, fish eagle, yellow bill stalk, white head duck, Egyptian duck, pied kingfisher, maribou stalk, grey heron's, blacksmith plovers & hornbills. Tom has now made it his mission to photograph a hornbill, or a 'zazu' from the lion king which is what we've been calling them.
Later, we would also see 3 more lying together closer to the waters edge & boat. There was a scary moment when a round, flat & very still piece of water next to the boat was revealed to be a hippo who was angry from being disturbed & jumped out of the water at the boat but missed & we accelerated away.
We saw 3 Water monitor lizards, 1 of which was very close to the boat & easily photographed. We saw wart hog in the distance, but none super close to photograph.
There was 1 Buffalo sitting on the river edge, very close. We treated him with the respect & space he deserved. There was a large herd of buffalo in the distance as well. As we got closer to the island inside the river, we saw a large herd of elephants, approximately 40 all playing in the mud, all females & babies ! Some of the babies were so tiny & could be seen running between their mothers legs & playing. They have floppy trunks when they are young & it takes them about 5 years to gain full control of it.
Just after the big herd we saw 1 x large solo male standing near the waters edge eating & another 4 solo males in or around the water. We stopped the boat to admire one male swimming & playing as he crossed the river to the island.
We had 3 hours in the boat & were very happy with what we saw, now we had 3 hours of jeep safari & an overnight camp in the Chobe.
It started off with a sighting of banded mongoose running around toilet block at the park entrance to Chobe. We saw lots of wart hogs, most of them running away at the sounds of the jeep. We continued to see herds of Impala & Kudu, as well as Giraffe. I estimate we saw at least 40 giraffe in the 3 hour game drive. Most excitedly we saw literally hundreds of elephants coming down to the river for one last drink or coming back from the island.
After the elephants, a huge highlight for us was the sighting of 4x African wild dogs, also known as painted dogs or African hunting dogs. I didn't see them last time I was in Africa & really hoped to see them this time. Unfortunately they are endangered & with only an estimated 3,000 - 5,000 left in the wild. We enquired about them at the start of the game drive & were told how rare they were & that they don't come this far East into Chobe. I was resigned to the fact we wouldn't see them, then 20 minutes later BAM! There was 4 of them lying in the shade of the tree next to the road. In the distance we could hear baboons sounding the alert about the dogs.
We saw lots of baboons playing in trees & running across the road. We finally saw some Warthog that are close enough to the road that we could photograph them.
And finally we saw a pride of 6 lioness' with 4 Cubs partially hidden in a cluster of bushes. They were really hard to photograph but it was still really nice to see them! Once we realised we couldn't get any digital proof, we just relaxed and focused on watching the cub's playing in the bush's and annoying the lioness.
In between the animal sightings & photography, we couldn't help but notice our safari jeep was having mechanical difficulties. It sounded like there was a low gear missing & that it was idling wrong. Every time we arrived at a deep section of sand & he shifted down gear, the car would stall & it was difficult to get going again. At one point we had to get out of the truck & 3 guys, including Tom pushed it out of the sand. At each time it stalled, it became a greater effort to start the jeep & then get it moving.
It was being revved at full capacity & we could smell something burning in the engine & feel the heat. We must of stalled at least 50 times & it was getting dark. Some people decided to be dramatic & negative about the situation, saying things about dying or freezing to death. Thankfully a lot of the group was very positive & encouraging, drowning out the ridiculous comments.
I cracked open my bottle of pinotage wine, freshly bought this morning & passed it around. This increased the mood a lot & created lots of cheering & singing.
The last 500m was covered in a fast downhill sprint, we could see the lights in the distance & knew our camp was close. As the car finally roared to life for the last time that night, we all cheered & started yelling/singing eye of the tiger, a song that was started by Simon & myself that we had been singing while playing uno over the last few days.
We realised only after this that our drivers name was Rocky, Haha!
Despite the problems with the jeep, We arrived only about an hour late to our camp in high spirits. Dinner was ready & our tents were set up in a bush beautiful camp site with a fire.
During dinner we had a honey badger visit our camp to attempt a scavenging mission. Such an unusual animal that I didn't realise was in Africa!
After dinner we all retreated to our tents to sleep & listen to the animal noises.
- Alli
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