Our first evening drive was an exciting one!

  Chobe National Park, Botswana
November 06, 2011After breakfast we had one last walking tour with Henry, Matthew, Josy, Rolf & Hans. On our short walk we saw many lions tracks, both adult and baby ones. Henry was able to track them to the spot where they had spent the night. Unfortunately, they were no longer there & Henry said that they were moving in the opposite direction from where our walk was taking us to.

We did see lots of impalas as always & they did seem more skittish than normal. Flying overhead was a fish eagle. We saw two new creatures this morning: the go-away-bird & the slender mongoose. Henry explained that the ilala palm was used to be burned for potash & used when there was a salt shortage Our Room. We passed by remains of a village, when the area became a park, they were relocated.

We also saw our first baobab tree. It is enormous! The trunk is so large that bats live inside of this one. Henry showed us a small path in the dirt from a type of ant. They would send out scouts to find resources for the colony. Once they return & report back, then a team of workers is sent out to the site.

Graham picked us up & drove out of the park, into a hunting area & to the airstrip. Along the way we saw 2 large chandelier cacti. We saw another baobab tree where the former Chief Chikwenya is buried.

We said our "goodbyes" to Graham, Matthew, Henry (big hugs), Josy, Rolf & Hans. I was very sad to leave our new friends and Mana Pools. The past 3 days have been beyond my wildest expectations. I feel like I am leaving part of my heart here!

We were handed over to Nick, our pilot & took off after a short safety briefing that explained how to operate the door, the emergency window & fire extinguisher Elephant up Close. This plane was a twin engine 8 seater. From the flight we were able to see the Kariba Dam, Lake Kariba & stretches of the Zambezi. An hour & half later we landed in Victoria Falls Airstrip (it does not even have a taxiway) & was greeted by our driver, Stan. We asked Stan to find a spot for us to eat. We pulled into Vic Falls where there was a fast food area. I had a meat pie & a chicken pie. Bill had fries & fried chicken.

Along the road on the way to the border we saw men, women & children all dressed in white. They were gathered (women on one side, men the other) & were worshipping under the trees. We saw cows, goats, wart hogs & donkeys along the road. We both had a short nap & arrived at the border an hour later.

We completed our documentation & were met by our new driver (I can't think of his name at the moment) because the drivers do not cross the border Giraffe. We checked in at Botswana Immigration where Bill noticed that they had a free condom dispenser, which reminds us how the people here are still fighting this terrible disease.

We had another hour drive to Chobe. As we were getting close to the Lodge (the only lodge inside the park), we saw hundreds of elephants down by the River Chobe. It was a scene that I have only ever seen in movies. It was breathtaking! We were also able to see a kudu up close with his massive corkscrew antlers. The last part of the road to the lodge was very sandy, so it took a bit of time to navigate.

Ishmael greeted us at the entrance of Chobe Lodge, provided us with a refreshing beverage & provided us our itinerary for the next few days. This afternoon we will be going on a game drive from 4:00 until 7:00. Afterward the dining room will be open for dinner.

The itinerary for the next two days is:
5:00 wake up call
5:30 tea & coffee
6:00 - 8:30 morning game drive
9:00 brunch
10:30 - 1:00 riverboat cruise
1:00 - 2:00 lunch
3:00 tea
4:00 - 7:00 evening game drive
7:00 - 9:00 dinner
9:00 - 11:30 everyone else went to bed, we stayed up had more drinks & used the internet

At 4:00 we met our driver Bee, Mark & Penny who are living in Australia, & Bob & Barb from New Jersey Pic of the Trip so Far - Leopard!. Penny is a pilot with QANTAS & is originally from NZ. Mark is a ground engineer with QANTAS, he is originally from Zimbabwe. Bob & Barb are a retired couple who are celebrating their 47th wedding anniversary.

We had many highlights on our first game drive. We saw elephants up close & personal, 2 giraffes crossed our path, watched the wild dogs having a siesta under a tree, & then another driver notified Bee about the leopard, so we drove as fast we could to the site. We were very fortunate that the leopard was still having a nap in the tree. What a beautiful animal! It is very rare to see a leopard, we so lucky for our first time out!

We had a sundowner off the front of our vehicle. It was lovely to stretch our legs & get to know our group mates a bit better.

On the way back to the lodge we spotted a kori, a very rare bird & is the largest bird that can fly The Safari Gang. We also spotted the wild dog pups playing in the grass.

The dinner buffet was delicious! I had kudu in a peanut sauce & Bill had beef stew. After dinner I worked on the blog on the balcony of the upstairs bar while Bill had a scotch. Bill went back to the room to shower & I shut down the place after the drunk South Africans left.

The mammals that we during our stay at Chobe were:
baboons
buffalo
bushbuck
wild dog
elephants
giraffe
impala
kudu
leopard
lion
banded mongoose
vervet monkey
roan antelope
sable antelope
tree squirrel
warthog
zebra

The birds that we saw during our stay at Chobe were:
southern carmine bee-eater
cormorant
African mourning dove
other doves
great egret
yellow-billed egret
fish-eagle
crested francolin
red-billed francolin
go-away-bird
Egyptian goose
crested guineaufowl
helmeted guineaufowl
hammerkop
grey heron
red-billed hornbill
ibis
African jacana
giant kingfisher
African pygmy kingfisher
kori
blacksmith lapwing
a type of plover
lilac-breasted roller
a type of sandpiper
African skimmer
marabou stork
yellow-billed stork
open-billed stork
wire-tailed swallow
white-backed vulture

The reptiles that we saw during our stay at Chobe were:
nile crocodile
water monitor
leopard tortoise

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