February 1, Elephant Sands Lodge, 1 hour from nowhere! Botswana

Up early in morning and on the truck for a game drive through Chobe National Park, the same park as last night. This park does not have any fences so animals are free to roam.

The exciting part about this drive is that we saw a leopard. I do not know how it got spotted as I had trouble finding it even after it was pointed out. Amazing as it came down the tree and was on the hunt for some warthogs! Wow, we are so lucky! Got lots of pictures, you can see the intensity in her eyes! Also saw jackals, giraffe, and striped mongoose. There were lots of impala but these did not run away when we came up to them. Nice to see them up close. I spotted a red bird in a tree. Turned out to be the elusive and rare red fruit bird! Actually a red fruit, period! Oh well, at least we all had a good laugh.

Many guinea fowl, fish eagles, with hippos and elephants down on the river.
Wow, another amazing trip!

Back on the bus for a 3 hour drive to Elephant sands.

Just driving along the highway there were ostrich, elephants, giraffe.
Elephant Sands Lodge is an amazing place. 50,000 acres of brush land and no fences. But the main feature is the watering hole in the middle, right between the luxury tents and the bar. Here elephants have the right of way, they are much bigger. It is not a posted elephant crosswalk but not hard to work out where their paths are. This is the best live entertainment ever.

At times there must have been 25 elephants in this small hole. According to the owners, the watering hole was there and they built the lodge around the watering hole. Strange at night listening to the elephants trumpet or watching the dominant bull take charge of the watering hole. Here the accommodation was luxury tents. Huge with private showers. Power only from 6 pm to 10 pm which came from a generator.

We went out for a bush walk for about 2 hours. The guide did carry a gun but he has not shot it for 2 years. So weird at the start when you are watching elephants go by and sneaking up on giraffes. We did not get close to the giraffe but that is ok. They are very shy. That was about it for animals but there were lots of birds. The bee catchers were out in full force as the termites were flying getting ready to settle new nests. There was also a dung beetle nest, indicated by the piles of sand around the elephant dung.

Bush walk, find the elephant!

The guide also showed us how to make bushman soap. He saw a snake but it was gone before the rest of us had a chance to see it. Maybe a good thing as the snakes here are very poisonous! But there was one at the bar when we got back... just a little one, a purerona (I think). Apparently this is a non poisonous egg eater snake that is resident but it did not come out to visit.
With only a few lights around, the sky was full of stars, and all very easy to see. Another amazing place where it would be great to stay a few more nights!


January 31, Chobe River, Botswana

We are right on the border of Botswana, Zambia and Namibia
Off from hotel for short drive to river. Exited Zambia, then on a ferry to cross river. The ferry held 1 semi truck and maybe a couple of cars but that was it. The line up was huge... not sure how long people/trucks had to wait. We just walked on. A 10 minute ride and after entering Botswana! Wow another country.
A 1 hour drive and at lodge.

Then we took a 3 hour boat cruise on the Chobe River. The river is the border between Namibia and Botswana. A great flat deck pontoon boat. Another amazing trip! We saw a monitor lizard and hippos right away. Then we saw hundreds of hippos including some young ones. Great to see them grazing on the grassy island. There were also many elephants. Great to see a couple of them having a mud bath and then a light dusting.

And we were so close to them.