Chobe

Chobe was Chobe. As I had been there before little was new to me so it was more wonderful wildlife spotting by boat and safari vehicle, which is a great contrast. First by boat, and as the afternoon sun began to cool, we watched more and more elephants heading down to the water’s edge for drinking and cooling off. There were hippos everywhere, most barely visible with eyes and nose hovering just above the water, though a few did display parts of their huge bodies now and again including the massive, open wide yawn. Slightly further away on land we could see plenty of giraffe and different types of antelope. The following day we got very lucky as within minutes of entering the park by car our guide spotted a couple of lionesses hunting. We observed them for a while before there was an onslaught of tens of other safari vehicles trying to get in on the action. Not too far away we came across the lion cubs that the mothers had left behind, playing happily with each other, and therefore somewhat exposed if any larger prey came along. So for a one night trip across to the border to Botswaa these were pretty good highlights for me.

Botswana

Here goes a quick summary of exploring Botswana ... Dan, Helen, Emily and I – all fellow VSO volunteers – squeezed into a Toyota Rav 4 surrounded by camping equipment, sleeping bags, pillows, crisps, fruit and biscuits, and various other items that kept falling down on us. First stop was Chobe National Park and a leisurely late afternoon boat cruise along Chobe riverfront spotting hippos, elephants, crocodiles, kudo and brightly coloured birds, and enjoying a pretty sunset too. Next we drove ourselves through the park itself, stopping and starting, shouting and pointing as more of the same animals came into view as well as giraffe and gazelles but sadly no big cats.

We took off to the Okavango Delta, discovering that the water level was at its highest for around 30 years, and then covered a tiny bit of that water by taking a traditional (well ours was made out of fibreglass to protect the environment) mokoro canoe. Our guide punted us through endless reeds, hearing little but buzzing insects and being baked by the sun. As a birthday treat for Helen we splashed out on an hour long flight over the Delta with a pilot called Ziggy who needed a booster seat to reach the plane controls. Touring over the Delta we caught glimpses of elephants and giraffe roaming around, and lots of beautiful patterns made by the water and greenery below. Our last night in Botswana was spent at a community campsite run by a tribe indigenous to this part of African called the San. One member of the community took us on a bushwalk explaining the different uses of various trees and herbs below darkness fell as we slept in the Kalahari dessert.