From Maun, we headed for Kasane - a border town of 4 countries: Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Really interesting town – very laid back and touristy with Safari trucks every 5th car. Right on the Chobe River at the edge of a gi-normous national park only accessible by 4x4. Large resort hotels on the Chobe river and then walk 20 feet and tour information shacks, craft displayed on the ground, women carrying babies on their backs – an interesting mix but it seems to work pretty nicely. People are happy and relaxed – a good vibe. The only problem is, we could not find an available 4x4 to go in/out of Chobe on our own. Not one 4x4 for hire - what?! Camp sites inside the park were booked a month in advance (so we camped in town). It’s the busy season and Chobe requires when we don’t have- good planning! (So far, we’ve been winging it, keeping a few days ahead in planning. But Chobe is different – there's a lack of resources like 4x4s and a lot of people wanting to go to the park.
At least we were able to visit the park by boat - the Chobe river is beautiful! We’d heard in Maun to go on a river safari after 3 p.m. because that’s when all the wildlife heads to the river. TRUE - wow! Once on the river, we were stopping every 20 feet to look at crocs, hippos, birds, tons of elephants, several varieties of ungulates, buffalo, giraffe, etc. The whole list below is from a 3-hour boat trip on the Chobe river. You can’t describe it…this safari was some of the most impressive we’ve seen in Africa so far. We were actually seeing elephants (many with young young babies) swim across the river – wow. One young baby elephant (pictured below) was less than 2 weeks old. The guide said you can tell the baby’s age because he was bending all the way down to use his mouth to drink water – he hadn’t learned to use his trunk yet. (Awwwww!) We watched the mama, baby and (probably) an older sibling intermittently for an hour as they walked on the river bank and finally swam across – helping ferry the baby across to the other side. Meanwhile, we were getting amazing close up views of hippos, crocs and a ton of birds. Seriously – a must do if you’re in this part of the world.
Now, we’re on to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe for couple days, then more of the falls and the upper Zambezi River from the Zambia side…and eventually making our way north to catch a 40+ hour train ride which starts north of Lusaka going straight to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Cool!
CHOBE BIRDS
Reed Cormorant
Darter
Goliath Heron
Grey Heron
Yellow-billed Egret
Little Egret
Cattle Egret
Great White Egret
Squacco Heron
Blackcrowned Night Heron
Black Stork
Yellowbilled Stork
Marabou Stork
Saddlebilled Stork
Openbilled Stork
African Spoonbill
Sacred Ibis
Spurwinged Goose
Egyptian Goose
Redbilled Teal
Whiteheaded Vulture
African Fish Eagle
Helmeted Guineafowl
African Jacana
Redwinged Stilt
Crowned Plover
Blacksmith Plover
Common Sandpiper
Greyheaded Gull
Meyer’s Parrot
Grey Lourie
Pied Kingfisher
African Skimmer (nesting)
Whitefronted Bee-eater
Carmine Bee-eater
Swallowtailed bea-eater
Grey Hornbill
Redbilled Hornbill
European Swallow
Forktailed Drongo
Blackeyed Bulbul
Yellowbellied Bulbul
Heuglin’s Robin
Orangebreasted Bush Shrike
Glossy Starling
Black Sunbird
Whitebellied Sunbird
Swamp Boubou
OTHER CHOBE WILDLIFE
Bushbuck
Water Monitor
Nile Crocodile
Vervent Monkies
Baboons
Giraffes
Elephants
Hippos
Warthogs
Impalas
Kudus
Buffalos
Waterbucks
Red Lechwes
Sable Antelope
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