Chobe National Park West (2) – Botswana – Africa – December 2017

Tags

Africa, Botswana, Chobe National Park, Chobe National Park West, elephants, water buffalo, zebra

Part II of my visit to Chobe National Park West

I think most of us have a place in the world we have always wanted to visit.  Mine was Africa.  After I retired at the end of 2017, my friend Jenny and I departed Sydney for a trip to three countries in Africa.  I have previously written about my first visit to Chobe National Park (both East and West) but I thought I would finish with my trip with a final series of photos.I love elephants; majestic beautiful animals…well I love all animals but was so excited about seeing an elephant in the wild [where I believe they should all be] and I certainly was not disappointed.  Seeing these fabulous creatures walking/playing/bathing and just enjoying life was amazing.And as for the baby elephants; they were incredibly [incredibly] cute…hanging with their mums!I also saw lots of other animals of course including beautiful zebra; wow these are also such majestic creatures and was fortunate enough to capture one in a series of poses with my final photo of him/her [no idea how to tell if male or female] looking in my direction.And then a ‘dazzle’ or ‘zeal’ of zebra [have to be honest had to look up on the internet to see what a group of zebra is called!]…And various other beautiful animals…I loved Africa/Sth Africa so much that I have booked a return trip to South Africa this September but this time will spend time in Cape Town travelling around and watching whales, then Pretoria visiting friends as well as a few days staying in the wild glamping rather than camping. Can’t wait for that; camping out in the wild but in a fabulous tent with en-suite!

 

 

Chobe River Cruise – Botswana – Africa – December 2017

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Africa, African bird life, Botswana, Chobe River, crocodile, elephants, hippopotamus, impala, Namibia, river cruise

My second river cruise in Africa

We arrived in Botswana after a wonderful time in Zimbabwe; seeing magnificent animals and the beautiful Victoria Falls.  In Botswana we stayed at the Ngoma Safari Lodge which had spectacular views across the Chobe Plains.On our first morning we were driven down to the Chobe River for a two hour cruise. Chobe boat cruises are a wonderful way to experience the Chobe National Park as you can see large herds of elephants on the shore and in the water where they come for a drink and a bath.  In the dry season an estimate of up to 85,000 elephants can be within Chobe National Park, where the majority can be found along the river.  I loved seeing every single one of them; beautiful animals!If you are lucky you can also see herds of elephants cross the river to or from the islands, when the tide is low; we were lucky enough to see this and what a sight.Water lillies were plentiful too…never tire of looking at them either.Common sites on the river are also hippos and crocodiles.  We saw many hippos in the water and were keeping our eyes open for one on the river bank and towards the end of the cruise we finally saw one.  Suffice to say I was very excited and took many photos..this hippo had lots of battle scars on his/her body.  Our guide said they were from crocodiles – wow!!We only saw only one crocodile who didn’t move the entire time we were photographing it…probably tired from biting hippos!!We also saw quite a few African birds on the river and some on the shore including egret, geese, storks and ducks…all lovely to see even thought many were too far away for me to get good photos [and I hadn’t worked out my new camera at that stage].We also had the opportunity to see various other wildlife along the shore; some more interesting than others.  Our guide called the Impala ‘McDonalds’ because they have three black stripes on their bottoms which look like an ‘M’ similar to the ‘M’ of McDonalds fast food restaurants, and as there were so many of them, they are like ‘fast food’ for lions and other carnivorous animals.I did like the lovely little river cottages that were available to rent; how nice would it be to wake up each morning to beautiful views of the Chobe River and its occupants!This cruise is a must if you visit Botswana!!  We started in Botswana and made our way along the river to Namibia and then back to Botswana…a great way to spend a couple of hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chobi National Park (west) (1) – Botswana – Africa – December 2017

Tags

Botswana, Chobi National Park, giraffe, impala, lioness, monkey, zebra

Day Two in Botswana

My second day in Botswana started with a river cruise (more on that in another post) followed by a vehicle safari.  I had already done the east side of the National Park (well some of it as it is huge) so now our guide was taking us to the west side.  We first saw a little wild dog running along the plains. I know it has a proper name but I can’t recall what it is (my blogging friend Mavis will surely know) It was tiny and very lean.

Our guide then received a message on his radio from another guide advising of a dead buffalo or wildebeest located a little off the track.  He said it had been killed by lions the day before so we immediately drove to that area to see if we could see the lions.  On the way we saw a beautiful giraffe strutting his stuff on the road and others eating leaves and generally just looking around.

Then we arrived at the location of the dead animal – wow did that smell awful!  We were all holding our breath firstly because of the smell but mainly as we were all so excited about seeing lions in the wild.  It was a very lucky day for us.  We saw a lioness and two babies (well probably teenagers) who had just eaten and were about to take a nap. We all saw three but our guide found another baby having a little sleep.  My eyes then went back to mum who was yawning ready for her sleep…I guess eating a buffalo is hard work!!And looks like this little one has been fighting with the scars on its nose.We were so grateful to our guide for taking us a little off our tour to see these majestic animals but boy did that day old dead buffalo smell!!  We then drove down towards the water where there were plenty more giraffes taking a drink…I love the way they bend their long legs to drink.  What a sight!!And several just hanging about waiting to have their photograph taken…so kind of them.We also saw hundreds of elephants, zebra, impala and beautiful birds…it really was a magnificent day [but I will save those photos for another post] .   The monkeys were plentiful and rather sweet.And as we were leaving for the day, a car with two tourists stopped us and asked about lions so our guide kindly showed them on their map where they were and in exchange they told us about a pack of wild dogs nearby…so off we went and found them under a huge bush.  They were very difficult to see with their colouring acting like a camouflage but we did get a couple of photos – such lovely looking animals.

 

Then back to our resort for another delicious dinner followed by a good night’s sleep.

 

 

 

 

Chobi National Park (east) – Botswana – Africa – December 2017

Tags

Africa, Animal safari, Botswana, Chobi National Park, elephants, game drive, giraffe, monkey, Ngoma Safari Lodge, Safari, zebra

A dream come true!!

After our visit to Zimbabwe and the spectacular  Victoria Falls, my friend Jenny and I made out way over the border to Botswana where we stayed at the fabulous Ngoma Safari Lodge overlooking the Chobi Plains [but more on that in another post].

We had arranged a game drive and were collected one morning where we hopped into a large open air safari vehicle with a few others.  The vehicle was not full so we were fortunate to be able to sit on a side each which afforded us each a great uninterrupted view of the plains and animals.  So I must say I was incredibly excited and could not wait to see an animal; any animal really, but in particular an elephant and if I saw one crossing the road it would be bliss…guess what I first saw…magical!Then a little way along the side of the road, our driver stopped and we saw giraffe; and plenty of them – again what an amazing sight.We drove a little further and entered the park and first up saw elephants; this time not along the roadway but eating leaves just nearby – I can’t believe I didn’t have tears as it was truly magnificent to see such a huge animal living life as it should (no cages, no real boundaries).  They were really quite close and I had to remember to look at them with my eyes rather than through a camera lens!The next animal we saw was a huge tortoise; so cute!Then some very sweet baboons with their babies…so nice to see and so many of them.And one very cute little baby playing on the branches…Along the way we saw some lovely birds; all beautiful colours but flying too fast for me to capture well but I did capture a magnificent vulture in a tree…waiting for some prey I guess..and how unusual is this tree – would hate to see it at night alone!And then zebra; boy are these a striking animal…And buffalo… We then drove down near the Zambezi River and saw a tower of giraffe (no wonder a collective is called this).And along the way there were many (many) Impala and it was so lovely to see all the babies – unfortunately these animals are the prey for the carnivorous animals – circle of life I know.  And we also saw another large horned animal that I can’t recall the name of. We stopped off near the end of our drive for a cool drink and some snacks prepared by the lodge and had the opportunity to view the sun set; magnificent!What a day – words really cannot describe how magnificent this was for me.