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.