Victoria Falls to Kasane

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Victoria Falls to Kasane

We lounged around camp the next day, getting ready for departure. We were amazed at the banking system in Zimbabwe. Fully expecting to do all transactions in cash (US$), because Zim's economy has crashed and there is no currency, we brought enough cash with us. However, this trip is costing more than we expected, and Richard likes to have a lot of cash in hand. 

We were told that the ATM's were dispensing US$ and if you had the right card, you could get cash. So off we went, and much to our amazement, out came US$ by just using our bankcard! Gotta love Zimbabwe. They have figured out how to keep the tourist industry going. Nowhere else in Africa can you do this - the ATM's in other countries all dispense local currency. So we stocked up.

We were on the road at noon, in a new truck, and a new group of 20 travelers, only six from our previous group. It was a short trip to Kasane, Botswana, including a border crossing from Zim to Botswana and we arrived at Thebe River Safari Camp by mid afternoon, in time for several of us to go on an afternoon game drive in Chobe Park.

It was so nice to be back in Chobe. We really enjoyed our time in this park last year. We made our way down to the river bank and immediately spotted many of the usual animals: lots of impala, cape buffalo, elephants everywhere. And then we came upon a large beautiful female lion, accompanied by a juvenile and another female. They were slowly stalking a family of giraffe, presumably the youngest one of the group. We were fascinated to see the intensity of their stares towards their prey and how they completely ignored our presence. Then they got up, moved a bit closer, stared some more, using the few safari vehicles watching the drama as cover. We suspected that a young giraffe met it's demise shortly after dark, but couldn't stay around long enough to wait it out.

Further into the park we came upon a large male lion fighting a young male, eventually chasing it off, with much drama and roaring. Incredible!

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