Chobe, Botswana and Namibia

---

Travelling by car from the Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe to the Botswana border took only around two hours. We were soon at the Pangolin Lodge in Botswana where we had time for a coffee and Ron a beer, before being taken to a small boat to cross the river to the Namibian border, the border control was a small hut on the river bank.

After obtaining our Namibian Visa we travelled down the river to join the Pangolin houseboat, our accommodation for the next three nights. We were lucky to be sharing the ten person houseboat with only one other couple, the Pangolin houseboats are set-up for photographers and our small camera and iPhone looked a little out of place against the other couples cameras with large lens.

The next three mornings saw us at 6.30am climbing aboard Pangolins small photography boat which was set up with swivel seats and camera stands. We cruised the river for up four hours each morning to see hippos, elephants, baboons and crocodiles as well as colourful birdlife. Once back on the houseboat we enjoyed brunch and then relaxed until afternoon tea, often sipping G&Ts on the top deck until our next boat trip at 3.30pm each afternoon.

Our guide would cruise the river banks until sunset allowing us to see the animals up close. Each trip seemed to bring different experiences from watching the baboons grooming each other to elephants playing in the river. The on board chef prepared lovely meals for us each evening and it was interesting going to sleep to the sound of hippos grunting in the river near us. At the end of our cruise we were taken again to a small Namibian border control, this time on a island, to get our exit stamp before entering Botswana for our onward journey to Johannesburg.

---