Chobe National Park

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A very early start for a game drive in the Chobe National Park. We loaded into small open-sided trucks at 6am. Amazingly within five minutes of entering the park we saw a relaxing leopard ad our first close hippos (we’d seen some from the air in Okavango). We toured around the park for about two hours seeing many interesting birds as well as animals. We saw buffalo close for the first time as well as elephants, kudu, warthogs, pxxx (like impala), numerous impala, guinea fowl everywhere, two lionesses and a charming bright green chameleon who crossed our path very slowly. Unfortunately the interesting creatures create traffic jams as the trucks radio each other. Back at the camp I saw the largest lizard I’ve seen yet. In the late afternoon we went on a cruise on the Chobe river. The main attraction was a large herd of hippos. One surfaced suddenly and blew, startling those at the stern of the boat which was funny. Two crocodiles of reasonable size lazed on the riverbank and a large herd of elephants came down to the water’s edge to drink. There was a roost full of snakebirds. A large troupe of baboons including some young which were play fighting were also rummaging at the waters edge. Back at camp I consumed rather a large amount of beer trying to use up our remaining Botswanan currency.

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Photos

Early start
Jen grabs a good seat

Chameleon
This creature crossed our path very slowly in halting steps It was bizarre to see three or four trucks stopped to watch this small animal.

African Fish Eagle
These magnificent birds are quite common.

Kook and Jen
Kook had an unpronounceable Korean name so he suggested we called him Kook for short.