A Southern African Tour - Part II

Welcome to Chobe National Park, Kasane, Botswana. This place is teeming with wildlife!

Throughout the trip we had been promised hippo, rhino, elephant, giraffe etc etc and hadn't seen so much up until this point. I think the guides were a little nervous that the group felt we hadn't seen enough, especially as we had seen no hippo in the Okavango Delta. 

"I found in one of the tombs an inscription saying, 'If you touch my tomb, you will be eaten by a crocodile and hippopotamus.' It doesn't mean the hippo will eat you, it means the person really wanted his tomb to be protected. " - Zahi Hawass 

But what can you do?! wild animals are wild and where they are one day isn't always where they will be the next, they are unpredictable and don't perform, you are always lucky to see whatever it is you see. All that said we had been promised Chobe was the place to see everything and I have to say, we were not disappointed!

We saw some baby elephants...

"Words are cheap. The biggest thing you can say is 'elephant'. " - Charlie Chaplin 

...some angry mama elephants, warning us they were protecting their babies...

"Love will draw an elephant through a key-hole." - Samuel Richardson 

...more babies and youngsters...

...and a young bull showing us he could handle himself and he could protect his herd.

Abbey Road?!?

Some tiny baby baboons.

We got to camp in time for a wonderful sunset, a photography class was going on in the background and I was desperately trying to pick up some tips, after chatting to the teacher he took a look and said my pics weren't bad?! nice :0) 

If you look carefully can you see the ellies on the bank?

Sunrise in Chobe...

fish eagle

stunning cape buffalo

views in Chobe

family of giraffe

Whilst in Chobe we saw 2 very rare sights - one the president of Botswana and the president of SA in convoy and the other, rarer and (in my opinion) more impressive sight - a wild leopard! We actually saw two wild leopards, one as he ran into a bush and then through the veldt and another - below, utterly gorgeous and very relaxed for being out in the open, especially seeing as there were 10 game viewers parked about 10 meters away.

The pictures speak for themselves and anyone who knows anything about leopards knows how special an experience this was.

"I have seen, tasted and touched many places. This has made me realize, how small, how connected, how wonderful the earth is " - Anton Verwey

Following the morning game drive we headed back to camp, had lunch and a relax and headed out on the afternoon boat cruise, now to see the animals by river...

Firstly, after moaning at our guides for several days that we hadn't seen a hippo close up, we ended up with our own resident hippo who was living in the shallows next to the camp site...

Just as we got out on the river we spotted this croc on the banks

And saw some glorious sights of elephants bathing and playing in the water.

"The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?" - David Attenborough 

Here comes the hippo mama and baba, she was such a big girl her belly was almost touching the floor!

A few more ellies for you....

Matriarch mud bathing

Teeny ellie - a couple of months old

Big ellie

Come on guys this way!

Night night ellies!

Hippo hiding in the shallows

Crocodile very close to the boat

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Winston Churchill  

In the middle of the Chobe river there is an island - between Botswana and Namibia. The island was fought over for years and finally it was decided to measure the depth of the river on either side- from this it was decided the island belonged to Botswana- but lets just say the flag is very close to the Botswanan side!

One of the 'ugly five' - marabou stork

"I'll bet your father spent the first year of your life throwing rocks at the stork" - Irving Brecher

Giraffe aren't built for drinking!

Night night Chobe river!

Now we cross over to Zambia for "A Southern African Tour - Part III"to see Vic Falls, the lions and rhino! In the middle of river we crossed  you can see Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“When you travel, you experience, in a very practical way, the act of rebirth. You confront completely new situations, the day passes more slowly, and on most journeys you don’t even understand the language the people speak. So you are like a child just out of the womb. You begin to attach much more importance to the things around you because your survival depends upon them. You begin to be more accessible to others because they may be able to help you in different situations. At the same time, since all things are new, you see only the beauty in them, and you feel happy to be alive.” - Paul Coehlo

A Southern African Tour - Part I

As I am out here for a while mum decided to come and stay with me for a month in total. 

“When she packed up to leave, she knew that she was saying goodbye to something important, which was not that bad, in a way, because it meant that at least she had said hello to it to begin with…”- Lorrie Moore

Two weeks as a volunteer, 3 days on a tour trip without me, and 11 days travelling round Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.

“There are none happy in the world but beings who enjoy freely a vast horizon.” - Thoreau

After a few days on the farm we headed off east towards Botswana, spotting some giraffe by the side of the road...

"God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things." - Pablo Picasso 

Here we came across our first campsite and lodge that had cheetah and leopard and a small San village. That evening we went round and fed the animals and heard their stories, sadly it's amazing how some places try to pass off what they are making money out of as conservation. The animals looked healthy and well looked after, but sadly they could have been in the wild and were needlessly captured for tourism - I was glad to be away from that part of the tour and back at camp.

"A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation. " - Adlai E. Stevenson 

"Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land. " - Aldo Leopold 

In the morning we visited the village and the people took us into the veldt to look at foods and show us their tracking / hunting skills. The older lady gave us some seeds to put under our tongue and once they come into contact with moisture they pop - and wow they really do - we all jumped out of our skins! They were also telling us about the tracks they could see, including where a male spring hare had sat yesterday morning - yes they can tell that!

We drove on and into Botswana, and after a bit of questioning about my multiple visas for Namibia they eventually let me out of the country.

After a long drive to our campsite in Botswana...

“Most of my treasured memories of travel are recollections of sitting.” - Robert Thomas Allen 

....we were greeted in the evening with some traditional San dancing, many of the dances represented certain animals or healing or told stories.

"You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star. "- Friedrich Nietzsche 

From here we drove on towards the stunning Okavango Delta...

On one of our roadside picnics there was a tree covered in huge spiders webs - worth a pic!

"The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship. " - William Blake  

We stayed in a stunning camp, overlooking the Okavango Delta, so relaxing and beautiful I could have chilled there for a week!

In the morning I got up for sunrise...

"Know where to find the sunrise and sunset times and note how the sky looks at those times, at least once. " - Marilyn vos Savant

....before we headed off into the Delta, firstly on a boat... 

...where we saw a crocodile...

...and a malachite kingfisher...

(yes I did take that - enjoying my new lenses!!)

...and then we headed out on the small makolo canoes...

"Take everything as it comes; the wave passes, deal with the next one" - Tom Thomson

...where polers steer you through the waters and vegetation.

The delta is truly stunning...

...the wildlife beautiful...

...and flora delicate.

We headed to a small island and took a walk round to see signs of animals and learn about the vegetation here

Seed pod from a sausage tree.

Hippo spoor.

Massive bird nest.

Baobab trees - they get to thousands of years old!?!

"Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it"- African Proverb

Its amazing to see that people still use the delta and live off it - we passed this man fishing...

...before heading back to our campsite.

That evening we met a lady who lives in Namibia, but is from Blackburn -  10 miles from mums -  she told me where to get Tetley tea bags from, and I am sure I am bound to bump into her in the tiny city that is Windhoek. That evening we relaxed by the campfire and enjoyed the views of the delta.

  

The next day we headed back into Namibia, to Mahango game reserve. Despite nerves at the border everything was fine, visas in tact, back in.

"When I travel abroad, because I'm Columbian, I'm always one that they check twice and security and I'm the one that they open my bag and the one they pull to the side to check the visa." - Sofia Vergara 

Before reaching camp on the edge of the river we saw lots of elephant...

Here are some of the ellies from Mahango...

...oh can't resist a quick shot off the zebbies!

...and this magnificent kudu bull!

On the way out of Namibia and into Botswana there were some stunning views of one of the reserves, baobabs and bodies of water....

Here we cross back into Botswana, to see the stunning Chobe National Park, before "A Southern African Tour - Part II" with our finale at Vic Falls where we walked with Rhino and lion cubs!

"May all your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you." -Edward Abbey