Botswana

We got up very early this morning so that Robb, Claude and I could go down to the watering hole with a guide and sit in the blind they have there so that we could watch the animal comings and goings up close.

We started out with the birds, most notably the helmutted Guinea fowl. These are kooky birds that look like they're incredibly stupid as they run around in a constant panic. It wasn't too long before a large herd of Cape Buffalo showed up for their morning drink. Sitting in the blind, being so close and yet mostly invisible was a pretty amazing experience. It seems like each species has their own time to come and fill up for the day.

After the herd of Cape buffalo left we had a herd of Impala come through. After that came the baboons. We also saw some crocs come out to sun themselves on the sand. The was one Maribou stork, which is the largest stork on the world. Record wing span is 11 feet and they stand about 4.5 feet tall. We didn't see and elephants as they usually come to the watering hole in the afternoon or evening.

We came back to the lodge and had breakfast and then we all boarded a small bus for the drive into Botswana. The drive takes about two hours and when we left Zimbabwe we had to get out of the bus and get our departure stamp in our passports, then we got back on the bus and drove a couple hundred yards to the Botswana checkpoint where we got our arrival stamps.

After crossing into Botswana we drove less than 30 minutes to the Chobe Marina Lodge, our accommodation for the next two nights. Claude and I were given an awesome room that was one half of a two story villa right on the Chobe River. Our afternoon was spent on a sundowner cruise on the river. The Chobe River is the border between Botswana and Namibia, whereas the Zambezi River is the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, so while we didn't actually step on land in those two countries we were in them while on the two river cruises.

This River cruise was quite different than the first one, as this time we saw several elephants in the river playing in the grass and reeds and rolling around bathing and having fun. We also some some hippos that were out of the water, which is called a thunder of hippos. If they are in the water, they are a plod of hippos.

We stayed on the river for an incredible sunset and then had dinner and drinks before heading to bed for the early morning wake up for another safari game drive.Read more