Sunset cruise on the River Chobe

We got back to camp at around 10.45am. Henry prepared an early lunch for us – chicken burgers, salad, and sauteed potatoes. After lunch, I went to log on to try to sort out our visas for Malawi. I managed to do mine eventually, but struggled to upload Mark’s photo and the other documents they needed. In the end, I had to give up as it was time to go to the truck for the 10-minute drive to the jetty on the River Chobe where our sunset cruise was to set off from.

We boarded our boat and spread ourselves out, thinking that we would be the only passengers. How wrong we were! Laban and Patrick left, promising to come and pick us up at 6pm. Then, another Intrepid truck arrived, and we were joined on our boat by a group of 20 loud and lairy passengers, some of whom will be joining our group in Victoria Falls, and some of whom five of our group will have to join! There were some particularly loud and sweary people behind us, who started drinking the second they got on. Mark and I, and Kim and Iona moved forward to get out of their way! There was some speculation as to which of them would be our new truck mates. We were beginning to think we had made a mistake by choosing to do this optional excursion. We had paid US$39 each, and spent the first 40 minutes going nowhere and putting up with lots of noise! However, the captain asked them to be quiet within the national park, and then we started seeing animals, so we were largely able to ignore the rabble rousers and enjoy the cruise.

We saw:

• A number of crocodiles, both large and small
• One male and two female kudu
• Some warthogs
• A large number of elephants on the beach, including some small babies
• A huge pod of hippos. They were on land as we approached them, and then went into the water
• A fish eagle on its nest
• An African jacaranda
• Giraffes on the beach
• A water monitor lizard
• A bachelor herd of elephants who crossed the river in front of us – it was an incredible sight!
• A pied kingfisherRead more