Chobe National Park Game Drive

This morning we were all up before sunrise. It was one of our final game drive days so today we were all hoping to see one of the big cats up close.
We dropped our washing off off at the reception of the lodge at 7am, then headed about 1km down the road to Chobe National Park and after checking all our details with the security lodge we hit the dirt tracks and started exploring.
Within 500 meters we came across a group of atleast 100 impala’s, we had to drive so slowly because they were on the dirt road and just gently moved to the side as we edged our way through, then we came across warthog with babies and then fish eagles just resting on branches.
We came to a junction and took the right hand turning which took us along the edges of the River Chobe, almost straight away we saw hippos. Hundreds of them and these ones were very active and we all got great photos. We passed through groups of thousand’s of impala, and then we came to elephants. There were also hundreds of all sizes and ages including 2 really small babies.
We stopped for a late breakfast, and made some rolls and rice crackers and the monkeys came to us straight away and Pieter spent most of the time chasing them with a rubber snake which was hilarious. The monkeys ended up looking very sad.
Then it was back to the dirt roads and we found a black backed Jackel eating a fresh kill of warthog, infact only the head was left so we knew the jackel hadn’t killed it and he looked very nervous and kept looking up ready to run, the only thing that could have killed that warthog was lions. The hunt began.
After an hour of driving around in the blazing hot sun with all the windows open, we were all cooking up and were about to give up when we came across another car and they told us if some lions down on the river road where we had been this morning.
Back we went, passing giraffes, huge elephants, hippos and thousands more impalas. We drove and drove and finally we found a huge male lion resting under a tree. At first he was just sitting there, panting hard and looking hot. We edged closer and closer and when we were within 15 feet of him, the lion relaxed and fell asleep with us right next to him. We could actually hear him breathing and see the grass blades moving as he breathed out, every now and then his tail would swish. We sat with him for an hour completely alone.
Finally we had done it, we had found a big cat. And he was a really big cat, our trip was complete but not over because of course when we get home and people ask where did you go? And we say Africa, they will ask “Did you see any lions?”.
It was now 3pm in the afternoon and we were miles into the national park and it was time to head back. Once again we drove through thousands of impala’s, passed the hippos, saw a few dozen giraffes and passed some angry elephants and even found a heard of Sable, which are super rare and just after 6pm we finally drove out of the gates.
It had been an amazing day for animal sightings.
We collected our washing from reception and couldn’t believe the price. Mine,Ellies and Becky’s washing came to £7.50. Finally we had clean clothes and after watching the sunset with a beer in hand we all showered and put in clean clothes and headed out to an Indian restaurant Pieter had recommended and we had an amazing meal and a few more drinks reminiscing about the animals we had seen today.Read more