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Botswana - Chobe National ParkJun 12, 2009
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Open air jeep
Vulture
Warthog
As we have had a fair amount of rainfall on our journey so far, our luck with seeing large wild animals has been minimal. Hoping to improve our chances we arranged to go on a day trip to Chobe National Park in Botswana as we had heard excellent things about it from other travellers.
We arrived at around 9am and were taken out in an open jeep for a drive around for 3 hours. We were particularly keen to see elephants but after the first 2 hours still hadn’t seen one. We did see plenty of other wildlife though including warthogs, impalas, vultures, zebras and kudus which were lovely to see.
We had a break halfway through near the Chobe River where we could get out, stretch our legs and have a drink. We’d just passed some crocodiles further down so everyone stayed near the car. Everyone except Richard who marched off towards the water to investigate before being shouted back by our guide who explained that it might not be the best idea to walk up to a croc…
We drove on for a bit and then just as we turned a corner we were very excited to see an elephant staring back at us. We got fairly close and he walked right past us before trundling off into the trees. Yay!
After lunch, we boarded a boat for a 3 hour trip down the Chobe River. We saw lots of brightly coloured birds, some cleverly camouflaged crocodiles (Richard steered clear this time!) and hundreds of hippos. Some were on the bank and others were poking their eyes and ears out of the water. They are one of the most dangerous creatures in the world and it’s easy to see why – they are incredibly stocky, beefy things and if it charged at you, you would certainly know about it.
In the distance along the shore we could see some large animals playing in the water. As we approached we realised it was dozens of elephants cooling down in the afternoon sun by spraying themselves and each other. Although they are big, they are quite elegant and majestic in the way they move. We could have stayed for hours watching them frolic about but unfortunately we had to head back to catch our bus back to Livingstone. It was a fantastic day out and finally feel satisfied that we’ve seen some proper African wildlife, even if it did take us until the last week to find it!
