We were asked to meet at the lodge entrance at 5:45am for a 6am safari ride. It was dark when we left; we drove around for quite a while without seeing much. And, we all agreed that this particular guide wasn’t as good as the guides we had at Sable, or the guys on the boat. It’s amazing the difference that makes. He responded to questions, but there wasn’t a lot of things he offered on his own. Maybe it was because there wasn’t much wildlife out.

We had our first close encounter with a hippo – the first time we’ve seen one out of the water. The above shot was taken without a zoom; he was maybe 15 feet away.

Zoomed in you can see him much better.

I wished I’d moved fast enough to video this, but at least I got a couple of shots of him opening his mouth, above, and lifting his open mouth up to the sky, below.

This is how we usually encounter hippos – just barely seeing their heads above water. There are 12-15 in this group. We learned they can’t actually swim, they just walk along the bottom but can hold their breath for like 7 minutes.

Guineafowls. We saw tons of them this morning. Their movements reminded us of the opening theme of The Partridge Family!

We caught the sunrise of the Chobe River at 6:47am.

Some of the river has a decent beach which we drove on.

We stopped and watched the shenanigans of these guys for a little while.

We stopped for a coffee and potty break around 7:30am. Gail had warned us that this park would be much more crowded and this proved it. I think the most vehicles we saw out at once was 5 at the most – and two of them ours. Here are 8 lined up and I believe 2 more that arrived after I took this.

The view of the river behind me from where I took the shot of the vehicles.

This was the closest we’ve seen a warthog. We’d only seen 2 or 3 maybe before this the whole trip, and usually running away from us.

We came across a giraffe in the road on our way back.

I do love the way they move.

There was another sort of behind us to our right.

Don’t ask me the name of this bird, I just like the pale pretty shades of pink and green. Or is that blue?

Mongoose! Mongeese? No, a group of them is a pack.

We were supposed to get back to the lodge by 9am but it was after 9:30 when we returned. Everyone was hungry! They had a very nice buffet. Mine above: scrambled eggs, fried hash brown patties, mushrooms and beans, pork sausage and bacon. Ash’s below is similar except he got an omelet and smokes salmon.

They also had a waffle bar. We shared one with fresh whipped cream and honey.

After breakfast, I went back to the room and worked on the blog from the balcony. I’d also waited in the lobby for one of the lodge workers to come back with some change – he’d gone into town for us to exchange $20’s for 1s and 5s – everyone here likes dollars, too, and you find yourself tipping a lot.

Ash and Dylan did a border crossing excursion into Namibia. These village women welcomed them with song and dance once they were across the border.

Ash with a 2000-year-old baobab tree. They have been suddenly dying across the continent the last few years, scientists believe due to cliimate change.

It’s a poor village of about 200 people. This video shows a bit of how the richest guy there lives.

They did a little shopping and came back about 1pm. Ash and I walked into the town of Kasane, just 1-2 km in. There wasn’t much to see so we came back for a small lunch.

This is where we’ve been having breakfast and dinner. Our group has a reserved table for all 11 of us behind that gray station right behind Ash’s head. For lunch we shared a sesame chicken salad which was fresh, light, tasty. We’ve discovered something new we will have to try at home: roasted capers. I’m not a huge caper fan – generally not a fan of pickled much of anything – but these roasted ones are Amazing.

At 3pm we went over to the spa where I got a massage from Virginia, above, who used her hands and this wood instrument she’s holding. While the piece of wood was solid, using it on the body after applying oil or lotion made it feel like a rolling pin. It was pretty cool and allowed her to go deep in some concentrated places without it hurting the way other deep tissue massages I’ve had do. Ash got a manicure, but the woman was not very good, and had forgotten her glasses so couldn’t see well. It wasn’t an optimal experience for him :(

We went back to the room and hung out, me working on the blog and Ash playing a game on his phone – something I’d discovered while he was in Paris that he has since developed his own addiction for :) We went out at 7pm for dinner again, another good buffet. Above is mine: a vegetable medley of baby corn, Brussel sprouts and a squash; mashed sweet potatoes, and a butternut squash casserole. The shredded meat was beef but it had a gamey taste to it I didn’t care for, which surprised me. I later got some roasted beef and beets that were very good.

For dessert: a bit of lemon cheesecake, chocolate, and a sort of toffee bar. I completely forgot to take photos of Ash’s food. Every guy for himself, I guess.

We got back to the room, I finished another day of the blog – the post before this one – and we were in bed by 9:30am. We woke up around 5:30am. It’s now just after 7am and we will head down to breakfast as soon as I post this. We leave for the Okavango Delta about 10:30am on small 6-seater planes. It’s Wednesday morning now. We will be completely disconnected once we leave until we get to Maun sometime on Saturday. I’m rethinking how to do the blog and will likely just get very selective and post one entry for all 3 days we are in the Delta. We heard yesterday that the water hasn’t come down yet from Angola so it’s going to be a land experience instead. Will be interesting to see how it all turns out.

Thanks for coming along so far! Probably the earliest I’ll have another post up is sometime on Sunday our time. We will see you when we see you!

PS: since we missed sunset last night, I’m using a photo from the prior entry as the featured photo….just because….