This entry is for Monday, May 29. Happy belated Memorial Day to USA readers! We got up about 5am, packed, and made our way to base camp for coffee around 6am. Breakfast was at 6:45am and we were on the road by 7:30.
We finally saw some sables on our way out, which was fitting since they are the namesake of the lodge we stayed at.
We made a stop at Painted Dog Conservatory, something we’d missed on the way in because our tour leader forgot they closed on the last weekend of every month for fumigation!
In general we are impressed with conservation efforts we’ve encountered everywhere we’ve been. This story was pretty stark: at one point there were 500,000 painted dogs – see puppies in photo above – and hunters were actually paid to kill them. Between that going too far and other things, such as habitats being destroyed by civilization moving in, there are now just about 7000. They are “Africa’s most successful super predator,” hunting very skillfully in packs. On average, their hunts yield a kill 70% of the time. Kudu – a deer type animal which I will have for dinner later in the day! – is their primary meal.
We got a little tour of this museum and a 15-minute story about them and were encouraged to do some shopping after to contribute to the cause. There was jewelry and other art made from trap wire that painted dogs have been released from. Many of them have GPS collars on them so watchers can tell if they get accidentally trapped in something meant for impala, etc., and go and rescue them.
The efforts these folks are going to was quite impressive, so we didn’t mind buying this little dog made from trap wire that’s been beaded. $15.
We made a stop at the now infamous Chicken Inn (and pizza, and ice cream) for a potty break, and for some of us to get shakes. How cute is this? They wrote “enjoy” on my shake with chocolate syrup. Have I mentioned that literally everything we’ve encountered here so far – in 3 different African countries – is entirely in English? And every person we’ve interacted has spoken English? Apparently, that’s pretty common in eastern and southern Africa. The impact of the British empire runs deep and wide.
We had some hoops to jump through at the Zimbabwe/Botswana border but got through pretty painlessly. We made it to the Chobe Safari Lodge by about 1:30pm.
Looking back at the entrance. That’s Gail on the left talking to one of the lodge staff. The entrances here are open – no doors required – just like a resort we stayed at in Costa Rica.
We gathered for our first briefing about the complex. It’s actually 2 hotels next door to each other but all the same company and everything connected so for simplicity purposes I’m just referring to it as all the same thing.
The dining room where we had lunch in a bit at that table on the very far left by those canoes on the wall. The common spaces here are huge. We were given our keys and checked into our rooms after they took our lunch orders.
Another dump! Seriously, we couldn’t be happier with the accommodations on this trip. And a place to write! It’s where I’m sitting as I type.
A nice chair where Ash is sitting now, just like in this photo…
Earlier while writing the prior post I was sitting on the balcony with this as my view.
The bathroom has a tub AND a shower.
I had a beef burger for lunch that came with a nice side salad which I’d already eaten before I thought to take a photo. Ash had similar but with chicken. They were Huge. We mostly ate the meat and not the bread. The fries were good.
We were to meet at the jetty which is at the other hotel at 2:45pm. This was the view along the way. We sat just to the left of this today for lunch.
There were LOTS of people waiting to get on boats. We’d been led to believe our group would have one to ourselves and I started to doubt that.
Oh ye of little faith. This was my view at the start of the ride, unobstructed of the beautiful Chobe River, which is the border between Botswana and Namibia. After not too long there were others from our group sitting up there so I was glad I got this shot at the start.
There was a rooftop deck that allowed us to get this great shot.
The crew and field guides were again super knowledgeable, we were very pleased with all of the information they shared on the 3-hour cruise. This was our first briefing and after that it all depended on what wildlife we came across.
We’d seen lots of elephants at this point but never in the water. This mother and baby were swimming across the river to get to the fresh grass. Botswana is mostly desert – the Kalahari in these parts – so they have to come here for grass.
Getting to the other side to eat! You can hear our field guide talking.
As always, I don’t remember the name, but this bird was beautiful. And a good size. He sat there for quite a while with his wings spread, waiting for them to dry because otherwise his body is too heavy to fly.
Crocodile!
The point of this was a 270 degree look around from where I was sitting to try to capture the grandeur of the scenery. Doesn’t quite do it but you’ll get the gist.
A small bird with beautiful shimmery blue coloring that was very hard to capture because it was so quick. We must’ve watched it fly and land 6 times. I managed to catch one of them.
An egret hitching a ride on an elephant. A littler later he shooed it away by squirting water on it with his trunk. The guide told us that this charcoal gray is the elephants natural color, you pretty much only see it in the water. Once they get out, they roll around in mud and dirt which they use to protect their sensitive skin from the sun and from parasites.
We were right at 4 corners, where 4 countries meet: Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Namibia.
We saw LOTS of birds on this river cruise.
There are two crocodiles in this clip: one on the left in the water, one on the right on the shore. But the stars of this movie are the birds in the background.
These baby elephants are the cutest.
Finally – a reasonable hippo sighting. They spend a LOT of time in the water with just their eyes out so it’s difficult to get a good shot of them. There are at least 5 of them in this photo.
I’m not sunburnt really – that’s just the lighting from the sun shining directly on me. Ash and I kept looking at each other on this 3-hour ride going “can you believe this?” The breeze was so cool, the scenery and wildlife gorgeous, the guides, crew and other tourists all super friendly. It was a tremendously relaxing afternoon, and we enjoyed every minute of it.
You’ve seen buffalo before, but not at the river! You can easily see the crowns on these males in this photo.
Yes, there are buffalo and elephants in this video. But what I was really capturing was the beauty of the scenery. Pay attention to the reflection of the land in the water.
There are 7 elephants in this video, 2 of them babies. The baby on the right is having a hard time figuring out how to drink from the river, or something. The other baby you can’t really see but is underneath the large elephant on the far left.
These elephants did not care At All that 5 boats (including us) had pulled up to watch them.
The weather was similar to the prior 2 days – nice and warm in the sun at 81, a lovely cool in the shade, especially with a breeze, and a brisk 50-55 in the morning.
I must’ve taken 50 photos of the sunset but decided on just these two above and below for final entry.
Several entries ago I mentioned purchases we had arranged on that first night the tour group gathered in Victoria Falls. They were delivered to us today. Above is a runner we had made two-sided – rows of African art (masks and bodies dancing in costume) on one side, and butterflies against a wild checkerboard pattern on the other. Will look great on our dining room table!
As at the other two places, the mosquito netting was down when we came back in the evening. We went back out again at 7pm for dinner.
There’s a pretty extravagant buffet. This doesn’t look like much but was 3 delicious salads – avocado, beef, and beet.
Ash got a shrimp stir-fry.
I had grilled kudu – think deer but tasted like beef. Was very tender and delicious. Also, some chicken, vegetables, grilled sweet potato and cabbage. All wonderful.
A wonderful cheese board which thrilled Ash.
I had 3 little desserts: a white cake, a custard of some kind, and a bread pudding that was my favorite of this trio.
And that was our day. I finally managed to get Saturday’s blog up just before we went to bed around 9pm. And this entry will be going up just about 9pm on Tuesday. With another day posted about 4 hours ago, all that’s left is today’s (Tuesday’s) entry and I’ll be caught up. Before I fall behind again. There won’t be any Wi-Fi in the Okavango Delta where we will be for 3 nights.
The views keep getting better as we make our way to the beginning.
What a dump! When Gail kept referring to “camp” I was getting nervous. We are in fact in the middle of nowhere Zimbabwe. But the bungalow next to us has a plaque indicating that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip stayed there. If it’s good enough for them, that tells you a bit about the quality here. We were pretty impressed. As in the place at Victoria Falls, turn down service was provided and included bringing the mosquito net down.
