Chobe National Park
After a drive from Victoria Falls, we arrived at our lodge in Kasane, Botswana, a town that borders Chobe National Park, one of the best game viewing spots in the world. During our 2 days here, we definitely saw our fair share of wild animals!
On both mornings, we set out for a game drive at 6:00 AM, when all of the wildlife wakes up and comes out of the bush. Our guides, D.C. and Bahka, were friendly, smart, and highly, highly trained. They could detect animals just by their tracks! For example, they figured out that a leopard had killed an impala because they saw the leopard's paw prints next to a wavy line in the sand, which meant it was dragging its kill. They told us it was a fresh kill because of the smell in the air. It was crazy!
With our expert guides, we saw so many animals roaming around the national park:
We definitely encountered impalas the most! D.C. and Baka nicknamed them as “McDonalds” because they are “fast food.” Sometimes we saw lone impalas roaming, but most times, we saw herds of hundreds. I found it interesting to learn that impalas have a good friendship with baboons. They warn each other if a predator is nearby. Baboons like to hang out in trees, so if they see a predator from above, they sound a warning howl to the impalas, while impalas are very fast runners so if they see a predator, they will break out into a sprint which is an immediate warning to the baboons.
Speaking of predators, we were lucky enough to see an entire pride of lions! We first spotted a male lion (belonging to that pride) sleeping underneath a tree. Soon after, we found the whole pride and got really close to them. At one point, a female lion walked next to us to get to the water.
On our way back to our lodge we saw more animals, including two giraffes! Giraffes are beautiful, majestic and calm animals. They love to hide and blend in with tall trees, which makes it hard to spot them.
We saw was a whole herd of elephants! We turned a corner and right in the middle of a street was a teenage elephant! It was clearly agitated by our appearance, because it trumpeted its trunk. We finally got past the teenager to see the rest of the herd. They were just grazing along, eating their favorite trees and taking their time. At one point, a little baby elephant was doing a face-off with us, which was ADORABLE!!
On our two afternoons in Chobe, we took three-hour sunset cruises along the Zambezi river, where many animals retreat for protection from predators such as lions and leopards, but to also cool themselves off.
We saw many more elephants, this time wading through the river and eating grass.
Crocodiles are one of the most dangerous water animals. We saw a huge nile crocodile right next to our boat.
Hippos are everywhere here and they are very territorial. We didn’t get in a scary situation with one, but they were pretty close to us. They snort and yawn as warning signals “to get out of my yard!”
We saw our first buffalos in the Zambezi river. These guys, like elephants, come to the water to cool down but to also get away from lions and leopards. They are an easy target and a great feast for them.
Our four excursions in Chobe were amazing, and a wonderful start to our safari adventures! What a wonderful introduction to Botswana!
