Namibian Village and Final Game Drive

Waking up at 5:30 AM and riding in a freezing, open air Land Rover had lost its novelty, so a number of us slept in for the morning.  Our group activity today was to visit a real African village in Namibia - just across the river.  Of course, since you're crossing borders, we had to visit the government offices exiting Zambia, entering Namibia, exiting Namibia and re-entering Zambia.  So a lot of our day was spent in a queue to get our passports stamped, but it was still worth it.

After the first two government offices, we had a 10 minute walk from the boat landing to a village on the island of Impalala.  This was the real deal - mud huts with corrugated aluminum or thatched roofs, goats, lambs and chickens running around, and a single water tap in the middle of the village.  There  were probably 60 houses in all, housing approximately 500 inhabitants.  When we arrived, a few children greeted us, and our guide had some candy for them.  Bryce also brought a few toy cars along to give to the kids, and they were thrilled (although Bryce later felt "both happy and sad" about giving away his beloved cars). Some of the kids immediately put them in a wheelbarrow and watched them roll up and down.  It was a great gift for them.

A village child with his new toy car

Inside a village hut

This gives you a feel for the village

The village has a fallen Baobab tree in the middle of it, but in spite of the horizontal angle of the main trunk, it was still thriving.  Baobab trees are very special, as they have huge, thick trunks, and can be three thousand years old.

In front of the Baobab tree

After returning through two more government checkpoints, we had a quick lunch and had our last game drive.  Since we ran late, we weren't a part of the 3PM exodus of Land Rovers, and we had our own less crowded drive.  After yesterday's amazing boat ride, we figured we had seen everything, so this one was going to be more relaxed.  It was still incredible though. We watched a herd of young male elephants for 30 minutes or so.  A couple of them fought, and one walked right up to one of the Land Rovers, and temporarily got his trunk caught in the antenna.

Close encounter of the elephant kind

We also encountered a journey of giraffe (yes, a group of giraffes is called a "journey").  A few of them would gallop along for us, and watching them run was a real treat.

Journeying giraffes

Another treat was a herd of about 150 baboons, all traveling together.  (I don't know the correct name for multiple baboons, so "herd" it is). The coolest part was watching the babies cling to the mommas.  Some rode underneath, some rode on top, and some just galloped alongside.

Baby riding on momma baboon

Back at the Chobe lodge, Bryce photographed some of the monkeys and baboons as they caused  trouble in the open air dining hall.

A vervet monkey where he shouldn't be.

And of course, another awesome sunset:

Sunset over the Chobe river

Chobe - Game Drive and Boat Ride

Chobe National Park promised to be different than our other two destinations, and we weren't disappointed.  We were told that over 60,000 elephants inhabit the park. Plus, the only watering hole is the Chobe river that borders the park, so if you're looking for animals going to the river is a great strategy.

We started yet another 6 AM game drive, and fortunately it wasn't nearly as cold as Entanebi or Simbavati.  Since Chobe is a big and famous park, and the rules dictate that all vehicles must stick to the road, we started out in a train of about seven Land Rovers.  Immediately, we saw a pride of three lionesses in hunting formation - all even evenly spaced, going at the same pace.  We saw more hippos, tons of impala, lots of elephants, warthogs, baboons, and even a female leopard. Our guide told us that the afternoon drive would be even better, since the weather had been cold, and today was forecast to be 80 degrees.

Female Leopard

Our afternoon plans didn't include a game drive, but instead - a boat ride!  Our crew of 25 boarded our own river boat, and we proceeded to cruise down the Chobe river.  This was the best game sighting experience we've had on the entire trip.  There's an island in the middle of the river, and it had tons of crocs, elephants, hippos and other game.  Our boat drove right up to a variety of pockets of animals.  The elephants were playing in the mud, eating grass and spraying mud on themselves.  The crocodiles were everywhere, lounging on the banks, and some posed for us with their mouths open and their sharp teeth showing, The hippos were in a variety of poses, some grazing on the grass, and some wallowing in the mud in groups of nine or ten, and occasionally the pod leader would open his mouth wide for us as well.  We had lots of great photo opportunities.

Posing Croc

Grazing Hippos

This hippo looks like he's about to eat a bird

The highlight of the ride was watching a herd of about 50 elephants swim across the river to get to the grazing island.  The dominant female elephant went first, and the other elephants followed behind - even the babies. In about three minutes, the entire herd had crossed to the other side. It was incredibly beautiful - so mush so that one mom in our group was crying.  It was a sight none of us will ever forget.

Elephants swimming across the river

Laurel on the top deck

Sunset over Namibia

Travel to Botswana

The next part of our trip is to a more primitive part of Africa - Botswana.  As if to prepare us for the unexpected, we awoke at 4:15 AM to get our bus at 5 AM, and after a freezing open air jeep ride to the main entrance, our bus was nowhere to be found.  After a few calls, we learned the bus had broken down, and wouldn't be coming.  Fortunately, the Entanebi staff has two micro buses at their disposal, and they marshaled them for us, and we still made our flights out of Johannesburg after a three hour drive, After flying to Zambia, we took another bus to a river on the border of Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia (the only place in the world where four countries share a common border). From there, a platform boat across the river, to yet another bus awaiting us on the other side. That's one jeep, two buses, one boat, and one plane if you're keeping score.

At the river crossing, there is no bridge, and only two ferries or a private boat can take you across the river.  We saw what seemed to be a mile of trucks lined up to get the ferry.  Our driver told us that they wait in line for three weeks(!) to get across the river. Now THAT"S the kind of third world craziness I was hoping to see first-hand.

We arrived at our destination, the Chobe Safari Lodge, at 5 PM.  The lodge sits on the Chobe river, and had monkeys and warthogs running around everywhere.  The dining area is gorgeous, as we were treated to a buffet with a great variety of food, including a few impala dishes, some curries, exotic ice creams, and more.  Our next game drive is at 5:45 AM...