Africa-5 Game Drives in Chobe National Park

From Victoria Falls we were driven across the Botswana border to the Ngoma Safari Camp. overlooking the Chobe River. Across the Chobe river is Namibia, which some people refer to as Nambia.

If you have traveled internationally, you know that you get text messages when you enter a new country. We got one in South Africa, one in Zambia, and one in Botswana. We also got one for Namibia, even though they did not stamp our passport. Across the river, of course. The really weird one was when we entered Zimbabwe we got text messages saying Welcome to Belgium. Belgium??

The camp was very nice, with a watering hole which attracted animals.

There is no fence around this camp to keep animals out, so they need to escort us to and from dinner, after dark.

Before dinner, they asked what kind of beer I would like. I asked if they had any local beers, and she replied, “would you like Shake Shake beer?” I did a google search for best beer in Botswana, and the web site I found listed Shake Shake. So I said sure, and the guy said give me $2 and he would go buy some. Let’s just say it is not beer. Wikipedia says Shake Shake is fermented sorghum. But hey, you gotta try things. Several other of the tourists also tried it, but I did not have a second glass.

We had several game drives, including some in the dark, where we saw nocturnal animals. Sorry, only one photo from at night. We saw African Wild Dogs, which apparently are quite rare to see. Our guide told us that they are very social, and give each other greetings when they meet other members of the pack. The pack was waiting up for one who was lame, and straggling behind. When he arrived, he was greeted by each member of the group. It was really sweet. One one photo. I wish I had a video, but it was too dark.

On our early morning game drive we saw spotted hyenas. I learned that hyenas can have a litter of several, the strongest cub pushes the other ones away from the teat, and may eventually kill its siblings. I guess an example of Survival of the Fittest.

We saw elephants, including them taking a mud bath. They swim in the river, take a mud bath, and then cover them selves with dust. Our guide told us that this is to protect us their sensitive skin.

We learned that giraffes have two horn-like structures on top of their heads. On females and the young these are thin and have tufts of hair on top, whereas on adult males tops get very hard, and they can use them as weapons in battle for display.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw two giraffes that looked like they were dancing, but our guide told this was a dominance battle. The younger, smaller one was quite ineffective it landing blows with the horns on the top of his head. He will learn as he gets older.

Susan calls this a two headed giraffe:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also saw a two headed hippo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually a mother and a (big) baby hippo.

Baby hippo nursing.

We saw a family of Mongooses.

 

And lots and lots of helmeted guineafowl. Susan calls them polka dotted birds.

In years past, when I went on these week long bike rides, I collected photos of unusual yellow diamond caution signs. The rest of the world has triangle shaped caution signs. I never expected to see one with an elephant.

I will end with a sunset.

David and Susan