For the last 4 years we have been visiting Kasane, in northern Botswana, every Independence Weekend, and why not as it is such an awesome place. Kasane borders onto the Chobe National Park where the Chobe River forms the border with Namibia.
Heading out from home and about an hour out we realised we had forgotten our camera at behind. Can you believe it. We were going to have to rely on our friends Mpho and Thoko’s cell phones and Sue’s tablet for this amazing trip.
Thoko and Mpho – now the official photographers for the trip
The drive to Kasane is far, taking close on 7 hours, so we decided to break our trip by staying with friends in Sowa. It was here on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, at the soda ash mine, that we saw our first elephant of the trip (no camera)
Sowa to Nata is not far and it is from Nata that game viewing starts, basically 300km of game reserve. We saw plenty of elephants, buffalo, giraffe, kudu, steenbuck and ostriches. (no camera)
For us living in a desert it is always a magnificent sight, when you come over that last ridge and you see the beautiful Chobe River.
We once again camped at Chobe Safari Lodge, right on the banks of the river and its neighbour the Chobe National Park.
Once camp was set up it was time to wander down to the riverside bar for a relaxing lemonade and to take in an amazing sunset, our first of this trip, with many to come.
Game viewing was of course amazing; with lion sightings almost every day.
In one case an elephant had died through natural causes and there was a pride of lions feasting off it. If you could avoid the stench and plenty of game drive vehicles, you could get a good view.
We were fortunate, when I was trying to get around the gang fight of safari vehicles, a big male strolled back from the river and walked straight past our car.
On our last drive Sue spotted a massive male lion, that was sleeping some distance from the road. His paws must have been the size of my head and he had a beautiful dark mane. He was far too far to take pictures with a cell phone or tablet and we missed not having our camera.
There is one animal you are almost guaranteed to see in Chobe National Park, that is elephant. We saw massive herds, small herds, babies, big bulls and everything in between.
Buffalo were also plentiful all along the river’s edge and on islands. We also came across a huge herd that were just off the road and even crossing the road. Their close proximity frightened some of the people in our car.
General game viewing was also great, with the highlight being sable and roan antelope. (sorry no pictures of them – hmmm)
One of the highlights of all our trips to Chobe has been the evening boat trip into the park. The highlights of this cruise was 2 male hippos chasing each other, some lovely big croc’s, a malachite kingfisher and a lovely sighting of a herd of elephants.
All good things unfortunately have to come to an end – well maybe just for another year.
