Monday, April 7 – transit from Kasane to Nata

Chobe National Park was founded in 1967 and covers 4,500 square miles. The park is best known for its massive population of elephants, who number in the hundreds of thousands. At Chobe, four countries come together: Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe (all visited on this trip).

Our ride for this morning’s safari. (photo was taken yesterday afternoon)

We departed the hotel promptly at 5:45 this morning (still dark). The ride to the park entrance was a little chilly, but only lasted about 10 minutes. The two land cruisers for our group were the first to arrive at the park, just before the 6am opening. Once there, our driver/guide was required to provide a list of his passengers to the park ranger. By the time all of the paperwork was completed another half dozen vehicles had arrived, ready to hit the park.

And hit it we did! Our safari company had spotters in the park prior to the opening, and had relayed any animal sightings to our driver via radio prior to our arrival. By the time we entered the park, daylight had broke and we were doing some serious motoring as we made or way to observed animal locations. Matt mentioned later that it felt like we were in a rally race car; good analogy, totally agree. One suggestion: hold on tight!

Our first wildlife encounter! Sadly, they were too busy eating to pose for me!

A Cape Fox

The fact that our group consisted of 11 people worked out well for today’s safari. That’s because the capacity of the land cruisers is 9 passengers. As a result, we broke up into two groups: 6 people in one, and 5 in ours. Plenty of room to get comfortable!

Whoa! What do we have here?

On the move…

Once an animal (or animals) is sighted, word is spread across the radios pretty quickly. Several trucks arrived for this!

That’s the land cruiser containing the rest of our group. They were in the perfect spot!

After the lion made its way into the brush, a few of the vehicles went off in search of other game. Several, like us, stuck around though. Why? Remember, there were two lions by the Chobe River. Our driver actually moved us a little further to the east, predicting where he thought the second lion would head. Turned out to be a brilliant move, because…

…he’s heading right for us!

Sitting next to me is Naima, from Lucerne, Switzerland. She was so transfixed by the approaching lion that she forgot hit the button to start the video function on her phone. Can’t blame her! I was just happy I had her between me and the predator! (Kidding!(mostly…))

Wow!

Thanks for stopping by…

Impala (or Rooibok)

Another sighting…

Buffalo crossing ahead!

Rest stop!

More buffalo…

Roan Antelope

Cute!

Amazing!

I kind of like this picture. There are so many elephants around us that while everyone is looking at the animals behind us, they’re missing the large male elephant approaching from the front!

There we go!

Wow! What an amazing morning. The encounters with the wildlife here reminded me of the Galapagos, where the animals are so comfortable with human interaction.

Sidenote: The government of Botswana adopted a shoot-to-kill policy against poachers in 2013 as a “legitimate conservation strategy” and “a necessary evil”, which has reduced poaching to the point it is thought to be “virtually non-existent” in the country.

After (another English) breakfast back at the hotel, we were on the road by 10:30am. Our destination is Nata, a 4 hour drive away.

Botswana is very flat (like Illinois!).

Rest stop…

…with its own warning sign!

We stopped in Kazungula for lunch and to restock our snacks and liquor supply.

The tour bus worked out well. Its capacity is 28 passengers (in a 2×2 configuration), so that meant that each of us could have a set of side-by-side seats to ourselves.

Travel Note: You may have noticed that I haven’t done very much walking since I joined the tour. I fear my World Record average daily step count is at risk!

We’ll be spending the night at Elephant Sands Lodge in Nata.

Accommodation is in these individual cabins.

My humble abode!

You’ll note that there are no mosquito nets (more on that later…).

Apparently this watering hole is popular with elephants during the dry season. As they’re just coming out of the rainy time of year here, we have horses. (no complaints!)

This is the reception/lounge/bar/dining area of the lodge. There is also a small pool. At the moment the tables are being prepared for this evening’s buffet dinner.

View of the main lodge building from my cabin’s porch.

Dinner was pretty good. I liked the dessert too (forgot to take a photo!) – a type of bread pudding with custard sauce. Yummmmmm.

It had been a long day, so most of us were ready for bed after dinner. Plus, the lodge shuts down at 10pm, which wasn’t too long after we finished eating. We weren’t allowed to walk back to our cabins after dark (possible animal encounters); a shuttle bus was used to drop us off.

Now, back to the mosquito nets (or lack thereof)…

This is the first accommodation on my trip that does not have air conditioning. And while there are screens on the windows, I noticed significant air gaps in the door frame and floor boards. Plenty of opportunities for mosquito entry! I therefore covered myself in bug spray and left the fan blowing on me at full blast all night to deter the beasts! Was I successful? Stay tuned…