Sunday 29 March
Up early this morning - 5am. We meet up for early coffee/tea at 5.30 prior to starting the game drive. There are three vehicles each carrying six passengers, so we are all together. Our driver/guide is Ndata. It is 19 degrees as we head off, but it is an open vehicle so the wind as we drive makes it a little chilly. There is a beautiful sunrise behind us as we make our way to the Chobe National Park entrance, about a 15 minute drive.
As we enter the park our driver informs us that as a bonus we will get a free full body massage. He was not wrong. The sandy/dirt tracks are very bumpy! Shortly after entering we come across impala and elephants. A bit further in our driver spots three jackals and we get quite close. The animals are cautious but not afraid. Now that we are moving slower it is quite warm. Our next highlight are three elephants including a very young one less than 50 metres from our path. Our driver then takes us to view the Chobe river which has plenty of water flowing, on the other side of the river is Namibia. At the height of the dry season all the water we can see is reduced to a few small channels with water trickling through. It is hard to imagine.
While there we see a small crocodile lurking in the water just off the bank, further out there are bigger ones swimming by. We continue to see impala and Guinea fowl aplenty. Moving on we view a dead elephant carcass, although most of it has been stripped. Ndata tells us it died of old age about a month ago. While there we hear a baboon shouting and Ndata believes it is likely a danger signal to others of an approaching predator. He takes us round to where he believes the sound was coming from and as we round a corner there is a troop of baboons walking alongside the path and straight by us. No sign of the predator. It is 8.15 so we all stop for coffees and muffin.
After morning tea we slowly make our way back to the park entrance with many more encounters with impala. On the way though Ndata pulls up and points out some lion tracks along the path. We arrive back at our lodge around 9.30 and then sit down for breakfast. This afternoon we have a river cruise from 3 pm to try and see more wildlife along the river banks.
No comments:
Post a Comment