A leisurely start to a beautiful day. We leave the lodge about 9.30am and the kids decide they want their own truck again, so it’s kids with guide Nick, and parents with guide KB. We go to a different region of the park this morning. Today is dubbed “elephant day” as we come across herd after herd of them. They are so serene, and have great character. One encounter was so close we could have leaned out and touched them. We saw them mourning around a deceased elephant which was quite moving. It’s amazing to watch them using their trunks to get foliage from the trees. And there were heaps of baby elephants too cute to describe. We also saw a big group sleeping. There were a lot lying around on the ground, as though they were all dead. Some sleep standing up. A few pics below.
The giraffes are elegant, and look so inquisitive as we drive past. We saw dozens throughout the day, including some young ones. The females are a much paler colour than the giraffes you find in Kenya, like those we would remember from the zoo. And the males are a dark brown.
I hadn’t bargained on such a variety of bird life here. The vultures were like watching a movie, and the Fish Eagle also amazing. There’s a bird caller a Roller, which had many pastel colours and electric blue wings when it flew.
We saw a group of mongoose (or should that be mongeese?), buffalo, impala, kudu, warthog, hippos, zebra, (including a genuine zebra crossing, pausing our vehicle while they trotted across our path), several different antelope species, huge scary crocodiles, monitors………but no lions. Maybe we’ll see them in Kenya.
We passed a lot of campers in the park. Apparently the animals leave them alone! We stopped for a picnic lunch and a kick of the footy with the other family, and then continued to Kasane where we boarded a small boat and spent a couple of hours getting up close with crocodiles, elephants and not so close to hippos.
The kid car – no parents allowed.
Ferg holding a very heavy elephant femur.
Yep, it’s a zebra.
My favourites.
A kudu – his horns are all curly due to calcium deficiency.
A young warthog. He grows whiskers that look like horns till his horns actually grow.
An impala, with Namibia across the river.
Our first hippo sighting.
Right next to the sleeping elephants.
Fast asleep!
See the baby underneath the mum! And there’s another asleep in the background.
I love them!
The banded mongoose.
Elephants mourning the carcass on the ground.
Ferg and Harry with their Chobe mates, Hugh and Will.
The lion tracks, but no lion to be seen.
And then we really saw some hippos!
Ferg with a croc behind him.
And he was a big one!
Ferg took this one. And below, outlook from our lodge with impalas and zebras everywhere.
