What with lack of Internet and a battle for the iPad with John, I’m wondering what possessed me put eBooks on the iPad for the boys. Not a chance they’ll get a look in.

I like the lazy hippo resting his chin on another one.

A big fat python in the tree.

One of the locals’ huts on the riverbank.

A rare family photo with all of us. On the banks of the Chobe river.

Dozens of baboons come down to the river at sunset.

Hippos about to disappear into the water.

Grazing giraffes.

An early start today, and we make our way through the passport caper, complete with the thump thump of the stampers and the immigration forms. We stop in the speed boat at Namibia customs to exit the country, then land in Kasane and enter Botswana, then drive 10 minutes and exit Botswana, crossing the Zambezi on the ferry and enter Zambia. We get to pay another $100US for visas, because the stamper didn’t give us the multiple entry visa the first time. At least we got to use up our spare local currency. I have a wallet of US dollars, Australian dollars, South African Rand, Zambian kwecha and Botswanan pula – and never enough of what I need.
And again, we are passed along the chain by various guides and drivers. We started with, Kaltius and Given (no kidding), then the short car ride was with Charles and Also (that was his name – Also), then I think we had another one whose name escapes me.
We are currently sitting in Livingstone airport about to board our flight to country number 4 for today – South Africa! And there’s NO INTERNET ! After the last two houseboat days, John is hanging out for an update on the Tour de France (and a run) and We are over nighting in Jo’burg before flying to Kenya tomorrow.
John and the boys have been out kicking the footy, passports ready for more stamping!
……now in Jo’burg. It’s a fight for Internet access on the iPad and I’m surrendering to John as he breathes down my neck waiting for his turn!

All the animals we see are free to roam around, and John is rather jealous. At the Lodge, he wasn’t allowed to go for a morning run. And now on the houseboat, well, you get the picture. So he’s up to 4 days with no exercise, and three solid meals a day. Could be an ugly weight loss program when he gets home. Watch out all you training buddies of John’s. Oh, and don’t forget that we have had no internet or tv here on the boat, and that means NO TOUR. Sheesh, it’s not that pleasant for him, but he’s keeping a smile on his face.
After breakfast, we watch the elephants have their morning drink and bath. If there is a rule about taking too many photos of elephants, then I’ve broken it!
We go fishing in the morning, and come very, very close to some crocs, with teeth on display. We caught only a few fish today (much less than yesterday) and I wonder if our luck with fishing at home will change.
Cruising further up the river, we moor for the evening and go out again to look for animals in the speedboats. Our guide, Kaltius, finds an amazing number of birds this evening. The giant Kingfisher was there, and more malachite starlings. Then he slows the boat and pauses under an overhanging branch of a tree and we look up to see an enormous python curled up in tree. Then he spots another one sliding around the bank that slowly disappears into a hole in a tree.
There’s crocs, baboons, guinea fowl, water monitors and hippo. Although we don’t go too close to the hippos. We reboarded the house boat for another great meal, and lots of laughs with the Sydney ladies.

Below are just a few of the photos I took of the amazing drinking session the elephants had while we watched from our boat. It was a great experience.

This morning we got the early wake up call (5.15am) for the morning safari. After coffee and toast, it was into the open trucks again. They think of everything at our lodge, and sent us out with hot water bottles and issued lined capes with hoods to keep us toasty while we ventured out in the freezing morning. Unfortunately, we were still frozen to the bone when we got back, but I’m sure it would have been worse without the capes and hotties. Being out and about in the park as the sun came up was beautiful. We saw more groups of elephants, zebra and giraffes. Our mission was to find some lions, and our guide (we had Nick this morning) was good at tracking. He spotted lion tracks across the sandy road, and we searched for ages for the lions, but all to no avail.
We departed from Muchenje Lodge after breakfast, and I regret not spending a few more days here to sit on the deck and take in the view and the animals, looking over the Chobe River valley to Namibia.
First we visited the village of Muchenje, where we went to the home of a ‘local’. One of her 10 children is a laundry maid at the lodge. It was a great visit, and humbling to see up close the difference in our circumstances.
We then drove in to Kasane, which is quite a crowded tourist spot, with heaps of lodges lining the river. We boarded a houseboat which will be our home for the next two nights. It travels up and down the Chobe River, and usually the Zambezi when the water level is higher. The border between Namibia and Botswana is a line down the middle of the river, so we did the passport stamping thing twice again – that’s out of Botswana and into Namibia.
The boat has 4 double rooms, and we were joined by four ladies from Sydney (a bit like Sex in the City on tour) who were great company. They seemed to cope well with sharing their peaceful boat cruise with two children. They were all grandmothers, and enjoyed having our boys teach them how to use their cameras.
We cruised up the river and moored opposite a popular spot for elephants to drink in the evenings. John and the boys went fishing in one of the speedboats, and the ladies went cruising too. So I sat on the deck in the silence of Africa, and watched as up to 100 elephants came and went at the river’s edge, drinking and bathing, playing and shoving each other, licking the ground for mineral salts, and then flicking dust all over themselves. It was different to a safari drive where you move on after a short time. Here, I watched for at least an hour and a half.

Our fantastic view.

At the local village, this is Emanuel and Jimmy with their push cart – African style!

Harry having a kick with one of the kids.

A splash in the tub on the house boat, with bonus elephants in the background.

This one’s for Sam and the team at RA. Taken soon after John checked his email. True!

Another friendly croc, way too close for me!

Tiger fish galore in the Chobe river.

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.