Africa - Day 5
We woke up to the sound of hippos at about 5am. At about 5:45 we made our way to reception and were delighted to find a troop of vervet monkeys, including some small babies, right outside our rondavel.
We went on a 3 hour game drive in Chobe National Park and it was absolutely wonderful, far exceeding our expectations. Not long after entering the park we came across 3 giraffes. We didn't stick around long as our driver was keen to get moving before all the other vehicles caught up (there were about 20 vehicles from various lodges altogether in the park for the morning drive). We made our way to an area by the water where we could see dozens of vultures feeding on a carcass, and a lot of Marabou Storks standing around. Suddenly we saw a couple of elephants making their way around the corner...so exciting! Our driver moved the vehicle forward so we could get a better view and suddenly we could see that there were about 20 of them walking towards us! Our driver tried to get right next to them, and for a few seconds they were almost close enough to touch, before running off into the trees with a whole lot of vehicles who had been a bit too late for the show chasing right behind them.
A few minutes later as we were heading down a road next to the river the driver got a call on the radio telling him that lions had been spotted. We quickly rushed to the area and found a pride of 11 (5 females, and 6 youngsters). Soon all the vehicles were in the area too, but our driver was very good at getting the best views for us and we were absolutely thrilled to have lions walking right next to the jeep, while all the excited tourists snapped pictures. Eventually they settled down for a nap, so we headed back to the river where we found a lot of hippos poking their heads up out of the water, antelope grazing, birds looking for food, and crocodiles lazing on the shore. We saw 3 types of antelope - impala, kudu, and puku. On our way back to the gate we came across another herd of elephants with only about 6 elephants, and then a mother and a baby by themselves. Chobe is the place to see elephants. There are over 60,000 of them and it is easy to see the immense damage to the landscape that this huge population have caused. We also came across a troop of baboons before heading back to the lodge, overjoyed with all that we had seen.
We made a beeline for breakfast at the open-air restaurant on the river-bank from where we could see hippos in the water and a herd of elephants on the other side of the river.
The rest of the day we pretty much just relaxed. Shanon made another visit to Julius which still proved to be a bit of a mission, even when he charged the activity to our room instead.
Just before sunset the sky turned grey and we could hear thunder and see rain and lightening across the river in Namibia. Namibia is literally just a few metres across the river from our room! We were worried that it was the rains coming, as it's rainy season but the rains still haven't come yet, but the sky turned blue again in time for us to enjoy another sunset.
We didn't really have any dinner as both of us have lost our appetites, we guess from the heat. So it was another early night for us.
We went on a 3 hour game drive in Chobe National Park and it was absolutely wonderful, far exceeding our expectations. Not long after entering the park we came across 3 giraffes. We didn't stick around long as our driver was keen to get moving before all the other vehicles caught up (there were about 20 vehicles from various lodges altogether in the park for the morning drive). We made our way to an area by the water where we could see dozens of vultures feeding on a carcass, and a lot of Marabou Storks standing around. Suddenly we saw a couple of elephants making their way around the corner...so exciting! Our driver moved the vehicle forward so we could get a better view and suddenly we could see that there were about 20 of them walking towards us! Our driver tried to get right next to them, and for a few seconds they were almost close enough to touch, before running off into the trees with a whole lot of vehicles who had been a bit too late for the show chasing right behind them.
A few minutes later as we were heading down a road next to the river the driver got a call on the radio telling him that lions had been spotted. We quickly rushed to the area and found a pride of 11 (5 females, and 6 youngsters). Soon all the vehicles were in the area too, but our driver was very good at getting the best views for us and we were absolutely thrilled to have lions walking right next to the jeep, while all the excited tourists snapped pictures. Eventually they settled down for a nap, so we headed back to the river where we found a lot of hippos poking their heads up out of the water, antelope grazing, birds looking for food, and crocodiles lazing on the shore. We saw 3 types of antelope - impala, kudu, and puku. On our way back to the gate we came across another herd of elephants with only about 6 elephants, and then a mother and a baby by themselves. Chobe is the place to see elephants. There are over 60,000 of them and it is easy to see the immense damage to the landscape that this huge population have caused. We also came across a troop of baboons before heading back to the lodge, overjoyed with all that we had seen.
We made a beeline for breakfast at the open-air restaurant on the river-bank from where we could see hippos in the water and a herd of elephants on the other side of the river.
The rest of the day we pretty much just relaxed. Shanon made another visit to Julius which still proved to be a bit of a mission, even when he charged the activity to our room instead.
Just before sunset the sky turned grey and we could hear thunder and see rain and lightening across the river in Namibia. Namibia is literally just a few metres across the river from our room! We were worried that it was the rains coming, as it's rainy season but the rains still haven't come yet, but the sky turned blue again in time for us to enjoy another sunset.
We didn't really have any dinner as both of us have lost our appetites, we guess from the heat. So it was another early night for us.
posted by Rachel & Shanon @ 11:59 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Hi guys! We've really been enjoying reading about your travels. The whole trip sounds amazing. You will have the best photos when you get back! Can't wait to see them :)
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