On Wednesday morning (the 22nd) we were picked-up by a driver from our hotel in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and taken to a new hotel in Kasane, Botswana. With a quick trip through the border, we were settled-in and ready for lunch by about 1:00pm.
Our new hotel was called, The Chobe Marina Safari Lodge, and it was located directly on the Chobe River and about 5 km from the Chobe National Park. While the Marina Lodge was not as 'boutique-y' as the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, it had perfect amenities and a zillion activities on offer, every day.
The patio
More patio
Pool
We had a two-bedroom suite with an adjoining family room/mini-bar
Hand-painted sinks in the bathrooms
At first glance at the 'activity calendar' I thought that we might pick one or two safaris to participate in per day, but no, I was wrong and we went on 8-9 hours of safari/day. It just didn't get old seeing hundreds of elephants or lions stalking a buffalo or herds upon herds of antelope.
So, our daily schedule was as follows:
- 6:00-9:00am Game Drive
- 9:00-9:30am Breakfast
- 9:30-12:30pm Boat Safari
- 12:30-3:30pm Lunch/Nap/Swim/Read/etc.
- 3:30-6:30pm Either Game Drive or Boat Safari (choose your own adventure)
- 7:00pm Dinner
Now that you know the schedule, I'll just go ahead and tell the rest in pictures!
The Chobe River
Safari boat
Afternoon boat safari
Being on the river was really cool because all of the animals would come down to the water to drink and cool down. Chobe is known for its elephants. Huge herds of 'em!
In the distance
Breeding herd coming to the water's edge
Elephant getting a drink
Crossing the river to the marsh
Grazing on the marsh
Strutting his stuff and making himself look all big and fierce
Staring down Doug (this gives a little perspective in regards to how close we got to the animals via the boat!)
Rolling in the mud
Rough-housing
Baby!!!
In addition to the elephants, there are also lots and lots of enormous crocodiles and hippos
Lurking
Beaching it
Hippo posse in the water
On land
Close-up
Fighting
Probably the climax of our boating safari adventures came when Doug and I were the only two people on the boat (ironically). We saw four lions stalking an injured buffalo. There's lots of people in our circle of friends who have seen many an animal, kill, be killed, mate, give birth, etc. I'm hear to tell you, we are not those people. So, this was VERY exciting. So exciting, in fact, that we paid our guide to take us straight back to the hotel to pick-up my parents so that they could join us on the safari. By the time we got back to the scene, the number of lions had doubled and there was a head-on confrontation between them and the buffalo.
Here's where it all turned a bit sad. The buffalo was badly injured in his hind leg and couldn't put up much of a fight, so after some taunting by the lions and a couple of charges, he succumbed and laid down. Then, the lions ate him alive. Literally. It was really sad, but it was nature taking its course...so, here's the flip-book of photos.
Laying in wait...
Getting up to check things out
Circling
Getting ready to attack
Taking the buffalo down. The lions attacked from behind because the buffalo's horns are his greatest defense and with his injured leg he couldn't kick
Eating the buffalo
Sad (and kind of gross...check out their bloody chops!)
A little drink to wash down the buffalo
Then, it was the vulture's turn
In the land safari vehicle
Lots of creatures, big and small and in-between...
Fish eagle
Taking flight
Herd of impala
Single, male impala
Vervet monkey's with baby
Mongoose
Baboon
Water monitor
Lilac-breasted roller
Vultures
Giraffe
Herd of buffalo
Sable antelope
Warthogs
Blue heron, flying over the lily pads
Zebras
On one of our evening game drives we came across the family of lions in the meadow. This was a rare sighting because the lions are usually lying in the shade under trees and bushes and obscured from view, in some way
Male lion and two lionesses
One of the lionesses got up to chase a jackal
This picture is a little hard to see, but two lionesses were laying down when the third jumped on top of them. So, you can see the one sideways across the pile and then one backing out from underneath the playful lioness
Done playing, now it is time to be serious
Dinners at the Marina Lodge
On Christmas morning, after one last game drive, we were picked-up by our driver and taken back across the border to the Victoria Falls Airport. We flew from Zimbabwe back to Johannesburg, South Africa and stayed at one of my friend's houses for the evening. We had trouble finding anywhere (anywhere) that was serving dinner on Christmas Day; therefore, we made our own dinner at my friend's (she was with her family in Cape Town). It was a perfect place with a beautiful garden.
Mom and I roasted a chicken and vegetables and Dad and Doug watched David Attenborough videos until the both fell asleep!
Our Christmas dinner
And that concludes Part II of our trip! The final portion of our trip will be told in Part III!
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