Day 11 & 12 - Chobe & Vic Falls

We rose early to get to the park gates for 5:30 as the sun was creeping over the horizon.  There was no queue at that hour which was great!  Our drive round the park lasted about 6 hours.  In that time we saw plenty of wildlife: hippos wallowing in pools, numerous antelope grazing, and birds galore.  For the first 3 hours we didn’t see a single elephant and were getting a little disappointed.  We turned away from the river and headed inland into the thick bush.  Eventually we came across a small herd on the track.  The big bull elephant was a little perturbed by our presence, and his behaviour did cause a little anxiety in the car.  We sat with the engine off, quietly watched him and all three of us were starting to feel a little relaxed, when suddenly a dung beetle flew in through the open window and landed on Kit.  There was a bit of scream, and Kit almost opened the door and ran out!  Eventually calm returned and we continued our drive.

 

We relaxed after our long morning until 3pm when we joined a river cruise organised by the lodge.  It was a sizable boat with an upper viewing deck and a bar... we were in for an enjoyable afternoon!  The cruise was spectacular, with us seeing many hippos and crocs up close.  There were many water birds of all shapes and sizes.  The highlight was when a herd of 40 or so elephants were spotted coming out of the bush towards the river.  We watched them drink, wash and frolic in the water... lovely.

The following day we put aside for a day trip to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.  There was a little bit of anxiety about crossing the border, but everything went very smoothly.  Kit had to pay almost double for her visa having a British passport.  It was just under a 2 hour journey in total when we arrived at the Vic  Falls Hotel.  I had been there as a youngster and was getting feelings of familiarity.  We walked down to the falls themselves where we encouraged to hire raincoats.  I was worried that it might be a bit of a waste as it wasn’t high water at this time of year.  Nonetheless we did get the coats and started the stroll to the viewing points.  Once again I started to remember my previous visit 3 decades ago... I remember hearing the roar of the water and the moisture in the air.  The falls were impressive, and I was most pleased with our raincoats as it was extremely wet at the viewing points!  We managed to take a few photos without getting the camera too wet before we turned back up to the main road.  We then strolled across the bridge over the Zambezi, touched Zambian soil and then made our way back to the Vic Falls Hotel for lunch.  The hotel was very grand and oozed British colonialism.  There was lots to keep us entertained after lunch before we commenced on our return journey to our lodge in Botswana.  We managed with a cup-a-soup for dinner that night and packed up for our flight into the Okavango delta the following morning!