Chobe

 

We broke down the tents before sunrise and left the Nata Lodge.

Destination: Chobe National Park

Where we saw this adorable baby elephant.

We saw a lot of elephants, actually.

I had woken up with a bit of a sour stomach, and wasn't feeling my best.

I had taken some meds and tried to nap on the drive, which helped, but I still

wound up absolutely exhausted by the end of the day.

After a light dinner, I hit the sleeping bag early and felt much better after

a good night's sleep.

But before I could sleep it off, I climbed into yet another

range rover for a game drive in Chobe National Park.

Almost immediately we found a huge herd of elephants,

making there way down to the river.

And looking at the SD card, I only took video with my digital camera while in the 

park, so all of these photos are from my phone camera.

Also a small herd of kudu.

The males have long spiraled horns.

While we never did find any cats, we did finally see some monkeys.

Baboons!

The baboon to the back of this picture has a baby hanging on to her stomach.

When they are older, they ride on her back.

We saw both age groups.

And, sadly, we also saw a baboon carrying a dead baby.

According to our guide, baboons, like people, sometimes have a hard time

accepting someone is dead. So they carry the body with them for a few days

before finally leaving it behind.

Here the baboons are headed towards the Chobe River.

After some more driving around, we came upon a giraffe.

The animals are used to the trucks, but not to people, so it's advised to

keep quiet and to stay inside the trucks while on a game drive.

Along the water's edge, I spotted some spoonbills, glossy ibis, and finally

found a crocodile.

Do you see the croc in this picture?

It's there, I promise!

(Hint: It's a very small crocodile)

More zebra.

When we got back to camp we were told to find some food at the 

supermarket and get ready for a boat cruise on the Chobe River.

This warthog strolled through the parking lot like we weren't there.

My already crummy feeling day got a bit worse when I got stung

on the lip by a bee. Ouch!

Because I wasn't very hungry, I'd gotten some juice for lunch, and a bee

had climbed into the can before I drank the last of it.

Bee was angry at being disturbed.

Fortunately, it wasn't swollen for too long, and I'm not

allergic to bee stings, so no harm done.

I think I was taking a photo of Namibia off in the distance.

Our group boarded a river boat for a sunset cruise on the Chobe River.

It was hot and I was feeling pretty crummy by this time, but I sucked it 

up and tried to get through the cruise without falling asleep.

Even though sleeping was all I wanted to do.

Once the sun started to go down, the temperature became a bit more comfortable

and I managed to perk up a bit.

Hippo and storks, I believe.

From the boat, we managed to get some great views of the animals

coming to the water for a drink.

I really like this shot.

Hanging in there!

Sheesh, I look like death.

But I'm on a boat, so it can't be all bad, right?

Sunset on the Chobe River

In the next post we go into Zimbabwe!