We just came back from a short safari in Chobe National Park in Botswana, what an awesome experience! This was organised for us by Raf and Cisca from African and Oriental travel company (orientafricatravel.com) who have been an incredible source of information for us and we highly recommend.

It started out a little ho hum after we were picked up at 6am and transferred to the Botswana side of the border for a boat trip down the Zambezi river. We’re not really people people so all the cameras and american tourists were a little irritating, we did however see a few pods of hippos, like about 100 of them all in one spot which was really cool, no G&T’s on this boat trip though 🙁

After lunch our trip into the park in a 4×4 began, where we were to stay for the next two nights. It was just us and another couple in the truck (with seating for 9), so much nicer!!

We saw so many animals, I’ll let the pics do the talking, but the highlight was finding a female leopard with two cubs, just after she’d killed an impala. The mum was keeping guard while the cubs tore into the impala in a thicket, and eventually emerged still licking the blood from their cute little faces!

mum keeps watch

while the little ones eat

Staying in the park made it all a bit more special as we were able to stay out until after dark when all the animals are more active, and also get up and hit the road super early (yes Sally, at 5:45am!) to see them before they settle down for the heat of the day.

Our camp was really simple, just a few tents in a clearing. There were some strict rules for going to the toilet at night to make sure we weren’t eaten by anything, like going in pairs so one can keep watch… which Sal forgot in her tired state, and then also forgot which direction our tent was in and started walking half asleep into the forest before realising she was lost… All’s well that ends well huh!

The food was simple but quite good, and we sat around the camp fire at night chatting about the amazing things we’d seen in the day before going to bed early and trying not to freeze overnight when the temp got down to around 5 deg just before dawn.

Aside from the Leopards we saw the usual animals, giraffes, elephants, hippos and buffalo, but they were in really big groups in Chobe, and in such an untouched setting it was pretty special.

We were also lucky enough to find 4 lion cubs playing in the grass 🙂

The sunset and sunrise were also phenomenal, especially with all the animals that were around at the time. I cant really do it justice, but the pics come close…

Being with a guide also meant that we learned lots about the park, the animals and their interactions, like how certain animal calls tell you that some predator is around the place. One of our favourite moments was seeing a group of Guinea fowl (a bit like a small chicken) chase a pride of lions out of their territory.

The lions didn’t seem too put out, but the we have new found respect for the Guinea fowl, they’re much braver than we are!

We’re back on the road tomorrow, headed towards South Luwanga National park, which we think might be the last park we visit.

Love to all at home xxoo