Botswana Day Trip to Chobe National Park

Victoria Falls is located near the confluence of four countries: Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. One could count Angola as well, but that's a bit trickier to visit. One of the many popular day trips in the area is to go to Chobe National Park in Botswana to cruisenthe Chobe River and see some of the famously large herds of elephants the park has to offer. I had convinced Nick and Jimmy to join me on this trip since they had never heard of Chobe, but having just returned I think I can speak for all of us when I say that it was a fabulous ay and Im so glad we went!

Our day started off with an extremely hearty breakfast at the Vic Falls buffet. I had some of everything, including a made to order omlette and it was all fabulous. Another standout was the lemon sugar crepes they had as well. We met our transport van at 7:30am outside the hotel and we were whisked away to the border wi Botswana, about 80km away. We drove through a game park on the Zimbabwean side, but did not see any animals besides baboons and a huge bird called a red roller that looks like a toucan crossed with a turkey. We were dropped off at the Zimbabwean border and were met by the tour operator's Botswanan counterparts on the other side of the gate. We had to all walk through a foot and mouth disinfectant bath before officially entering the border station and getting our passports stamped. US passport holders do not need a visa to enter Botswana, which is nice.

Our group was then driven to the Chobe Marina Lodge, which was our base of operations for the day. The lodge is on the bank of the Chobe River, which flows into the Zambezi. We could see Namibia across the river. The lodge was located in a leafy grove full of vervet monkeys. They amused us with their antics as they scampered around. We noticed that some monkeys were missing hands and we learned that was from crocodiles in the river. Yikes!

We took a river boat cruise up the Chobe for the first part of our tour. The boat fit 10 of us and was a flat bottomed houseboat style craft with a 40hp engine and a canvas roof. We passed an island that belongs to Botswana now, but Namibia and Botswana both laid clamp it and the dispute was actually arbitrated by the Hague. An independent investigation revealed that the channel on the Botswanan was considered the "dominant" channel and thus there is now a Botswanan flag planted on the island as buffalo graze and ducks and geese fly nearby.

We saw several Nile crocodiles sunning themselves on the island as well. The crocodiles were about 3m long and had their mouths open. This was my first time seeing crocodiles so I was really excited. We also saw hippos lying in pods, numbering about 20. On the Botswanan bank we saw warthogs, an elephant, monitor lizards and buffalo. The river cruise was a really unique way to view the wildlife and was very pleasant. The river is also a birders paradise. We also got close to about 10 elephants drinking at the bank. They would suck up water in their trunks and then squirt it in their mouths. We were about 20 feet away! Even though it was a bit chilly with the breeze we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Our guide even let us hop off the boat on the Namibian bank, so we have all now been to Namibia unofficially!

On the way back it was much breezier, so I got very chilly. I would highly recommend anyone doing a river cruise bring a warm coat especially if it is not full sun. We spent about three hours on the river and then returned to the lodge for lunch. We were served some tasty food as well as a sumptuous dessert spread. The sun finally came out after we finished eating so I took the opportunity to sit in the sun and warm up before our afternoon drive.

For our afternoon activity we were driven around Chobe National Park by the same guide who piloted the boat for us. Our drive was jam packed wit incredible sightings. We started off with some lions who had just finished a kill! Unfortunately they were about 200m off the road, hiding in some shrubs so we couldn't get that close. Jimmy was estatic, as they hadn't seen any lions in Kruger, but for me having seen a lion kill up close last year it didn't compare. As we drove further towards the riverbank, we saw a herd of elephants numbering about 65! There were females and adolescent elephants and some tiny babies. They were all going to the river to drink as well. We followed them and saw some of them swimming across the river to the other side. It was a crazy sight to see those giant animals gracefully swimming to the other bank!

As we drove on we got close to another elephant pod, this time they were wallowing in a huge mud puddle. Some rolled and others splashed mud on them. Some babies were there too, and they were mostly just rolling around and making a mess. I thought we would get sprayed with mud as one female didn't limpke us and trumpeted and flapped her ears at us. Luckily we emerged unscathed. Later we even saw a newborn elephant who was so young it didn't know how to use it's trunk to drink! It just waded in the water and drank with it's mouth.

I could have stayed and watched the elephants all day but eventually we had to leave. On the way out we saw more lions, from the same pride we saw earlier. This time we saw the male with his majestic mane. He was far off the road as well. We also saw a big journey of giraffes, the landscape in Chobe is less overgrown compared to Kruger so it was easy to spot the giraffes,

We had to drop a few members of our group off at the Zambian border first, which was fascinating as it is a ferry crossing. There is a huge line of trucks waiting to cross into the no mans land where the ferry is, at least 100 of them. The car ferry fits 2 trucks at a time, so these guys could wait days at our guess as the river looks to be at least 2k wide. There is also a speedboat ferry for passengers.

We then went to the Botswana-Zimbabwe border and were driven back to town. We got back with enough time to watch the end of the Brazil vs Holland game and it was great to see Brazil lose. For dinner we went to the Spur in the Kingdom, the hotel next door. We caught the Ghana game at a local bar, the only one we could find in the whole town as I'm sure you van imagine, the place went completely went nuts when Ghana scored first. People were dancing, screaming, singing and high fiving. We fit right in as we were supporting Ghana as well. The end was a bummer as Ghana should have scored on that handball penalty and then missed the penalty shot in extra time and lost on penalty kicks.

Tomorrow I go up in a microlite plane at 8 am to see the falls and then bungee jump later. I'm excited!