I woke up today feeling better. Foot still hurts – strike that – both feet hurt today, but not as badly, so I took an extra pill again. I was able to sleep longer than I anticipated. I got a WhatsApp from the people doing today's tour yesterday telling me they didn't get the minimum number. But, for an additional $30, they could switch me to the full day, which includes the drive I booked plus lunch and a cruise on the Chobe River. I thought that was a pretty good deal, and since there would be very little walking, jumped on it! Got dressed and got everything ready to go. The driver pulled up right on time and took me to pick up the rest of our Zimbabwe crew at their hotel. They were a couple from Tulsa, Oklahoma. As we were heading toward the Botswana border (through one of the Zimbabwean parks), we came across a herd of elephants crossing the road. There were a couple of babies in the herd.
As one of them came and crossed, our driver started talking about how elephants have a gland between their eye and ear, and when that gland secretes fluids, it is a sign that the animal is stressed. This lady was apparently already stressed, as you can see the fluid running down the side of her face. As he is helping us find that gland, she starts fanning her ears at us. We ignored her. Suddenly, she charged at us. I initially thought it would be a fake charge like the guy did in Uganda. Nope. She kept coming. She chased us about 500 feet down the road! They can book! Our driver pretty much floored it to get away! This is what an elephant looks like when she charges!
Once we got to the Botswana border, we picked up the other two members of our group – a couple from South Africa, and off we headed to Chobe National Park. We saw lots of things, and had we seen a wildebeest, I would have rounded out the Ugly 5, too, but I didn't book the wildebeest migration. The Ugly 5 are the warthog, marabou stork, wildebeest, vulture, and hyena. I got a little irritated at our driver. He would get me into a good position and I would ask him to stop, and he would keep moving and ruin my shot. This happened far too often. He drove fast down the park, I'm sure missing many things, but maybe he needed to do that so we could see the high points in the time we had. But I was really irritated at all of the shots he ruined for me when he could have just paused for two seconds! Everybody else was thrilled with him, though, so I didn't say anything. The park, itself, is amazing, and I would love to do a full day just in Chobe with a slower driver!
Marabou Stork
Water Monitor
Tsessebe
Impala
Kudu
Giraffe
Greater Blue-Eared Starling
Red-Billed Hornbill (Think Zazu from the Lion King)
Leopard
She had just recently taken down an impala and had it stored in her den. She'll apparently eat on this for a few days.
This young lion was definitely not concerned about the humans and vehicles around!
Nor was this lady, who was busy grooming herself.
This one had a regal profile!
We also passed an elephant carcass. Our guide said it had been there for about two weeks. Apparently, it takes only a couple of days for the vultures to pick the carcass clean. The elephant died of old age/natural causes, just collapsing in this spot. The vultures will not eat the skin or bones, and it will take time for the animals of detritus to help the skin decay. The bones will bleach and lay for a long time.
Peek-a-boo!
After a nice buffet lunch and lively and friendly round discussing world politics, the five of us boarded a boat and headed down the Chobe River. The Chobe River is also the Zambezi River until you cross the Zimbabwe/Botswana border. Just like Zambia is on the other side of the river from Zimbabwe, Namibia is on the other side from Botswana. As far as I know, we did not cross into Namibia. Our driver promised to take us to the place where all of the borders meet, but then said he couldn't when we were on our way back to Zimbabwe. There is an island between Botswana and Namibia on the Chobe River, and the two countries had to go to the Hague to determine who the island belonged to. The international courts decided that because the river was very shallow between the island and the mainland of Botswana, but deep between the island and Namibia, and the land animals (like buffalo) can transit between the island and Botswana but not the island and Namibia, that the island is actually just part of the Botswana mainland and not an island at all. Therefore, it belongs to Botswana and not Namibia.
There were a lot more crocodiles in these waters than in the Nile cruises.
And our driver wasn't afraid to get reallllly close to them!
In fact, this guy had a little trouble getting away from us and back into the water where he felt safe because our boat was in his way.
And we got waaayy too close to this buffalo. I held the shutter button down to get a burst, and this is the sequence of when he decided to charge us! This is when he's just doing his own thing.
He has noticed we're getting a little close.
He's getting a little distressed.
You could feel the difference in the tension in the air when he decided to charge! The next shots were mostly blurs, including things being covered by the egret's wings as he quickly departed the area! Our boat driver revved our motor and steered so the noise of the motor went toward the buffalo, which scared the buffalo and caused him to turn away.
White-Crowned Lapwing
A hippo on land grazing.
Look at that sharp tooth! These guys are considered the most dangerous animals, not only because they are so big and strong or that they have such sharp teeth coupled with the bite force, but because they apparently give no warning when they attack. We got a little too close to some in the water and they grunted and lunged at us, but fortunately, our driver didn't get too close to this guy.
It was a very nice day and a really good set of game drives. I guess being charged by two large wild animals can make for a good day when you get away, not to mention very vivid memories! My feet were still throbbing, but having been off of them and even able to elevate them at several points throughout the day, they weren't nearly as bad as they were yesterday after just a few hours with the lions and hyenas. A nice shower, some more leftovers from the potjie dinner, and some ramen noodles, and I was ready for bed.
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