Kathryn & Rick's Blog

We are leaving this morning for Victoria Falls but we had time for one last boat ride.  We didn’t see any new animals so I will spare you the pictures.

When we returned, we finished packing, and were picked up by a transfer company in a open safari vehicle.  We had a 45 min ride to the Botswana/Zimbabwe border.  At the border we had to immigrate into Zimbabwe.  The immigration office was a trailer with windows.  It took a very hot hour to get up to the windows.  Once we cleared the border we were off with our new driver whose name was Innocent.  On our way to Victoria Falls, Innocent told us about Zimbabwe history, the recent elections, etc.  He was very informative. 

Once at the hotel we had a late lunch and then a little time to relax before our sunset cruise on the Zambezi Queen.  We were on the signature deck. It was very posh.  They gave us lots of drinks and hors d’oeuvres. We cruised the Zambezi River and along the way we saw elephants, hippos, and baboons.  The sunset was very pretty and we enjoyed our time.

After the cruise we went to a restaurant called The Three Monkeys for dinner.  

We started the day with a game drive.  As we were leaving the camp we could hear a male lion grunting.  Our guide was able to find the lion.  He was patrolling his territory, grunting and roaring to warn other lions to get out of his territory.  Most of the lions we have seen have been sleeping but this guy was a lion on a mission.  Shortly thereafter we saw three female lions with four cubs that were probably about 4 months old walking along.  We don’t know if it had anything to do with the male lion’s patrolling.  

Chobe is a national park which means no off roading is allowed and we could only look at the animals from the road.  All our our previous camps were private reserves which allowed us to go off road, over bushes, etc. in order to get close to the animals.  It also means that there are many, many vehicles all jockeying for a position to see the animals.  When we saw the lion there was a traffic jam of trucks trying to see him.  

During that drive we also wild dogs, adolescent hippos play/fight in the water, warthogs, and a lilac breast roller.  Here are pictures from the drive.

Just before lunch we went for another boat ride and saw pretty much the same things we had seen on the previous day.  Here are a couple of pictures of the boat.

That afternoon we went out on a game drive.  We saw another pride of lions which consisted of three lionesses, four cubs, and two adolescent males whose manes were just starting to come in.   That afternoon we also saw a hyena who was eating a bone and wild dogs which are very rare.  Here are some pictures that game drive.

That evening we had dinner at the hotel and went to bed.

This morning we went for our slow boat ride and saw hippos, a malachite kingfisher, an african jacana, elephants that had just crossed the channel,  and a crocodile.

We returned from our boat ride, finished packing up, and went to the air strip to await our plane. 

It was another small plane but this time there were two people already on the plane.  We made two stops to pick up people and drop people off before arriving in Kasane.  It was quite a rough flight and I did not feel very good.  

Kasane is a very modern, new airport.  There we were greeted by a representative from Chobe Game Lodge.  We drove in an open safari truck for about 45 minutes to the lodge.  Initially it was on tarred roads but once we got in the park the ride was very rough.  The roads consisted of a lot of sand.  

At the hotel we were welcomed, given an orientation, and had lunch.  After lunch we were shown to our room.  Here are pictures of our room.  

That evening, after high tea, we went for a boat ride on the Chobe River.  The boat is an electric pontoon boat with wicker chairs along the edge and a table in the middle.  Thulso was our guide.  This lodge employs only women guides, in an effort to empower local women.  We saw lots of elephants and hippos, including one hippo that was out of the water, fish eagle and baboons.

At this camp we had a very early 5 am wake up call so everyone went to bed right after dinner.  

The camp staff knocked on our door at 6 to wake us up.  Breakfast at 6:30 and we were on our way at 7:00.  Owner took us to an island for a walking safari.  We had another staff member with us.  They were only armed with a stick.  We were told that under no circumstances were we to run.  Apparently lions interpret running as food.  If we encountered a lion we were to turn and walk the other direction.  We hear a story of another group being approached by a lion.  Apparently there was another animal with a kill and they were between the lion and the kill.  The lion came straight towards them.  The guide had a gun and fired several shots into the dirt but this didn’t scare off the lion, he just kept coming.  The guide then realized the lion’s motivation and told them to get behind a tree, at which point everything was ok.  

During our walking safari we saw elephants, lechwe, wildebeest, warthogs, and baboons.  Luckily no lions!  We walked for about 2 1/2 hours.

We returned to the boat and then to the camp for brunch.  After brunch we had down time during which I took a nap and a shower.  

The next excursion was scheduled for after high tea.  We went out for a boat ride.  We had a choice, a slow boat ride or a fast boat ride.  We had time for a boat ride the next morning before our flight and we figured it would be cooler in the morning so we would do the slow boat ride in the morning and the fast boat ride in the afternoon.  It was about an hour of a very fast boat ride, whipping around corners and through the channels of the delta.  At one point we almost collided with another boat.  Eventually we got to a lagoon which had an island in the center.  It was full of nesting birds.  Here are some pictures.  

We also saw a monitor lizard.

Our return fast boat ride was uneventful.  We had dinner and went back to our cabin.  Up until this time we had only seen hippos in the water which means we could only see the top of their heads, eyes and ears. 

Owner had said he was going to look around the camp that night and see if he could find a grazing hippo.  At about 10:00 that evening we got a knock on the door.  It was Owner.  I rushed to get dressed and went out.  The hippo was between our cabin and the next one. We walked along the raised walkway and Owner was shining a bright light on him.  I got one not very good picture before he decided he didn’t like the light shining in his eyes. 

The hippo jumped towards us, opened his mouth wide, and made a loud growling noise.  I jumped back, very scared.  Owner laughed at me because he said the hippo couldn’t get to us on the raised walkway.  I decided I had seen enough of the hippo and quickly went back inside. I got quite a fright!  We all laughed about it the next morning.

We are leaving Mashutu this morning.  I took a shower in our outdoor shower. I thought it was going to be cold but it wasn’t bad.  After breakfast we drove an hour to the airport.  Our plane was waiting for us.  We were the only ones on the plane.  I felt very jet set, having a plane to ourselves.  No getting to the airport early, no security, I like it!  It was similar to the plane we took here except we didn’t have a co-pilot.  Rick spent the whole trip talking to the pilot and learning how to fly the plane.  

We flew over the Botswanan salt flats.  

We stopped in Maun to refuel and then on to the Okavango Delta.  The landing strip was grass, a little bumpy.  

We were greeted by the camp staff. It was just a short walk to the camp where we got an introductory briefing with our new guide, Owner, and had lunch.  The camp consists of 12 “suites” which is really 12 separate buildings.  The room is very nice with a lovely deck that looks out over the delta. Here are pictures of our room.

The suites are connected by a raised walkway. 

Like most of the camps they have an electric fence which  keeps elephants out but other animal are free to roam the camp.  They want to keep the elephants out because they can do so much damage as we saw at MalaMala.

After lunch we had about an hour before our afternoon safari so I took a nap.   That afternoon Owner gave us an overview of the area.  The delta is formed by the Okavango river which originates on Angola.  The delta is the low point between two tectonic plates.  All the water reaching the delta ultimately evaporates and transpires, and does not flow into any sea or ocean. He also told us that three main sources of income for the Botswanan economy are mining, tourism, and agriculture.  Agricultural is in the form of cattle because the soil is very sandy which makes it difficult to grow anything.  

After a short lecture Owner took us out in an aluminum boat that just skims the surface.  The boat has 12 chairs bolted to the floor of the boat.  Here is a picture.

The delta consists of a maze of water channels and it is amazing that the guide knows where he is going because every channel looks a like.  On our way out we stopped to take pictures of a number of birds. We also saw a crocodile and some hippos submerged under the water.

Eventually we arrived at a point where there were traditional canoes called mokoros.  This is Kay and Mike in their mokoros.

We moved into the mokoro which was propelled by a nice man named John and a stick.  We continued our journey for about an hour all the time watching the sun set. The reflection of the sunset on the water was beautiful.  

We had drinks in a field. Owner is the man with the sunglasses.

We returned to the camp after our canoe ride.  The bugs were very bad and Rick and Mike had to protect themselves from bugs flying into their faces. 

We had about an hour before dinner so we went back to our cabin. We are not allowed to walk alone after dark so Owner came and escorted us to dinner.  After dinner we were escorted back to our cabin.  We pretty much immediately went to bed because we have an early wake up call tomorrow morning.  

This morning Rick and Mike spent the morning in the hide.  The hide is a shipping container which was partially buried in front of a watering hole.  The container was then camouflage.  Here’s a picture of the hide.  

Meanwhile the rest of us did our morning drive.  We watched the cheetah cubs and mom play.  As well as watched a herd of elephants go by.  Here are some videos.  

We also saw a leopard who had just taken a kill, a steenbok, away from a cheetah.  Just as a note we are seeing lots of birds but I can’t capture them with my camera so no pictures.  Sorry bird lovers.

That afternoon Patty and I went to the hide that is part of our camp and watched the elephants drink.  

On our afternoon drive we went back to the cheetahs so Rick and Mike could see them.  They were still playing. At one point the cheetah mom seemed to be teaching her cubs to mark their territory.  She peed on the tree that they were resting under.  Then one by one each of the cubs peed on the tree too. Then we found the female cheetah who had had her kill stolen.  She was hunting and sneaking up on some impala.  She would move 30 or 40 feet and then lie down for 5 or 10 mins.  Eventually it got too dark for us to see her so we don’t know if she got anything.  I really wanted to see her run but not this time.  Here are some pictures from the afternoon drive.  I included one of the general landscape, it was scrub lands.

We went back to camp and packed up because we are leaving tomorrow.  

We slept just fine last night.  It cooled off a lot and we needed blankets for sleeping.  This morning we saw five lion cubs born to two sister lionesses.  Three were born in early April and two were born in May.  The adults had killed an eland, the largest antelope, the night before.  One of the lioness was watching the cubs who were mostly just lying around digesting and the other one was guarding the half eaten carcass of the eland.  Here are pictures from the day. 

I have included a picture of a Mashatu tree for which the park is named.  Another interesting point is that we have seen a lot of giraffes here.  

Some random facts

1. We have learned about some of the animals sleeping habits.  Lions sleep for about 18 hours a day meanwhile elephants only sleep for about 2 hours every day.  Elephants digestive system is very inefficient so they need to eat a lot more.  Also elephants sleep, or probably more accurately, rest standing up.  
2. Giraffe moms deliver their babies standing up and the baby can walk about 45 minutes after it is born.  
3. The female lion’s job is to raise the cubs.  The male’s job is to prevent other male lions from entering its territory.  Male lions will kill cubs that are not their own because they only want their bloodlines to survive and they want the females to go into heat.   Male lions have a territory and female lions have a territory.  The males will mate with the females whose territory overlaps with the males.  If there is no dominant male the females will mate with several males, just to confuse the males and give their cubs a better chance of survival.