Mowana Safari Lodge Kasane

... cruise a young girl was attacked and taken from the canoe. Observed countless Nile crocs, some of them very large beasts, monitor lizards, countless bird species, and a very large herd of elephant that came down to the waters’ edge for a drink and bath, some within striking distance of the crocs, but the larger females were extremely protective of the youngsters some which only looked a few weeks old.

Another busy day another early night.

... speak Setswana) which seems to be undergoing a bit of renewal, and in no time we found the Chobe Safari Lodge. Very up-to-date modern lodge with EFT facilities not available in Zim, which was good as we were getting low on the US$ cash front.

While we were waiting for our rooms to be ready we had a late lunch overlooking the Chobe river and were shocked to have a very pretty meter long green snake about as thick as your index finger join us slowly ...

... make us a dinner. The staff remedies both areas by later in the afternoon.

In the meantime, we take a sunset cruise on the Chobe River in Chobe National Park. Our group stakes out the top floor of a two-tier boat. Boyd and Colm start singing a few songs at the back end, aided and abetted by some Hansa Pilseners. Our cruise heads up the lazy river which flows into the Zambezi and we see all kinds of ...

... to us at all'.. closing my eye i returned to sleep.. The Leopard also visited during the night however it just passed through.

Anyway.. the rain came in not enough to effect the river levels just enough to moisten the mud and make the sand very tractable.. excellent..

We jump started the Swiss couple and headed to the Gate to be released.. As luck would have it a safari group were heading out towards Savuti ...

... before pulling up.

After a day on the truck we arrived at our first campsite in Botswana situated on the Chobe River. After setting up our tents and the truck, we were picked up for a sunset river cruise on the Chobe River. Luckily, this sunset river cruise did not involve any alcohol, something we were all thankful for. At this point, we had only seen elephants and lions (from afar, so we are not counting them), but we spotted our first water buffalo on the river and that was ...

... desk where the officer asked for the vehicles documents and where we were heading. He laughed at our pronunciation of some of the places and the ice was broken. Neil had to pay just the one fee for car tax and we went back to the vehicle. The policeman just told us to drive through the dip for foot and mouth prevention and we were in Botswana. Painless, no vehicle search or awkward questions.

Just 2km from the ferry point is ...

... there are no bins or a tap, but as it’s only costing 30 rand (about £2.50!) per night, we can’t complain! We had to drive back with a bucket of water on the floor of the car – sounds easy, but when you consider the bumpy sand roads, it’s not so easy!

Some have now driven to the shower and are then going on a game drive, we are just finishing the packing and then we will be off.

Afternoon

We have had a lovely day in the park ...

... br>
- Lots of Guinea Fowls

- Grey Lourie with a call that sounded like a tearful cry

- Grey Heron

- Yellow-billed Storks

- White-faced Ducks

- Spur-Winged Geese

- Great White Egret

I think the group was reaching their saturation point for wildlife, with only the lion and ...

... on the shore, and elephants and hippos waded in the water. Kathy and her husband, Jeff, have been in Africa for almost 30 years, and between them have more knowledge than most safari guides.

But our host, Shadrick, is more than competent, and picks up on the couple's interest in birds by ably maneuvering us to the best spots for bird watching, and away from the other craft on the water trolling after the hordes of elephants.

My travel ...